Reliance Jio pays Rs 30,791 crore to clear bulk of spectrum dues

 The company estimates that the above prepayments will result in interest cost savings of around Rs 1,200 crore

Reliance Jio on Wednesday said it has paid its entire deferred liabilities pertaining to spectrum acquisition prior to March 2021. The company has paid Rs 30,791 crore (including accrued interest) to the Department of Telecom towards prepayment of the entire deferred liabilities pertaining to spectrum acquired in auctions of year 2014, 2015, 2016 and the spectrum acquired in year 2021 through trading of the right to use with Bharti Airtel Limited. These liabilities were due in annual instalments from FY 2022-23 to 2034-35 and carried interest rate between 9.30 per cent to 10 per cent with an average residual period of more than 7 years. The company estimates that the above prepayments will result in interest cost savings of around Rs 1,200 crore annually, at the current interest rates, it said in a statement.

Reliance Jio's 2G-free India drive likely to hit Vodafone Idea hard

About 60% of Vodafone Idea's customer base is in the 2G space

Mukesh Ambani’s plan to make India ‘2G-mukt’ will hit the incumbent operators hard, especially Vodafone Idea given its large base of 2G subscribers. After racking up 100 million users for its 4G-enabled feature phones (JioPhone), Reliance Jio in partnership with Google is eyeing the entry-level smartphone segment. Jio is planning to win over 350 million 2G feature phone users by launching a smartphone ‘at a fraction of the current cost’.

Experts believe that Jio, which dominates the mobile broadband space (4G) with 58 per cent market share, could capture the incumbents’ market share in the feature phone segment with its new offering. While Bharti Airtel has 135 million 2G users, 47 per cent of its total subscriber base of 283 million, Vodafone Idea has 174 million 2G users, about 60 per cent of its total subscriber base of 291 million at the end of the March quarter.

Mayuresh Joshi, head of equity research at William O’Neil India, says: “Vodafone Idea has the highest 2G subscriber base among the top three operators. This coupled with a weak financial situation and inability to commit large capex investment will make it the most susceptible to subscriber loss. The ongoing churn for Vodafone could accelerate if Jio is able to launch a smartphone at a substantially lower cost in partnership with Google.”

Airtel, Voda Idea and Jio to hike mobile, data tariffs by up to 40%

Tariff hike for Airtel and Vodafone will be effective from Dec 3, while for Jio the new rates will be applicable from Dec 6

Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea on Sunday announced a tariff hike in the range of 15 per cent and 40 per cent across different plans. The tariff hike by both companies will be applicable from December 3, 2019. Vodafone Idea on Sunday said its new plans for its prepaid products and services would be available across India, starting 00:00 hours of December 3, 2019.

Airtel’s new plans represent tariff increases in the range of a mere 50 paise per day to Rs 2.85 per day and offer generous data and calling benefits. “Our new mobile plans offer tremendous value to our customers and are backed by a superior network experience on Airtel’s nationwide 4G Shashwat Sharma, chief marketing officer, Bharti Airtel, said in the statement.

Reliance Jio also said it would be introducing new plans with unlimited voice and data. These plans will have a fair usage policy for calls to other mobile networks. The new plans will be effective from December 6, 2019. “Although the new all-in-one plans will be priced up to 40 per cent higher, staying true to its promise of being customer-first, Reliance Jio customers will get up to 300 per cent more benefits,” Reliance Jio said in a release.

Vodafone Idea reported a massive pre-tax loss of Rs 36,959 crore in Q2 after it provided for payments related to AGR. The company took a hit of Rs 30,774 crore (including AGR) for the quarter. This led to a loss of Rs 50,922 crore at the net level — the highest-ever for an Indian company. The company had posted a loss of Rs 4,974 crore in the year-ago quarter, while the loss in the April-June quarter was Rs 4,874 crore….

AGR payments: Reliance Jio slams peers, questions telecom sector stress

Says incumbents have enough resources, monetisation opportunities pay up

Reliance Jio on Wednesday attacked incumbent operators, saying it disagreed with “the threatening and blackmailing tone” of the Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) letter. In a letter on Tuesday night, the COAI had written to Communications Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad, claiming that the Supreme Court (SC) judgment on the adjusted gross revenue (AGR) will lead to a monopoly in the sector and the government’s digitisation programme will suffer.

The Supreme Court (SC) had on October 24 agreed with the Department of Telecom’s (DoT’s) definition of the AGR, asking the telcos to pay dues and interest amounting to Rs 1.33 trillion within three months.

