Users who only want to enjoy high-quality entertainment are the beneficiaries of the new budget prepaid recharge for Rs 149. The latest price offer, with a full 30-day validity period and JioHotstar access, is good news with a simple telecom service including all digital content in one at the same time.
It follows Jio’s recent push to be the prepaid leader with value bundles at good prices on the money end, and comes with the Rs 149 plan. What’s most interesting about this plan is the 30-day period that fits into a calendar month versus the 28-day cycle for many typical telecom operators.
There’s a small, but meaningful step: You won’t have to recharge several times in a month, a process that can be cheaper, faster and more convenient in the long run. As for pros, the proposal features a set of data allocation limits that are suitable for light internet usage. As part of that plan, some mobiles with some functionalities, such as messaging, browsing, and sometimes streaming, are available.
And there are additional functions, voice calling and SMS allowance (based on use) limit. The real point of the plan is getting access to JioHotstar. Because there is a huge demand for OTT platforms, obviously, target users like to stream movies, TV shows and sports content on mobile media, but they prefer to stream without making a multiple service subscription, and Jio is clearly targeting users.
JioHotstar should be rolling out a mix of popular entertainment to consumers and also provide a variety of regionally-appropriate content, to the point of possibly offering more local programming and exclusive shows to a broader audience of consumers. It’s also a sign, of course, of when and how telecom companies, including streaming operators, will start to bundle their underlying networks of digital services with a kind of device bundle on their already-established models.
Nevertheless, this does not mean that operators forgo their standalone plans and concentrate only now on these packages; they are beginning to offer OTT subscriptions for better engagement and retention. For Jio, this is just one step closer to cementing its digital ecosystem, one in which the telecom operator’s systems, apps and entertainment channels, it believes, working together to provide the network for both the consumer, easy to use as it is with mobile home, and also for smartphones and apps, to help consumers, to enter and exit smoothly from and out of the network.
India’s specialists say the Rs 149 plan could find great acclaim among students, cost-aware users and those from semi-urban/rural areas craving inexpensive connectivity and content. Furthermore, it is competing head-to-head with competing plans offered by competing telecom operators on the same gate to market, so price competition is sure to increase in the segment as well. But this plan tends to be limited in users who are data hungry or high-speed internet users. If you are a moderate user, it is primarily a secondary SIM plan.
Also, there’s a potential (not an actual requirement) to conserve data with deep integration. The rollout of the Rs 149 recharge plan brings down Jio’s brand proposition that value propositions can disrupt telecom companies, which is central to the telecom sector. But with the new price point, the 30-day validity and OTT availability, the company has just kept up the momentum, changing how prepaid plans are perceived in India.
