Reliance Jio[1] made a grand entrance in the Indian telecom sector in September last year, and has completely changed the way the market operates. Jio's free calls and data compelled market leaders Airtel[2], Vodafone[3], Idea Cellular[4], and BSNL[5] to launch competing plans, a trend that was expected to continue at least till the Mukesh Ambani-owned brand started paid services. However, even after Jio service became paid in April this year, the rivals have continued doling out data-heavy prepaid packs and postpaid plans. In fact, the market sees a new plan being announced by the telcos almost every week. Here, we take a quick look at the best data and talk value offers launched by all the major telcos since the Jio Summer Surprise offer was launched.
Reliance Jio
With its launch in September last year, Reliance Jio revealed the Jio Welcome Offer, with free data, calling, SMS, and app services to customers. While the operator claims calling will remain free on its VoLTE network, its promotional launch offer for free data, SMS, and app services was extended for another three-months from January with the Happy New Year offer. Reliance Jio started its paid services in April[6], and alongside also introduced[7] the three month Jio Summer Surprise offer for customers who purchase the Jio Prime membership - at Rs. 99 - valid until March 2018.
The Jio Summer Surprise offer[8] provides 1GB 4G data per day up to 90 days at Rs. 303 and 2GB 4G data per day up to three months at Rs. 499. Postpaid customers get 60GB of 4G data for the billing cycle, with the FUP set at 2GB per day....