Reliance Jio to hit postpaid revenues of telecom operators

Jio has barged into the postpaid segment with a new Rs. 199 plan which might severely hurt the revenues of Idea and Airtel in the upcoming quarters.

The telecom stocks extended the downward trend seen in Thursday's session by falling around 3 per cent in early morning trade on Friday. Major telecom stocks including Bharti Airtel and Idea Cellular dipped following this announcement. The stock of Airtel was trading at Rs. 393.50 per share, down by 4.55 per cent, Idea was at Rs. 54.70 per share, down by 6.26 per cent. While Reliance Industries, the operator of Reliance Jio, was at Rs. 982.35 per share, up by 0.17 per cent.

The new plan, Hello JioPostpaid offers a range of benefits at an affordable price of Rs. 199 per month. Customers can port their existing numbers to this plan. The plan provides 25 GB data, free voice calls, and unlimited SMS. One unique feature is the plan provides pre-activated international calling facility starting at 50 paise per min for countries like US, Canada and international roaming for data, voice, SMS at Rs. 2 per GB, per min, per SMS, respectively.