If you have been fearful of the fact that Reliance Jio might end its free 4G data and voice call offering before March 31, 2017, here's some comforting news. The company's chairman Mukesh Ambani responded to TRAI about the Happy New Year offer saying it complies with existing norms of limiting promotional offers to 90 days.
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For the users of Jio, the Happy New Year offer, which was announced on December 1, certainly felt like an extension of free data and call services. But there's a slight change in the new plan, which makes it entirely different than the original Welcome Offer, which gave unlimited calls and data benefits to its users for 90 days.
According to Ambani, the original Welcome Offer was entirely free whereas the Happy New Offer lets users recharge once the 1GB daily data limit has exhausted. According to Economic Times, Jio said that the tariff plans have several components and changing one of them changes the offer, which does not make Happy New Year plan an extension of the Welcome Offer.
Well, one might call this smart thinking and execution, but Jio has a point from a technical POV.
The response from Jio comes after TRAI had sought an explanation from the new telco on its free data and calls offer till March 31, 2017, since its promotional 90-day period ended on December 4. The new offer by Jio was welcomed by its users, but did not sit well with incumbents such as Airtel, which lodged a petition before Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT) against TRAI and Jio to end the free offering.
Furthermore, Jio, which has more than 63 million users, commands a six percent of the market share, which is well within the CCI's (Competition Commission of India) norm to trigger "misuse of market dominance" clause. According to CCI, a telco would fall under that category only if it crosses a 30 percent threshold.
The hearing for Airtel's petition is set for January 6, 2017, which will shed more light on this matter. Until then, it appears Jio users are good to go till March 31.
