Within a week of Bharti Airtel's removal of lower-priced unlimited plans, Reliance Jio is planning to relaunch its 10-year-old Prime membership programme for existing customers. According to PTI reports citing people aware of the development, the Prime membership will now offer one-year tariff assurance - a significant enhancement from the previous ₹300 joining fee model. The programme was originally created as an act of gratitude to Jio's first 100 million customers and is now being reintroduced to provide assurance of price guarantee and additional benefits for Jio's family of over 500 million users. Customers on other networks can also enrol by porting to Jio or activating a new Jio connection, with the membership available through the MyJio app, Jio.com, Jio Stores and authorised partner stores. The price guarantee remains valid until September 5, 2027, providing subscribers with long-term assurance against future tariff increases.
Jio is set to enhance benefits under its ₹299 plan, offering 1.5 GB of data per day and planning to add access to the Jio Hotstar subscription, 5,000 GB storage on Google Cloud, and free access to Google's AI engine, Pro Google Gemini. This move comes as a direct response to Airtel's discontinuation of similar priced plans, leaving subscribers to choose from pricier options. The enhanced ₹299 pack will include pro plan benefits for Google Gemini including 5,000GB cloud storage and Jio Hotstar integration, positioning Jio to capitalise on the recent discontinuation of unlimited plans offering 1.5 GB of data per day by rival Bharti Airtel.
The reintroduced Prime membership brings ₹600 worth of cashback vouchers as part of its enhanced benefits package. According to Jio's official release, this includes ₹300 cashback voucher redeemable on a new JioHome or JioPC connection, and ₹300 cashback voucher for adding a new Jio SIM connection for friends or family members. Prime subscribers will also receive early access to new Jio products, services and trials, along with priority customer support through a dedicated service channel. These additional benefits represent a significant upgrade from the previous membership model and provide subscribers with tangible value beyond the basic tariff assurance.
The pricing divergence comes ahead of the festive season when operators typically avoid sharp increases in mobile tariffs. As reported by WealthMills Securities, Jio's decision to maintain lower tariffs while approaching its IPO should be viewed as a strategy to gain market share. Airtel's discontinuation of its ₹299 plan effectively forces subscribers into its ₹349 plan (2GB daily data and unlimited 5G for 28 days), representing a 16.7% or ₹50 cost increase. However, Jio has held on to its ₹299 plan for Prime subscribers, with the effective price being ₹324. At this rate, the plan for Jio Prime subscribers is ₹25 per month cheaper than Bharti Airtel at the entry level and the subscriber protected from future hikes. Experts suggest this move by Airtel signals an inevitable industry shift towards higher tariffs as telcos sharpen their focus on improving average revenue per user (ARPU).
The move comes as telecom operators continue to rationalise their prepaid portfolios and seek to improve ARPU, with Jio positioning itself as the more competitive option. According to latest data, Airtel's average revenue per user (ARPU) was ₹264 at the end of the June quarter, while Vodafone Idea's ARPU was ₹177 and Jio's was ₹215.8. Airtel chairman Mittal expressed hope that the company would reach ₹300 ARPU with an ultimate goal of ₹350. As of June-end, Jio had 533 million subscribers including 285 million 5G users, while Airtel's subscriber base in India was 492 million including 376.5 million mobile subscribers. Vodafone Idea had 193.1 million subscribers at the end of June.
