Airtel and Vodafone Idea's annual plans offer better value than Reliance Jio

• Reliance Jio is no longer offering discounts as it did before and has considerably increased its tariffs.
• Airtel and Vodafone Idea’s annual plans offer more benefit when compared to Jio’s annual plan.

The rules of the game in the telecom sector have changed. Reliance Jio which launched four years back was called a disruptor with their low tariffs, but that is no more the case. It has gradually increased its tariffs and is no more known for its ‘cheapest’ plans.

In fact, a comparison by Business Insider reveals that Airtel and Vodafone Idea have now caught up with Jio’s tariffs which used to be 30% lower than others, six months back. The annual plans of the older telcos are interesting as they offer more benefit when compared to Reliance Jio.

Jio vs Airtel vs Vodafone Idea annual plans

Telco	Plan	Validity	Total data	Voice Calling
Reliance Jio	₹2,121	336	504GB	12,000 non-Jio minutes
Airtel	₹2,398	365	547.5GB	Unlimited
Vodafone Idea	₹2,399	365	547.5GB	Unlimited

Jio’s plan may seem cheaper, it could end up costing you more

Reliance Jio’s ₹ 2,121 plan may look as the best option at first look. But it may end up costing you more in the long run. First off, while Airtel and Vodafone Idea offer 365 days validity, Jio is offering only 336 days of validity, which is 29 days less. Jio users will have to do an additional recharge of one month to get the same validity.

Additionally, Jio offers limited free voice calls to only Jio numbers. In its annual plan, the telco is offering 12,000 off-net minutes or non-Jio minutes. Airtel and Vodafone Idea have no such restrictions and offer unlimited voice calling to any network.

The end of discounted data era

The fast and quick growth of Jio came from its ‘value’ offerings. Jio was able to gain 50 million subscribers within 83 days by first offering free services as part of its trial and then at highly competitive prices. It became the $4 in the country with 369 million subscribers in January 2020.

Other operators were forced to revise their plans to compete with Jio. However, the Mukesh Ambani-led company has been $4 its prices along with other telcos over the past few months and has also started charging for non-Jio calls. With this, the company is no longer offering the cheapest plans in the telecom segment.

Jio had even proposed a massive hike in data prices last month, signalling the end of discounted data era. The telco had $4 an increase in data prices to ₹20 per GB, which is an increase of almost five times when compared to its current prices.

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Mukesh Ambani’s Jio wants to increase data prices to ₹20 per GB>$4