Reliance Jio Phone 2, Jio Fibre to Home pre-bookings start on Aug 15: Know more

Reliance Jio Infocomm, a Mukesh Ambani-owned telecommunication operator, announced the Jio Phone 2 and Jio Fibre to home broadband services at the Reliance Industries 41st Annual General Meeting, which was held in Mumbai on July 5. While Reliance Jio confirmed the price of the Jio Phone 2, it did not reveal the GigaFibre connection cost or plans detail. However, the company announced that the pre-registrations for both the feature phone and broadband connections would start on Jio.com and Jio mobile app from August 15.

Here are things to know about the Jio Fibre to home broadband service:

Jio Fibre to Home

Jio GigaFibre The Reliance Jio GigaFibre is a fixed-line broadband service, which would be launched in 1,100 cities simultaneously for homes, merchants and small and medium enterprises and large enterprises. According to the company’s claim, the Jio GigaFibre would offer internet speed of up to one gigabyte per second (Gbps). The company did not announce the launch date or plans, but interested users can register their interest for Jio GigaFibre services on Jio web portal starting August 15. The locality that shows major interest would be among the first locations to get Jio’s home broadband services, according to Mukesh Ambani.

BSNL offer: Recharge with Rs 98, get 1.5GB data per day: What you must know

Taking on Reliance Jio, Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) has launched 'Data Tsunami' offer, under which users will get 1.5GB data per day for a period of 26 days with a charge of Rs 98. The state operator has also upped the FUP limit for its Rs 4,999 FTTH plan to stay put in the fibre connectivity competition. "BSNL provides efficient services at cheaper rates as per requirement of customers. This is a pure data STV which provides at a very economic rate at Rs 2.51 per GB," said RK Mittal, Director (CM), BSNL Board, in a press statement.

All you need to know about BSNL's 'Data Tsunami' offer
BSNL 1.5GB data per day pack
The new offer comes through the new data STV-98 pack that is available with immediate effect across all BSNL circles in India. Users will get 1.5GB data per day for a period of 26 days with a charge of Rs 98. With the fresh benefits that are available through the Rs 98 pack, BSNL is offering data at Rs 2.51 per GB. This is lower than what Jio is offering with its Rs 149 pack that has a validity of 28 days and offers 1.5GB data per day - which eventually costs Rs 3.5 per GB. Airtel also has a similar Rs 149 pack that brings the data benefits close to Rs 5.3 per GB. However, both Jio and Airtel are providing unlimited voice calls and 100 SMS messages per day that you won't get on the Rs. 98 BSNL pack. This Rs 98 pack offers only data, unlike the Rs 118 pack.

Reliance Jio takes on Airtel, Voda with 100% cashback on Rs 399 recharge

Reliance Jio on Thursday introduced a variety of discounts for its prepaid subscribers, including triple cashback of up to Rs 2,599 on every recharge of Rs 399 or above.

The triple cashback offer includes 100 per cent cashback vouchers of Jio worth Rs 400 on every Jio tariff plan recharge of Rs 399 or above and an instant cashback of up to Rs 300 on every recharge. The vouchers will include discounts at travel portals and retail stores.

While there was no reply to queries sent to Jio, its channel partners on condition of anonymity said the prime membership customers will get a cashback and vouchers for certain recharge amounts through wallets, including leading digital payment wallets like AmazonPay, AxisPay, FreeCharge, Mobikwik, Paytm and PhonePe.

The exclusive Jio Prime benefits will be available during the offer period from November 10-25, 2017.

The cashback redemption availability will have three categories:

• Jio cashback vouchers worth Rs 400, which include eight vouchers of Rs 50 each will be provided instantly in MyJio for redemption from November 15, 2017

• Instant cashback from partner wallets will be credited to user wallets instantly 

• E-commerce vouchers of up to Rs 1,899 for shopping on e-commerce platforms and discounts on flight tickets will be available from November 20, 2017 onwards on specific portals 

BSNL gives Reliance Jio a run for its money, offers 270 GB for Rs 333

To counter threat from Reliance Jio, state-run telecom firm Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL), is the latest to join the bandwagon after Idea Cellular and Bharti Airtel as it has announced three new schemes ranging from Rs 333 to Rs 395.

Here are the three new offers — Triple Ace, Dil Khol Ke Bol and Nehle per Dehla that have been launched for existing pre-paid users.

