Shares of telecom companies surged on Monday on the back of news that Reliance Industries Ltd’s Jio raised tariffs last week. Shares of Bharti Airtel surged over 2.5%, Idea Cellular 4% and RIL 2%. The biggest gainer from Jio’s tariff hike is Idea Cellular on Tuesday morning trade as its share surged as much as 4.38% at Rs 94.25.
The shares of Bharti Airtel rose 2.7% at 486.95 to highest in over eight years, while shares of Reliance Industries Ltd surged 2.3% at Rs 924.80, a record high. Reliance Jio’s entry in the telecom market with freebies had sparked a stiff competition, subsequently leading to a proposed merger between Vodafone and Idea Cellular. However, Jio reported a loss of Rs 270.59 crore in its first quarterly financial performance for the period ended September 30, following which it cut the validity period of its Rs 399 data plan from 84 days to 70 days, among other cuts.
New Jio Postpaid plans
Under the new offer, Jio Prime postpaid users on a recharge of Rs 309 will get 30GB of 4G data per month and there will be a daily FUP limit of 1GB. In a Rs 409 plan, they will be offered 20GB for a month and it will not have any kind of daily limit. Under the Rs 509 plan, now users will get 60GB of data per month but will now have 2GB of data limit per day. In a new Rs 799 plan, the users will be provided with 90GB of data, and the daily cap has been set at 3GB per day. Also, there is a Rs 999 offer, which will provide 60GB of data. This plan will not have any daily limit.
New Jio Prepaid plans
Under the new plan, Jio Prime postpaid users will now have the option to choose from 9 different offers. Fromm weekly plans to annual offer, the new offers have a range of choices. The lowest plan is valued at Rs 52 and it offers 1.05GBof data. This offer is valid for 1 week and has a daily cap of 0.15GB. The highest plan under the new offer is priced at Rs 4,999. This package offers 350GB of data and is valid for 360 days. There is no daily FUP cap on this deal. Additionally, there is the Rs 149 plan which offers 4.2GB of data and is valid for 28 days. There is a daily limit of 0.15GB on this offer.
While the decision to raise tariff would be hurting its customers, it signals pricing discipline in the sector, Reuters reported. The report quoted Deutsche Bank saying that Jio’s action implies a “progressively normalisation of sector pricing”. According to the Reliance Industries Q2 earnings report, the subscriber base of Jio grew to 138.6 million by the end of September. The company said that at 138.6 million, Reliance Jio has country’s largest wireless data subscriber base.