NE BUSINESS BUREAU
MUMBAI, FEB 26
Billionaire Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance on Friday announced a new offer that bundles JioPhone device and 2 years of unlimited services for Rs 1,999, as it pledged to accelerate market transition towards ”2G-mukt Bharat” with its affordable services.
The new offer “keeps affordability at the core” making the JioPhone and its services accessible to the 300 million feature phone users, who are “trapped in the 2G era”, the company said announcing the ”New JioPhone 2021 offer”.
“There are still 300 million subscribers in India who remain ‘trapped’ in the 2G era, unable to access basic features of the internet, at a time, when the world stands at the cusp of a 5G revolution,” Reliance Jio Director Akash Ambani said.
Over the past four years, Jio has democratised the internet and passed on the benefits of technology to every Indian, he said adding that technology no longer remains a privilege of a select few.
“The New JioPhone 2021 offer is another step in that direction. At Jio, we have and will continue to take bold steps to eradicate this digital divide and welcome every Indian to join this movement,” Ambani added.
For new users, the offer packs-in JioPhone device with 2 years of unlimited voice calls as well as data (2 GB high-speed Data every month) for Rs 1,999. The JioPhone device with 1-year unlimited services would be available for Rs 1,499.
The company claimed that for similar services, customers using other networks shell out “2.5X more”.
This latest offer will be available from March 1, across Reliance Retail and Jio retailers.
Jio said 2G customers spend about Rs 5,000 for 2 years which includes a total recharge of Rs 3,600 and a feature phone in the price range of Rs 1,200-1,500 a unit.
The company said feature phone users pay Rs 1.2-Rs 1.5 every minute of voice call and Rs 45-50 every month to keep their connections active.
Jio claimed to have upgraded over 10 crore users onto the JioPhone platform.
