JioPhone tariffs hike by 20% as introductory offer ends

A few years back, Reliance Jio announced its JioPhone for Indian users. JioPhone is an affordable feature phone that’s currently used by many new phone users or elderly people in India. The phone can be used with only the Jio SIM card, and especially for the JioPhone, a couple of cheaper plans were released. However, the cheaper Jio plans aren’t cheaper anymore, as the company has hiked the tariffs by 20%.

JioPhone tariffs increase by 20%

Initially, all the JioPhone tariffs were offered at an introductory price. But, reportedly, the introductory offer has ended and the prices have been increased by 20%. The price change is also reflected on the company website.

The Rs. 155 JioPhone plan now costs Rs. 186 offering 28 days of validity. The Rs. 185 plan’s price is now increased to Rs. 222 offering the same 28 days of validity. The premium plan of Rs. 748, which offers a validity of almost a year, i.e. 336 days, now cost Rs. 899.

It is worth noting that, Reliance Jio has been increasing the prices even of its regular recharge plans. In fact, another telco player Bharti Airtel as well rosed its recharge plans. Both have increased the price prepaid plan tariffs by up to 25%. This is to boost their average revenue per user (ARPU) to sustain in the market.

In the past, with these tariff hikes, both telcos have seen a loss of subscribers. However, these subscribers were from the lower end of the spectrum, meaning those whose monthly spending is low. That said, they do not contribute to the ARPU of a company.

Specifically for Jio, it was reported that it won’t lose many subscribers as its tariffs are still low than the competition like Bharti Airtel and Vi.

Jio is reported to have seen steady growth in ARPU at 10.6% to Rs. 168 in March this year. Bharti Airtel saw the highest ARPU at Rs. 178 amongst all the top telcos.

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