In its letter of protest addressed to COAI Secretary General Rajan Matthew, Reliance Jio said it had taken “strong umbrage at the COAI exploiting the legitimate payout obligations to create alarmist propaganda”. It also alleged “it appears that this sum was used for expanding some other business as per their (incumbents’) commercial decisions”.

A top executive of Jio said: “We do not agree to the contention of the incumbents that they are not in a financial position to pay their legitimate dues.” In its letter, Jio said, “operators have capacity and enough monetisation possibilities to comfortably pay government dues”…

Jio says rivals fraudulently claiming IUC; asks Trai to slap penalties

In a letter to Trai, it alleged the three firms have allotted mobile numbers as customer care or helpline numbers to companies such as Oyo, Justdial, and Videocon D2H

Reliance Jio has accused Bharti Airtel, Vodafone Idea, and Bharat Sanchar Nigam (BSNL) of fraudulently claiming interconnect usage charge (IUC) from it, for incoming calls on landline numbers.

It asked Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) to penalise the three entities and to direct them to refund the money, with interest. In a letter to Trai, it alleged the three firms have allotted mobile numbers as customer care or helpline numbers to companies such as Oyo, Justdial, and Videocon D2H.

A breach, it says, of the IUC regulations Trai issued in 2003. These prescribe separate charges for calls terminating on wireless and wireline numbers — current per minute termination charges are 6p and nil, respectively.

Reliance Jio said in all these cases the mobile number acts as a virtual number for routing customer care and helpline-related calls. “Thus, even when the calling party is dialling the mobile numbers, all such calls are actually terminating on the fixed lines without ever touching the radio access network of the terminating operator,” went the Jio letter.

It said this situation changes the nature and character of a call from ‘mobile to wireline network’ to ‘mobile to mobile network’. In the interconnect agreements signed between Jio and Airtel, Vodafone Idea and BSNL for calls on universal access and toll-free numbers, the originating operator receives 36-52p a minute from the terminating one. “We suspect thousands of such numbers are operational in the market, deployed by them,” Jio said...

Uncertain over IUC regime, Jio to charge for calls to other networks

This will effectively end one of Jio key disruptive strategies – free voice call

Reliance Jio on Wednesday said it would charge 6 paise per minute for voice calls made by customer to other networks such as Airtel and Vodafone Idea after indications that call connect charges may not end on December 31 as proposed earlier.

Current customers when they recharge as well those joining the Jio network from Thursday will have to top up with Rs 10 to Rs 100 to pay for interconnect usage charge (IUC). They will, however, get an equivalent amount of free data — 1 GB to 10 GB. “Jio will provide additional data entitlement of equivalent value based on IUC top-up voucher consumption. This will ensure no increase in tariff for customers,” Jio said.

This will effectively end one of Reliance Jio key disruptive strategies — free voice call. But, it will also help the telco save Rs 650 crore in the coming quarter. It had paid Rs 851 crore to Airtel, Vodafone Idea and BSNL last quarter as IUC. Jio also said this new expense for customers would be a temporary one till telecom regulator Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) decides to abolish the IUC regime.

Sources said Jio was trying to send a message to the regulator — if the IUC regime continues it would not bear the costs. “It is our shareholders’ money that it being paid out. This is purely a regulatory charge that will be offloaded to the customer,” said the source….

Bad news for Jio users as calls to rival networks won’t be free anymore

After Trai consultation paper on review of IUC regime timeline, Reliance Jio has decided to charge users 6 paise a minute for calls to rival networks

Forced by regulatory uncertainty over review of sunset clause for call termination charges, billionaire Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Jio on Wednesday announced it will charge customers 6 paise per minute for voice calls made to rival phone networks, but will compensate them by giving free data of equal value.

In a statement, Reliance Jio said the 6 paisa charge will remain in place till the time telecom operators are required to pay rivals for mobile phone calls made by their users to other operators’ network. These charges are not applicable on calls made by Jio users to other Jio phones and to landline phones and calls made using WhatsApp, FaceTime and other such platforms. Incoming calls from all networks will continue to be free.

Telecom regulator TRAI in 2017 had slashed the so-called interconnect usage charge (IUC) to 6 paise per minute from 14 paise and had said this regime will end by January 2020. But it has now floated a consultation paper to review whether the regime timeline needs to be extended.

Since voice calls on Jio network are free, the company had to bear the Rs 13,500 crore payment made to rivals such as Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea. To recover the losses created by the TRAI move, the company has decided to charge customers 6 paise per minute for every call they make to a rival’s network.

Airtel launches digital platform Xstream to take on Reliance JioFiber

This is a strategic move by Airtel to tap into the 18-million broadband-connected homes in the country.

