Reliance Jio brings new plans, prices rise by up to 39%
New Delhi, Dec 4: Billionaire Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Jio will raise mobile call and data charges by up to 39 per cent from December 6 through its all-in-one plans, which still will be an estimated 15 to 25 per cent cheaper than rivals'.
The all-in-one plans will provide at least 1.5 GB per day of data and increased number of offnet calls, the company said in a statement.
The tariff hike, which is planned to match similar increases by rival Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea Ltd earlier this week, give 300 per cent more benefits, it said.
"Further to its last statement dated 1st December 2019, Jio...announced the new 'All-in-One plans'. These plans will provide up to 300 per cent more benefits to the Jio consumers. These plans will go-live on 6th December 2019," Jio said in a statement.
The company on December 1 has announced that it will raise mobile plans rates by up to 40 per cent.
According to the new tariff plans, Jio customers will have to pay Rs 555 for 84-day validity and 1.5 GB of data per day, which is 39 per cent higher than the earlier plan of Rs 399 offering similar benefits.
The company has raised the price of Rs 153 plan to Rs 199; Rs 198 plan to Rs 249; Rs 299 plan to Rs 349; Rs 349 plan to Rs 399; Rs 448 to Rs 599; Rs 1,699 plan to Rs 2199, and Rs 98 plan to Rs 129.
The Rs 199 plan, a 28-day validity plan that offers 1.5GB data per day, is about 25 per cent cheaper than the plans of rivals offering similar benefits at a price of around Rs 249.
Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea have already raised mobile services rates by up to 50 per cent effective December 3.
Reliance Jio new plans come in line with expectation of market analysts that the company will price them lower compared to rivals.
"We think the incremental 300 per cent benefit which Jio is talking about is by offering more data allowances. In our view, it incrementally doesn't entice users much beyond 1.5 GB. Even after these hikes, we believe Jio will continue to be 15-20 per cent cheaper than the incumbent operators," Bank of America Merrill Lynch had said.
Telecom companies' move to raise mobile tariff follows the Supreme Court judgement, on October 24 this year, upholding the government's method of calculating revenue share that it should get from earnings of service providers.
Vodafone Idea last month reported a consolidated loss of Rs 50,921 crore -- the highest ever loss posted by any Indian corporate -- for the September quarter on account of liability arising out of the Supreme Court's order.
The company has estimated liability of Rs 44,150 crore post the apex court order, and made provisioning of Rs 25,680 crore in the second quarter this fiscal.
Vodafone Idea which is reeling under massive debt of around Rs 1.17 lakh crore had earlier cited acute financial stress on the company behind the decision to raise mobile call and data charges.
Bharti Airtel has posted a staggering Rs 23,045 crore net loss for the second quarter ended September 30, due to provisioning of Rs 28,450 crore in the aftermath of the SC ruling on statutory dues.
According to government data, the liabilities in the case of Bharti Airtel add up to nearly Rs 35,586 crore, of which Rs 21,682 crore is licence fee and another Rs 13,904.01 crore is the SUC dues (excluding the dues of Telenor and Tata Teleservices).
The government is currently not considering any proposal on waiver of penalties and interest on outstanding licence fee based on adjusted gross revenue (AGR), or on extending the timelines for telecom companies to pay up their statutory dues.
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Om Birla attends swearing-in of new B'desh PM, says India stands ready to support BNP govt
New Delhi (PTI): Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla on Tuesday attended the swearing-in ceremony of new Bangladesh Prime Minister Tarique Rahman in Dhaka, and said India stands ready to support Bangladesh's endeavours to build a democratic, progressive and inclusive nation.
Separately, the speaker called on the new Bangladesh prime minister and conveyed the wishes of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
He also handed over an invitation from Prime Minister Modi to Rahman to visit India, officials said here.
“Glad to attend the swearing-in ceremony of the new government of Bangladesh led by Prime Minister Tarique Rahman in Dhaka today. India stands ready to support Bangladesh’s endeavours to build a democratic, progressive and inclusive nation,” Birla posted on X.
Bangladesh High Commissioner to India, Riaz Hamidullah, said in a post on X, “Prime Minister Tarique Rahman conveys his greetings to India and PM Narendra Modi to the visiting India Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla at a courtesy meet following the swearing-in of the new government.
“Speaker Birla conveyed wishes and an invitation to India. Both leaders expressed optimism to work together for the well-being of the people of Bangladesh and India, pursuing a people-centric menu of cooperation.”
Birla also met Maldives President Mohamed Muizzu, Bhutan Prime Minister Tshering Tobgay and other leaders on the sidelines of the event.
Led by Rahman, the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) swept to power with a two-thirds majority with 49.97 per cent votes and 209 seats in the polls held on February 12, results for which were declared on February 13.
The Jamaat-e-Islami, which was opposed to Bangladesh's independence from Pakistan in 1971, registered its best-ever performance with 31.76 per cent votes and 68 seats.
The National Citizen Party (NCP) secured the third-highest number of seats, six, and 3.05 per cent votes.
Bangladesh had invited Narendra Modi to the ceremony, but the prime minister could not attend the event as he was scheduled to hold talks with French President Emmanuel Macron in Mumbai on Tuesday.
On reaching Dhaka, Birla said the swearing-in of Rahman was an important moment that would strengthen people-to-people relations and shared democratic values between the two neighbours.
“Honoured to be in Dhaka representing India at the swearing-in ceremony of the new government led by Tarique Rahman as the prime minister. It's an important moment that will strengthen people-to-people ties and shared democratic values between our two nations,” Birla said.
Birla was accompanied by Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri and other officials.
