Broadband at ~399/mth: Jio takes on rivals MEGHA MANCHANDA

Plans to be rolled out from today

Reliance Jio on Monday announced new plans for Jiofiber broadband starting at a monthly price of ~399 with no limit on data usage. According to the new plans, entertainment app Netflix is added to the bouquet of bundled apps for customers subscribing to mid-range plans. It is by far the lowest price for broadband services.

The plans will be rolled out from September 1 onwards, said Reliance Jio.

Recently, Bharti Airtel announced that it would bundle an additional 1,000 gigabyte data on purchase of a new connection of its Xstream Fiber Home broadband service. The offer is a part of Independence Day celebrations and had been rolled out for a limited period on all Airtel Xstream Fiber plans. The plans start at ~799 per month and come with Airtel Thanks benefits, such as a 12month Amazon Prime membership and Airtel Xstream content plus Wynk Music.

“We want to take Fiber to each and every home and empower every member of the family. After making India the largest and the fastest-growing country in mobile connectivity with Jio, Jiofiber will propel India into global broadband leadership, thereby providing broadband to over 1,600 cities and towns,” Jio Director Akash Ambani said.

The low-end plan of ~399 will offer download and upload speed of 30 megabits

per second (Mbps), according to the statement. The old plans of Jiofiber have a limit of data usage per month at promised high speed after which the speed drops to 1 Mbps.

Jio has announced a free 30-day trial of the 150 Mbps plans, costing ~999, with subscription to 11 over-the-top apps, including Amazon Prime Video, Disney+ Hotstar, Zee5, SONYLIV. The plan priced at ~1,499 will also come bundled with Netflix.

Jio said the subscription to the top-paid 12 bundled apps would be made available to customers ‘at no extra cost’.

“Plans of all existing Jiofiber customers will be upgraded to match the benefits of the new tariff plans,” the statement said.