Rs 333 Triple Ace plan: Offering unlimited 3G data with a per day cap usage of 3 GB, this plan has a validity of 90 days. This amounts to 90 GB a month and 270 GB 3G data for three months. While the cheap rates at Rs 1.23 per GB is a catch, other operators offering 4G speed can be a drawback for BSNL.

Rs 349 Dil Khol Ke Bol plan: Enticing customers with unlimited local and STD calling, this plan offers high speed 3G data with a daily cap of 2GB, valid for 90 days as well. However, whether the unlimited calls are valid across other networks except BSNL is not known yet.

Rs 395 Nehle pe Dahla plan: Apart from offering unlimited data with a limit of 2GB data per day, users will also get 3,000 minutes free calls within BSNL network, and 1,800 minutes free for calls to all other networks. Upon exhausting the daily download limit, the speed will drop to 80 kbps. Unlike the other two plans, this one has a validity of 71 days, which equals to nearly 10 weeks.

The above-mentioned data plans are meant to take on Reliance Jio’s plans priced at Rs 309 and Rs 509 that offers unlimited calling, national roaming, free SMS across India. For the Rs 309 plan, a user gets 1GB 4G data per day valid for 84 days, whereas, the Rs 509 plan offers 2GB 4G data valid for 84 days as well.

Additionally, BSNL also revamped the benefits of STV339 plan.

Reliance Jio has become the largest broadband service provider in the country within three months of its commercial launch. It has 52.23 million broadband customers.

BSNL continues to dominate the broadband market in fixed line services segment with 9.95 million customers and ranks fifth in mobile broadband space with 20.39 million subscribers.
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Reliance Jio commentary to be highlight of RIL's Q4 results on Monday

Dalal Street will be eyeing management commentary on telecom venture (Reliance Jio) as Reliance Industries reports its March quarter performance on Monday, April 24. Analysts at J P Morgan say that “Reliance should report another strong quarter, though core business has become less relevant from a stock perspective, as all focus is on the telecom segment (RJio).”

Meanwhile, the March quarter performance will still be driven by performance in its core refining and petrochemicals segment as contributions from Telecom venture will only be to the extent of prime membership enrollments.

Analysts estimate quarter ending March to be strongly led by core refining and petrochemicals segment only. Analysts at Jefferies expect Reliance to report further earnings improvement in the quarter with standalone Ebitda up three and five per cent on year-on-year and sequentially basis respectively, helped by better refining and petrochemicals performance.

Petchem profitability is expected to increase year-on-year, led by improved deltas. Monoethylene Glycol and Butadiene continued their strong performance and were up more than 50 and 75 per cent sequentially according to analysts at BNP Paribas who add that Paraxylene (PX) margins continued their steady recovery and were up seven per cent sequentially. The refining margins, however, may be slightly lower looking at Weakness in Benchmark Singapore GRM’s in the back of weak demand. Reliance is expected to report GRM of $10.2 per barrel versus $10.8/bbl in 3QFY17 and $10.8/bbl in the year-ago quarter say analysts at Motilal Oswal who however expect Petchem Ebitda per tonne to increase to $300 compared $271.6 seen in the year-ago quarter.

The company’s investments in Refining and petchem segment are ripe to reap results. The process has already begun with the commissioning of the first phase (50 per cent capacity) of its 2.2 million metric tonne per annum paraxylene (PX) expansion project at the Jamnagar petrochemicals complex. While this commissioning is a key milestone, it was to be followed by the refinery off-gas cracker with 3.3 million tonne per annum capacity which is lined up for commissioning soon. The updates on the same will also be looked at by the street as also commissioning of a pet-coke regasification project that was to come on stream by mid-2017. These expansions are to accrue further benefits from the Q2FY18 post stabilisation of expansions and third quarter of FY18 may be a stronger quarter for RIL.
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Reliance Prime users get 448 GB data free on purchase of Galaxy S8, S8+

Launched in India on Wednesday amid much fanfare, the Samsung Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+ are two top-tier flagship smartphones. The sale of the smartphones will begin on 5 May, 2017 for Rs 57,900 and Rs 64,900, respectively on Flipkart as well as Samsung online store. To make the deal even sweeter, the smartphones come bundled with Reliance Jio exclusive offer that provide ‘Double Data’ to the Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+ customers.