In a bid to take on rival Reliance Jio’s fiber-to-home (FTH) plan JioFiber, Bharti Airtel on Monday launched its digital entertainment platform Airtel Xstream. Its subscribers will be able to access live TV, video, music, news and sports on an over-the-top (OTT) smart stick, internet-enabled set top box, and handheld devices.

This is a strategic move by Airtel to tap into the 18-million Airtel broadband-connected homes in the country. “Nearly 60 per cent of the data consumption in India is entertainment and video. We are targeting that segment,” said Adarsh Nair, chief product officer, Bharti Airtel. He added, “We are working on more such tie-ups in the near future. We want to tap the Indian mobile market.” Airtel Xstream Stick with built-in chromecast is priced at Rs 3,999. Airtel Thanks Platinum and Gold customers will get complimentary access to the content.

Other customers will get free access for the first 30 days, but will need to buy a Rs 999 annual subscription to continue. The offer can also be availed by the existing Airtel DTH customers through an update, by paying Rs 2,249. Airtel Xstream will provide access to Netflix, Amazon Prime Video and other Google Playstore applications.

Airtel, the third-largest mobile service provider, plans to roll out a range of solutions over the next few months to cater to the entertainment needs of every customer segment.Reliance Jio, the largest mobile service provider, had launched a slew of similar offers last month. It will be commercially available from this Thursday. According to a report by Jeffries, Jio is targeting 20 million homes and 16 million enterprises across 1,600 towns and aims to complete the roll-out in 12 months….

Reliance Jio is offering 100% cashback on JioFi: Here's how to avail of it

In lieu of the exchange, Reliance Jio provides additional data worth Rs 2,010

 

#LATEST| Reliance Jio is currently offering 100 per cent cashback on its JioFi portable Wi-Fi device, which connects to 10 devices at the same time. The cashback offer is valid for those buying JioFi in exchange for an old dongle, router and 4G data card.

According to the terms and policies of the cashback offer available on Reliance Jio's online portal, customers seeking to avail of a 100 per cent cashback on JioFi need to exchange their old dongle, router or 4G data card. In exchange, Reliance Jio provides additional data worth Rs 2,010 – 5 GB data worth Rs 210 per month for 10 months – that equals 100 per cent of the device amount.

There also is another scheme where users who do not wish to exchange can get an offer worth Rs 1,005 on purchase of JioFi online. In purchases made without exchange, Reliance Jio provides additional data worth Rs 1,005 – 5 GB data worth Rs 210 per month for 5 months – that equals to 50 per cent of the device amount.

Here is a step-by-step guide on how you can avail of 100% cashback offer:

Step 1: To avail of 100 per cent cashback, you need to purchase JioFi device through Jio online portal by paying Rs 1,999.

Step 2: You have to visit a Reliance Jio store with original invoice, JioFi Box with or without old dongle or other device for exchange

Step 3: You need to purchase a Reliance Jio SIM card, which can be done at a Jio Store or any other partner store by furnishing identity proof, address proof and passport size photograph or Aadhaar card.

Step 4: You need to recharge with Rs 408 (309 + 99) or Rs 608 (509 + 99) plan and enjoy the benefits of a Jio Prime membership, along with Jio Dhan Dhana Dhan offer.

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Reliance Jio brings in new offer for Prime members; Airtel sees red

Airtel calls it 'old wine in a new bottle'

 

Barely a week after the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) asked Reliance Jio to withdraw its complimentary offer, the telecom operator on Tuesday announced a new plan of 1 GB 4G data for three months at Rs 309 for its Prime members.

Rival Airtel, however, dubbed it as a case of “old wine in a new bottle.”

Announcing its new offer, Jio said under the Rs 309 plan, it would provide “unlimited SMS, calling and data (1GB per day at 4G speed) for three months on the first recharge”. For Rs 509, the company is offering unlimited SMS, calling and double the data (2GB per day) for three months on the first recharge.

“Considering the special benefits that are available to Jio Prime members, customers who were unable to subscribe to Jio Prime for any reason can continue to do so by paying Rs 408 or Rs 608 (Jio Prime and recharge price) to avail these benefits,” said Jio in a statement.

The benefits of the plan would be available right away. Jio customers who have not got their first recharge, need to do so by 15 April.

Objecting to the offer, incumbent Bharti Airtel hoped that the “authority (Trai) will act against this provocative disregard of their direction”.

“We are surprised to see what Jio is doing. It violates the spirit of the Trai directive and essentially continues with a similar plan now masquerading under a different name. This is a classic example of old wine in a new bottle," an Airtel spokesperson said.| read more