Reliance Jio has unveiled eight new plans that have brought down the price of 4G data by 32% to Rs 3.56 per GB from Rs 5.19 per GB earlier.
The new plans are available from Tuesday and will make most of the the company’s existing plans irrelevant (see table below).
The new plans start from Rs 149 to Rs 498.
The plans are divided into two — four of them that offer 1 GB per day and the remaining four that offer 1.5 GB per day.
On a per-GB basis, the 1.5GB/day plans are about 25% cheaper than the 1GB/day packs.
In other words, all the 1.5GB packs are cheaper than all the 1GB plans.
Within these two groups of 1GB and 1.5GB, Jio is offering four validities — 28 days (4 weeks), 70 days (10 weeks), 84 days (12 weeks) and 91 days (13 weeks).
Within the four validities, the cheapest plans are the 84-day packs, followed by the 91-day packs and then by the 70-day pack. The most expensive plans are the 28-day packs.
In other words, to find the cheapest plan on a per-GB basis, one has to look at the 1.5 GB plan for 84 days. This plan costs Rs 448, and delivers a per-GB pricing of Rs 3.56.
Before the latest plans were announced, the most value-for-money offer used to be the 509 recharge, which gave 2GB per day for 49 days, implying a cost of Rs 5.19 per GB.
Looking only at 1GB/day packs, the cheapest is the 84-day recharge of Rs 399. This implies a price of Rs 4.75 per GB.
All the eight new schemes are cheaper than any offer from rivals like Bharti Airtel, Vodafone and Idea Cellular.
The cheapest offer from the incumbents is Bharti Airtel’s 448 pack that offers 1GB per day for 82 days, implying a cost of Rs 5.46 per GB. When compared to Jio’s 448 pack, Airtel’s data charge is higher by 54%.
The most price-effective offer from Idea is the 449 recharge, which gives 70 GB at an average cost of Rs 6.41. Compared to the lowest price offered by Jio, this is 80% more expensive.
The move by the newcomer will put further pressure on the incumbent operators, who have been reeling from the impact of Jio’s earlier plans.
Before the entry of the Mukesh Ambani-led company, wireless data was being charged at Rs 220 per GB.
| TSP | PACK | GB/day | Validity | Total GB | Rs/GB | Price comp |
| Jio | 448 | 1.5 | 84 | 126 | 3.56 | 0.00% |
| Jio | 498 | 1.5 | 91 | 136.5 | 3.65 | 2.48% |
| Jio | 398 | 1.5 | 70 | 105 | 3.79 | 6.47% |
| Jio | 198 | 1.5 | 28 | 42 | 4.71 | 32.42% |
| Jio | 399 | 1 | 84 | 84 | 4.75 | 33.43% |
| Jio | 449 | 1 | 91 | 91 | 4.93 | 38.60% |
| Jio | 349 | 1 | 70 | 70 | 4.99 | 40.05% |
| Jio | 509 | 2 | 49 | 98 | 5.19 | 45.79% |
| Jio | 149 | 1 | 28 | 28 | 5.32 | 49.48% |
| Jio | 299 | 2 | 28 | 56 | 5.34 | 50.00% |
| Airtel | 448 | 1 | 82 | 82 | 5.46 | 53.47% |
| Vod | 509 | 1 | 84 | 84 | 6.06 | 70.21% |
| Vod/Airt | 350 | 2 | 28 | 56 | 6.25 | 75.56% |
| Idea | 449 | 1 | 70 | 70 | 6.41 | 80.18% |
| Airtel | 549 | 3 | 28 | 84 | 6.54 | 83.59% |
| Vod | 458 | 1 | 70 | 70 | 6.54 | 83.79% |
| Id/Vod/Airt | 199 | 1 | 28 | 28 | 7.11 | 99.64% |
| Idea | 357 | 1.5 | 28 | 42 | 8.50 | 138.76% |
| New plans are highlighted in yellow | ||||||