Reliance Jio Prime membership at Rs 99: Here’s what the rivals offer

Reliance Jio’s 4G services will become a paid service from April 1, 2017. So it looks like the free data ride is now coming to an end, but there’s a new deal that Reliance is offering to customers. Reliance Jio Prime membership was announced on Tuesday by RIL Chairman Mukesh Ambani, and it could prove to be an effective way of retaining its 100 million subscribers.

But is the Rs 99 per year Reliance Jio Prime membership worth it? What are rivals like Vodafone and Airtel offering for data charges? Here’s a quick look at all the options to consider.

Reliance Jio Prime membership offer

Currently Reliance Jio’s Happy New Year Offer gives users unlimited daily data (cap at 1GB per day), unlimited voice calls, videos calls and SMS. But from April 1, these services will be paid. Enter Reliance Jio Prime membership.

The charge: Rs 99 to be paid to enjoy the “Jio Prime Offer.” The membership is valid till March 31, 2018, although Reliance has not specified if users will have to continue this after the period is over.

Once you’ve paid the Rs 99 yearly fee, your Reliance Jio number will continue to offer the same services under the Happy New Year Offer, but there’s a Rs 303 monthly cost involved. Essentially for this Rs 303 per month you will get unlimited voice, video calling services with 1GB high-speed daily data. Post the FUP limit of 1GB, speed will reduce to 128 Kbps for the day 

Basically customers are getting 30GB for the month at Rs 303, which is a lot if you consider that a majority of users are relying on Jio as their primary data connection. Additionally users will get unlimited data between 2 am to 5 am. Users will get to enjoy all Jio premium apps free for one year, but remember data consumed on these apps is deducted from your regular data balance.

Users need to sign up before March 31 to get the benefits of Reliance Jio Prime membership.

But Jio is not the only one offering unlimited calling, extra data benefits to its customers. Here’s a look at plans from rival Airtel, Vodafone, and Idea Cellular. Technically no other player is offering 1GB data per day to its users, but free calling has become common across telecom players.