The entry of Reliance Jio may have led to the biggest disruption in the Indian telecom landscape. But, consumers are all set to gain as telcos may be forced to decrease tariffs to retain their market share.
Telecom stocks wiped out nearly Rs 16,997 crore as Mukesh Ambani read out Jio's plans at Reliance AGM. The impact of Reliance Jio in the stock market and tariff costs aside, consumers' experience in dealing with telecom service operators may change in the months ahead.
Here are five ways how customers' day-to-day dealings with telcos may change:
1. Arguing with customer care: You may not be spending your precious time haggling with customer care about discrepancies in your mobile bill. "Every user gets to experience and get comfortable with Jio's digital service experience - especially billing & payments," Mukesh Ambani said at the AGM.
2. Add on data pack at month-end: With Reliance Jio offering extremely cheap data rates, the big problem of you finishing your data pack just before the billing cycle may finally be over. Instead, you can avail of a sufficient data pack at a lower price.
3. No need to worry about balance: When mobile phones were first introduced in India a few decades ago, telecom companies would charge for even incoming calls. Telecom sector has come a long way since then. Reliance Jio's announcement today to offer free voice calls across the country ushers in a new era in the Indian telecom industry.
4. Roaming relief: With most of Indians traversing the length and breadth of a country as big as India, roaming charges are an additional burden on the users. The removal of roaming charges has been long due. Reliance Jio's move to do away with roaming charges may force other telcos to follow suit.
5: Cheapest deal: It is likely that many consumers wonder about what's the cheapest service provider in the market among the likes of Airtel, Idea and Vodafone. But with Reliance Jio offering dramatically cheaper tariffs, the customers can rest assured who is offering the cheapest deal.