Reliance Jio’s Preview Offer, Welcome Offer and Happy New Year Plan have significantly altered the landscape of India’s telecom space. Ambani’s 45-minute speech at the commercial launch of Reliance Jio cost Airtel and Idea Cellular a whopping Rs. 11,983 crores. And then began the tariff war. To survive the competition, Airtel, Vodafone and Idea Cellular were forced to leave behind their exorbitant pricing tactics and slash tariffs to an extent that’s hard to imagine. And nearly three months after the launch of Reliance Jio Welcome Offer, a quick look at the growing Jio 4G customer base tells one thing for sure – Reliance Jio is well on its track of adding 100 million users by March 2017.
When Reliance Jio first announced that it’s venturing on an ambitious goal of adding 100 million users to the Jio network by March 2017, nobody thought it would be possible. But as soon as Welcome Offer was made available to the public, people began to rush to Jio stores to get their hands on the elusive Jio 4G SIM. Who wants to miss out on an opportunity to use free 4G unlimited data, voice, and SMS? Naturally, Jio 4G user base began to widen and saw considerable growth. Nitin Soni, Fitch Ratings Director, has told that Reliance Jio is on its track of achieving its ambitious targets by March 2017.
55 Million Jio 4G Users And Counting
In three and a half months, Reliance Jio accomplished half the target. The Jio network currently has 55 million subscribers. Given that there are a good three months more and with the Happy New Year Plan, Reliance Jio may very well add a total of 100 million subscribers by March 2017. “So, as long as it is free, even a customer who is a customer of Airtel or Idea will still take a free Jio SIM to enjoy free services for the next three months. But I think there will be some churn when Jio will start charging from April 1 and that churn may well reduce the subscriber base by 5-10 percent,” Soni said.
Jio 4G User Base To Diminish After March?
Well, Reliance Jio will most likely succeed in adding 100 million subscribers by March. But it’s highly unlikely that Jio will be able to add subscribers at the same rate after the offer ends. After March 2017, people may not opt for Jio 4G as the tariffs for the announced plans are quite high. But if Jio continues to offer quality 4G services with reasonable 4G speeds, users may still stick with Reliance Jio.
Will you continue to use Reliance Jio 4G services after March 2017? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section.