As a promotional offer, the Samsung Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+ customer will get a Double Data offer on the Jio network. On a monthly recharge of Rs 309 users will enjoy 448 GB of 4G data over 8 months. This translated to 2 GB high-speed 4G data per day for next 8 months.

To recall, under Reliance Jio’s Dhana Dhan offer the subscribers are offered 1 GB 4G high-speed data per day for 3 months at a monthly recharge of Rs 309. Also, on a recharge of Rs 509, the subscribers get 2 GB 4G high-speed data for 3 months.

Effectively, the Reliance Jio ‘Double Data’ promotional offer that comes bundled with Samsung Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+ offers much more than double the data to Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+. At Rs 309 recharge, the prime users get 2 GB data per day – already double to what existing users get In Dhana Dhan offer – for 8 months.

The sale of Samsung Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+ devices will begin on 5 May, 2017 and therefore the benefits of Reliance Jio ‘Double Data’ promotional offer for the flagship smartphones buyers will continue till January 2018.

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4G data war: Airtel, Vodafone, Idea counter Reliance Jio with these offers

Last year, Mukesh Ambani, the Chairman and MD of Reliance Industries Ltd launched Reliance Jio services offering free VoLTE-based voice calls, apps, sms and high-speed 4G data. Soon after, the incumbents like Airtel, Vodafone and Idea faced the heat that led to the greatest tariff war in telecom sector of all times.

Now, when Reliance Jio trial offer giving free services is over and the telecom major is offering ultra-affordable plans and recharge options to provide free voice, sms, apps and high-speed 4G data, the other telecom giants such as Airtel, Vodafone and Idea are not leaving any loose ends to fight the competition by offering additional 4G data and free calls in existing postpaid and prepaid plans.

Here are the current plans that the telecom giants are offering:

Reliance Jio

Reliance Jio is currently offering three recharge offers to its prime users.

Rs 149 plan: The subscriber gets 2 GB high-speed 4G data for 28 days. In addition, there are free voice calls, Jio apps and 300 sms bundled with the offer.

Rs 309 offer: The subscriber gets 1 GB high-speed 4G data per day for 28 days. In addition, there are free voice calls, sms and Jio apps bundled with the offer.

Rs 509 offer: The subscriber gets 2 GB high-speed 4G data per day complimentary for 28 days. In addition, there are free voice calls, sms and Jio apps bundled with the offer.

For non-Prime members, the telecom operator is offering the above-mentioned plans at Rs 408 and Rs 608 (Jio Prime membership fee and regular recharge price).

The above-mentioned plans are not available for customers already registered for Jio Summer Surprise offer.

Airtel

Postpaid

Airtel is offering up to 30 GB of additional free data for the next three months. The offer can be availed using 'My Airtel' app by April 30. The offer is valid for users who joined Airtel network before 28 February.

Prepaid

Rs 399 plan: Under this pack, users will get 1 GB data per day only if they have a 4G smartphone and SIM card. The free calls incentive comes with a 3,000 minutes cap for a 70-day period. When the minutes gets exhausted, users will be charged Rs 0.10 a minute. For Airtel-Airtel calls, the limit is 300 minutes per day, but 1,200 minutes is the maximum consumption per week.

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Reliance Jio brings in new offer for Prime members; Airtel sees red

Barely a week after the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) asked Reliance Jio to withdraw its complimentary offer, the telecom operator on Tuesday announced a new plan of 1 GB 4G data for three months at Rs 309 for its Prime members.

Rival Airtel, however, dubbed it as a case of “old wine in a new bottle.”

Announcing its new offer, Jio said under the Rs 309 plan, it would provide “unlimited SMS, calling and data (1GB per day at 4G speed) for three months on the first recharge”. For Rs 509, the company is offering unlimited SMS, calling and double the data (2GB per day) for three months on the first recharge.

“Considering the special benefits that are available to Jio Prime members, customers who were unable to subscribe to Jio Prime for any reason can continue to do so by paying Rs 408 or Rs 608 (Jio Prime and recharge price) to avail these benefits,” said Jio in a statement.

The benefits of the plan would be available right away. Jio customers who have not got their first recharge, need to do so by 15 April.

Objecting to the offer, incumbent Bharti Airtel hoped that the “authority (Trai) will act against this provocative disregard of their direction”.

