Reliance Jio launched the much awaited JioFiber service on Thursday with broadband plans starting from Rs 699. With a promise of high speeds, incredible pricing and freebies, JioFiber is being touted as the next big disruptor after Jio disrupted the telecom industry three years ago.
At first glance, it does look disruptive. After all, the Mukesh Ambani-led company is giving you a free router, a free set top box, a free TV and so much more. But is JioFiber really that cheap? The devil is in the details.
To begin with, let’s compare JioFiber’s plans with that of existing players.
For its most basic plan, JioFiber is giving users 100GB of data at a speed of 100Mbps. It also comes with an additional 50GB for six months as an introductory offer. While the plan is unlimited, after using 100GB, the speed will be reduced to 1Mbps. Along with this plan, customers get three months of JioSaavn and JioCinema. All customers also get Jio Home Gateway (router) and Jio 4K set-top box for free with every plan.
In comparison, Airtel, its biggest rival currently, is offering the same speed but with 300GB data cap at a price of Rs 1,099 monthly. This plan also comes with a bonus of 500GB valid for 6 months, including subscription to Amazon Prime, Netflix, Zee5 Premium and Airtel Xtream. Airtel Xstream Box is the company’s newest offering which has live TV channels as well as OTT apps such as Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, YouTube, Airtel store.
Tata sky broadband, on the other hand, offers the same speed for a month with unlimited data at Rs 1,599.
While JioFiber is the cheapest of the lot, the prices are exclusive of GST. Currently, optical fiber attracts a GST rate of 18%. In addition to this, there is a one-time payment of Rs 2,500 of which Rs 1,500 is security deposit and Rs 1,000 for installation (non-refundable).
Other freebies that caught everyone’s attention after Ambani’s announcement at the AGM included free televisions, access to VR platforms and even its first day first show offering where you could watch a movie the same day it was released.
However, free televisions are given only to those who opt for JioFiber’s Gold, Diamond, Platinum and Titanium plans. These plans start from Rs 31,176 a year and go all the way up to Rs 1.019 lakh rupees a year excluding GST. JioFiber’s brochure states that the device and integrated offering will be from Reliance Retail. This could mean that the televisions would be from the brand ‘Reconnect’, which is Reliance Retail’s private label.
Additionally, all plans also come with free voice calling, TV video calling/conferencing, zero-latency gaming, content sharing and Norton device security for up to five devices. Subscribers will need to buy required devices compatible for these services. This could include devices such as cameras, microphones, controllers, etc.
While other broadband providers are offering more data, Jio’s main USP for its JioFiber offering is the freebies it is offering. Apart from that, cost-wise, other players too, are quite competitively priced.