MUMBAI, Dec. 4 (Xinhua) -- Indian telecom operator, Reliance Jio, has raised its tariff by 40 percent effective from Friday December 6, a company statement said Wednesday.
The operator claimed that its plans are the most affordable in the industry and offer up to 300 percent benefits than its previous tariff offer.
The revision in tariff from the country's largest telecom operator with over 355 million users follows the foot steps of Vodafone Idea and Bharti Airtel announcing tariff hike by similar 40 percent effective December 3.
While remaining committed to the ultimate interest of the consumer, Jio will take all necessary steps to help sustain the Indian telecommunications industry. It will continue to work with the government on the consultation process for revision of telecom tariffs and looks forward to participation from all other stakeholders, the statement said.
"Though the quantum of price hike is still not enough for sustainability of Vodafone Idea, the trend reversal opens scope for another round of price hike. Our analysis indicates Reliance Jio, Bharti Airtel, Vodafone Idea are offering services significantly below cost," said a telecom analyst with a domestic brokerage.
As Reliance Jio was at the forefront of aggressive pricing in the sector, resulting in bankruptcy of weaker players and increasing financial stress for Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea, the announcement of price hike by Reliance Jio is likely to set the stage for improvement in the financial health of telecom companies with incumbents also taking price hike without risk of subscriber loss, the analyst said.
According to a recent study, India has the cheapest mobile data in the world with 1GB costing just 0.26 U.S. dollars as compared to global average of about 8.36 U.S. dollars.
