Reliance Jio has started sending messages to those who availed its free 90 day preview offer informing them that their preview offers are being extended.
“As a special gesture, we have extended our trial period. We will be auto-refilling your balance accordingly,” the company said in an SMS sent to preview users today.
This would seem to imply that the launch may not happen on Aug 15 as reported recently by the Economic Times.
Jio started activating free previews early in May, and these early adopters were set to see their unlimited data and voice over get over by now.
Users have reported getting an SMS informing them that their preview offer has been extended by 30 days.
If the company was starting commercial operations on Aug 15, as was reported, there would be no need for further extensions. For now, therefore, it looks like commercial launch could take places in September or October.
Meanwhile, there is also a chance that the company could offer some new scheme or other on the occasion of India’s Independence Day on August 15.
Reliance Retail typically gives big discounts and offers on Aug 15. Often, for example, Reliance Retail gives Rs 1947 worth of free goods for anyone purchasing Rs 1947 worth of goods from its outlets.
It is likely that some new scheme along these lines could be announced by Jio on this independence day.
There are also reports that Jio could start porting in services on the day.
At present, the company does not allow users to port in to its network. Instead, users have to buy a new phone and a new connection to use the services.
Jio has been getting increasingly aggressive with its offers in recent days.
For example, it recently cut the price of its Water 7 handset to Rs 9,999.
The Water 7 tablet is one of the best looking phones in the mid-range market, and offers a high-quality 5.5-inch full-HD display and a metal body, along with a two-year warranty.
Since it comes with free data for 90 days, it can also take on the biggies in the space such as Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 and LeEco Le 2.
However, unlike these models, Water 7 suffers from two problems: It has only 2 GB of RAM, and it comes with only a 3 Ah battery to support the power-hungry Snapdragon 615 chipset. The SD 615 is one of the most power-hungry chipsets of recent times, and is noted for its heating and battery-depletion abilities.