Reliance Jio will be making a big decision in the coming days, helping it add more users to its network. Jio’s attractive Jio Prime membership ends on 31 March, and there is still no clarity on how Jio plans to refresh its offers for the coming year.
Jio Prime membership, which was priced at Rs 99 for one year, offered more data at a lower price than other telecom operators for a longer period (not anymore). This tactic worked like a charm, enabling Jio to add over 160 million paid subscribers in a short span of time.
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So, what will Jio do now? Will it announce a new scheme with similar benefits or extend the existing offer? Here are some possibilities that could make news in the coming days.
According to the latest TRAI figures, Reliance Jio leads the subscriber addition race with 8.3 million users added in January 2018. Most of this has been possible because of Jio’s aggressive plans that are valid from 28 days to 84 days, depending upon what a user pays. Meanwhile, Airtel, Vodafone and Idea together added only about 3.3 million in the same period.
Jio could further strengthen its case by extending the Jio Prime model for another year. Having said that, it’s strongly believed that the Jio Prime membership could get a revised pricing of Rs 150 for a year, rather than Rs 99. This way, Jio could continue adding more users, luring them with attractive offers, without pinching the user’s pocket.
These plans have already forced other telcos to revise their offerings, which has resulted in a tumble-down effect on the telecom industry. They could, however, play the smarter game by sticking to the existing price of Jio Prime membership, that is Rs 99, and extend it for another year.
Jio Prime also gives you free access to other Jio services like Music, Movies and News among others.
The telco has been busy consolidating and expanding its content pool by partnering with video and music publishers for sometime now. Recently, it even bought a majority stake in Saavn, which it will integrate with JioMusic in the coming months.
It makes sense for it to extend the current Jio Prime offerings, but knowing Jio, don’t be surprised if the company sweetens the deal with an even better offer. After all, Mukesh Ambani and Co will more or less be looking forward to add another 100 million users in quick time. Pricing has been Jio’s trump card, and that’s unlikely to change, looking at how products like the JioPhone were conceived.
We haven’t heard an official announcement from Reliance Jio about the matter yet, but expect developments anytime now.
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