Reliance Jio to Start Charging for 4G Internet From 4 December?

The telecom operator has charted a new set of offers, which favour its existing customers on its network.

Mukesh Ambani, Chairman & MD, RIL at the Reliance Jio launch. (Photo Courtesy: Reliance)

In another twist in the Reliance Jio 4G tale, reports suggest that consumers in India will have to start paying for its services from the first week of December.

It has been said that the telecom regulatory authority of India (TRAI) has stated that as prescribed by the telecom operator, their free services cannot extend beyond 90 days, which was introduced on 5 September. And this has been officially confirmed by Reliance Jio just a while back.

According to Jio, existing customers on their Jio Welcome offer (JWO) will not be charged up to 31 December.

The JWO offer benefits of free unlimited voice and data will be available to all subscribers up to 31st December 2016. The JWO will be available to new consumers for subscription till 3rd Dec 2016. Consumers who have not subscribed services till 3rd December will be able to subscribe to new offers as well as tariff plans that are available from Jio. 

Reliance Jio Statement

What this means is that any user who gets a Jio SIM up until 3 December can avail of the JWO. However, any user getting his/her Jio SIM activated 4 December onwards will have to pay to use their services. The plans are already available on Jio.com.

Some of the Jio 4G plans. (Photo Courtesy: Jio)

This development comes on the back of TRAI’s statement earlier on Thursday, wherein they have made things clearer for all the parties.

The revised offer of free services by RJIL has been limited to 90 days, up to 3 December 2016, and therefore is consistent with the guidelines on promotional offers

<i>TRAI’s Letter to Telcos</i>

But interestingly, Jio has made a quick move by clearing things at its end.

The telecom regulatory body has also clarified that any plans issued by Jio till date are not predatory and non-compliant, as suggested by incumbent operators such as Airtel, Vodafone and Idea.

The tariff plans offered by RJIL and various submissions thereafter have been examined and it is found that the tariff plans filed with Trai can’t be considered as IUC non-complaint, predatory and discriminatory at present.

<i>TRAI’s Letter to Telcos</i>