“We are surprised to see what Jio is doing. It violates the spirit of the Trai directive and essentially continues with a similar plan now masquerading under a different name. This is a classic example of old wine in a new bottle," an Airtel spokesperson said. READ MORE

Jio Prime membership numbers ring in summer surprise for Reliance investors

The Street has welcomed the strong customer response to Reliance Jio’s offer and the company’s plan to extend its Prime offer by 15 days. As analysts were anticipating Jio to retain 50-60 million customers after the end of its free period, the Prime membership number of 72 million customers also surprised the Street. Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL), whose subsidiary is Jio, ended at Rs 1,371.20 on BSE.

This extension will help the company increase its telecom subscriber base from 72 million to its target of 100 million, say analysts. Further, subscribers to the Rs 149 plan have got additional time to migrate to the upgraded Rs 303 plan, which should lead to a higher base of Prime subscribers. The extended period, according to analysts at CLSA, allows for gradual transiting from free to paid services and further cement high-data usage habits.

Jio, they add, could have well over 100 million paid subscribers by March 2018, which could drive an upgrade to the earnings estimate for FY19 and rerate the stock (RIL) significantly.

There are, however, some concerns. The first is delay in monetisation on the back of significant upfront investments, given the three more months of complimentary service, while the other is the indication that the ‘Summer Surprise’ offer is the first of many surprises for RJio’s Prime subscribers. (READ MORE)

Jio Prime membership: Cashbacks, other offers & discounts: Know everything

Mukesh Ambani-backed Reliance Jio Infocomm Limited has been offering free voice calls, SMS, app services and high-speed 4G data to its subscribers since its launch last year. And,  now that the Reliance Jio ‘Happy New Year’ offer is coming to an end on 31 March, 2017, the company is offering perks to secure as many subscribers as possible by offering membership plans and other benefits under which the subscribers can retain their Reliance Jio connection and continue to access and enjoy its services at an affordable price tag.

To continue taking the Reliance Jio benefits post 31 March, the subscribers need to recharge the Reliance Jio connection with Rs 99. This recharge enrolls the subscriber to Reliance Jio Prime membership aka “unlimited maza continue hoyenga” plan. Post recharging with Rs 99 Prime membership plan, the subscriber needs to do the monthly recharge as well but will get the Prime membership benefits.

Let’s look at the table to know what Reliance Jio Prime membership offers:
Apart from Prime membership plan perks, the company has been offering other incentives to retain its subscriber base. Take an example of the recent ‘Buy one get one free’ offers that assure additional benefits to subscribers.

Under ‘Buy one get one free’ offer, the subscribers get an option to recharge either by Rs 303 or Rs 499 and above. In Rs 303 recharge, the subscribers get an add-on worth Rs 201 for free with an additional 5GB of 4G data. In Rs 499 and above recharges, the subscribers get an add-on worth Rs 301 for free with an additional 10 GB of 4G data.

Not just recharges and membership plan, Reliance Jio has been offering perks on Jio apps as well. The Reliance Jio Money app is currently offering Rs 50 cash back on every Jio payment. If users take benefit of this cash back offer, they can actually get the Jio membership, which is of Rs 99, for free.

Here is how to get the cashback which covers the Reliance Jio Prime membership fee

All you need to know about Reliance Jio Prime membership that opens today

Latest Business News - The luxury enjoyed by Reliance Jio users is about to end. However, as a smart entrepreneur, Reliance Group chairman Mukesh Ambani has taken attractive measures to keep his loyal 100 million customers content. While Jio users will now be charged for data and other services from April 1, the company is seeking to retain them through special prime memberships at a one-time fee of Rs 99 and Rs 303 a month for unlimited voice, data and content.

Reliance Jio Prime subscriptions open from today and will close on March 31, 2017 for those who have signed up since September 5, 2016, when the services were first offered.

Jio Prime membership

Jio Prime requires one-time membership charge of Rs 99 to be paid before March 31, 2017. It is an extension of the unlimited services offered under the Happy New Year Offer. Users can apply for Jio Prime subscriptions till March 31, 2017. The Jio Prime plans come into effect from April 1, 2017, the day the existing Jio Happy New Year Offer expires

Here is what Jio Prime subscribers will get:

* Customers who sign up for Jio Prime subscription will be able to use unlimited data and voice services for a year at Rs 303 a month under a special offer (effectively just Rs 10/day)

* User can continue enjoying unlimited offering for another 12 months after enrolment.

* All domestic voice calls to any network will always remain free. No roaming charges will be applicable and there won't be black out days either.(Read More)