The pain for Bharti Airtel, Vodafone India and Idea Cellular may be far from over as Reliance Jio is seen preparing a massive rollout of its low-cost smartphone that could deal yet another heavy blow to the incumbent telecom operators’ revenue. Speaking at the Uttar Pradesh Investors’ Forum in Lucknow today, Reliance Jio Chairman Mukesh […]
After advising restraint in the fight with new operator Reliance Jio, it seems to be the turn of Idea Cellular and its partner Vodafone to slash prices. Both operators have cut the price of the cheapest unlimited voice and data pack to the Rs 150 range from Rs 200 range, bringing them into direct competition […]
Kotak Institutional Equities has withdrawn its rating on Bharti Airtel, expressing concern about what exactly new entrant Reliance Jio is trying to achieve in the market with its relentless price cuts. “What does Jio want,” asked analyst Rohit Chordia in his note withdrawing his rating on Bharti Airtel. “Even as the company’s actions thus far […]
Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd or BSNL, which is scheduled to start its 4G services this month, has overhauled its tariff plans in circles such as Kerala, the first state in line for LTE launch. As part of the tariff overhaul, it has withdrawn its most jaw-dropping plans, and replaced them with newer ones. The impact […]
When Mukesh Ambani launched his telecom venture a year ago, it was based on one key assumption: India is a data starved country, and given the right pricing, demand for the commodity is almost insatiable. Going by the latest industry data from the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India, he may be right on the money. […]
As expected, Reliance Jio has launched its first monthly plans — Rs 199 for 1.2 GB per day and Rs 299 for 2 GB per day. The plans were anticipated after the newcomer unveiled its permanent plans on Diwali — more than a month ago. The plans price data at roughly the same levels as […]
Hit by a loss of subscribers, Idea Cellular seems to be having second thoughts about its strategy of always pricing its packs above those of Reliance Jio. The mobile operator has now slashed the price of its 70-day unlimited pack to Rs 398 from Rs 448 earlier for many of its 4G customers. This makes […]
Tata Teleservices, which is awaiting regulatory nod to be merged with Bharti Airtel, reported a 4.7% decline in its mobile subscribers in two circles for the month of November. The total number of mobile subscribers of the company fell to 6.16 mln users in Goa, Mumbai and Maharashtra by the end of November. A month […]
Bharti Airtel has unveiled two new publicly available 4G plans with 2 GB and 3 GB of data allocation per day, along with free voice and SMS benefits. These plans are unique as currently no other operator offers 2GB or 3G per day at these price levels. Airtel has priced its 3 GB per day […]
A new plan being bundled with Xiaomi’s new affordable plan, Redmi 5A, suggests that Reliance Jio could soon launch its first monthly unlimited plan priced at Rs 199. The plan, valid for four weeks, will give 1 GB of data per day, unlimited voice and access to Jio apps. The bundled offer on Xiaomi 5A […]
Following Idea Cellular and Bharti Airtel, Vodafone too has increased the data allocation on its Rs 349 plan to 1.5 GB per day from 1 GB per day. Over the last few days, Bharti Airtel and Idea Cellular too had increased quota by 50% to cope with competition from Reliance Jio. These plans, which offer […]
Idea Cellular, reportedly India’s third largest 4G operator by volume, has started offering a 100% cash-back scheme even as the Cellular Operators Association has complained against such schemes. Similar cash back schemes have been announced by Reliance Jio in an effort to maintain its subscriber base. Like Jio, Idea too offers cash back coupons of […]
Idea Cellular has abandoned its earlier strategy of ‘limited aggression’ in dealing with the threat from Reliance Jio and Bharti Airtel, and will be more visible in its counter strikes from now, said CEO Himanshu Kapania. “From end October, Idea has shifted its earlier stand of limited aggression, which was limited to offering unlimited plans […]
Bharti Airtel said it had introduced new 4G plans for its postpaid, or contract, customers, bringing some of the benefits that were hitherto available only to the prepaid segment. The new plan has been priced at Rs 499 plan for the postpaid segment. However, compared to prepaid plans, the benefits are lower for postpaid users […]
Mukesh Ambani, chairman of Reliance Jio will make a ‘significant announcement’ about the 4G wireless service provider’s offerings at 11 AM on Friday while delivering his annual speech at its parent’s annual general meeting. A live webcast of Mukesh Ambani’s speech at the AGM, at which he is expected to announce the launch of ultra-cheap […]
Reliance Jio has officially withdrawn its Summer Surprise offer on its website and put up a new banner saying that it will be introducing new plans soon. “We are updating our tariff packs and will be soon introducing more exciting offers,” the company says on its website in place of the Summer Surprise details, as […]
Whenever companies in a protected market become complacent, disruption is not far off in the form of a revolutionary newcomer. India’s telecom biggies — lulled into complacency with copy-cat products and tariffs — are now undergoing a mega disruption in the form of Reliance Jio’s entry. While Bharti Airtel has responded by cutting its data price […]
It looks like there was some confusion in the way the tariff chart for Reliance Jio’s new 4G service was presented at the annual general meeting of Reliance Industries. When RIL Chairman Mukesh Ambani said: Here are the ten plans of Reliance Jio, many were busy counting the tariff schemes on the screen, and sure […]
Reliance Communications, one of India’s largest telecom companies, is offering India’s cheapest call rate – 25 paise per minute – for both STD and local calls for subscribers of its CDMA service. The offer, called ‘Diwali Dhamaka’ is available in most circles. In certain circles, however, the call rate is 30 paise per minute. In […]
Broker Credit Suisse said most Indian telecom companies have absorbed the impact of higher service tax on their accounts, instead of passing it on to customers by raising the price of vouchers. “Our quick checks on tariff changes over the last couple of days suggest that telcos have largely absorbed the recent increase in service […]
