Reliance Jio hikes tariff, introduces Rs459 plan in place of Rs399 pack

After a year of pampering customers with freebies and the lowest rates, Reliance Jio has now revised its tariff plans to generate additional revenues and set the telco on a course to profitability. Jio has downgraded its Rs309 plan or rather abandoned it, while introducing a costlier Rs459 plan under the tariff revision effective 19 October.

The Rs459 pack will now provide the benefits that were available earlier under the Rs399 pack, although at 15 per cent higher price. The Rs399 pack will provide less validity (and thus less data) to consumers, down from 84 days to 70 days.

For the Rs309 recharge, the validity is now down from 56 days to 49 days. And for those who exhaust their quota of daily high-speed internet, they will now get internet access at 64kbps speed, half of the 128kbps Jio offered till now.

In fact, Jio has taken out the Rs309 plan from its offer list even though this will be made available as a recharge option via the MyJio app.

In high-value recharges, the data cap of the Rs999, Rs1,999, and Rs4,999 has been reduced as well, while their validities remain the same at 90 days, 180 days, and 360 days, respectively. The Rs999 recharge pack now offers 60GB data instead of 90GB, and Rs1,999 plan gives 125GB data, not 155GB. Similarly, Jio subscribers will get 350GB data with the Rs4,999 pack, down 30GB from the earlier 380GB. The Rs9,999 plan – the most expensive the company offered till now – seems to have been eliminated altogether.

For postpaid users, the validity of all plans have been curtailed, as all plans now have a validity of 1 billing cycle (30 days) only. Jio had earlier offered validities of up to three months with its postpaid plans. Also, there is a security deposit with each postpaid plan now, and post-FUP speed will be 64kbps.

The Rs309 plan still remains in the postpaid list, with 30GB data doled out at 1GB per day. The security deposit for the pack is Rs400.

The Rs409 pack comes with 20GB data without any daily restrictions on consumption. The security deposit is Rs500. The Rs459 plan doesn't seem to be an option for postpaid users.

The Rs509 Jio plan with 2GB data per day, totalling 60GB comes with Rs600 deposit. If you want 3GB daily data, there's the new Rs799 pack with Rs950 security deposit.

The Rs999 postpaid plan, which gives customers 60GB data without any daily limits, is available with security deposit of Rs1,150.