Reliance Jio free offer extended, competitor cries foul -Governance Now

Reliance Jio free offer extended, competitor cries foul

Business honcho Mukesh Ambani announces that Jio’s data, voice and video will be free till March 31.

Taru Bhatia | December 1, 2016 | New Delhi

#Idea Cellular #offer #Mukesh Ambani #Reliance Jio

Reliance Communications Ltd chief Mukesh Ambani on Thursday said that every new Jio user will get Jio’s Data, Voice, Video and the full bouquet of Jio applications absolutely free till March 31, 2017.

He called it the Jio happy new year offer.

At least one telecom competitor was unhappy with the move, while a telecom analyst said that Reliance is apparently not violating any Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) guidelines.

“Reliance has exceeded their trial period of 90 days and it should have got over on December 3. We now have to see how TRAI is going to take act,” said Rajat Mukherji, chief corporate affairs officer, Idea Cellular.

#jiooffer Tweets

Mukherji added that by introducing free services, Reliance is depriving the government of revenue.

A telecom expert, however, said that Reliance is not violating any TRAI guidelines as “it is offering free services as part of the commercial roll-out and not trial version”.

He also said that the benefits are going directly to the consumers and the company is not profiting from it. “Since profit is not being generated, Reliance is not breaching the law.”

In a series of tweets, Mukesh Ambani said that 80% of Jio users consume less than 1 GB of data daily. “1 GB per day is 30 times the average usage on other networks.”

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