Reliance Jio announced its Jio Prime offer in late February and it became available to users from March 1. Since then there has a been a flurry of activity inside India's telecom industry. There is a new price war. The Prime offer is pretty neat. It comes with a Rs 99 annual membership fee but then also brings plans like Rs 303 plan and Rs 499 plan that give Jio users 28GB and 56GB monthly 4G data, respectively. Given how tempting the Jio Prime offers are, other telecom operators like Airtel, Vodafone, Idea and others have responded.
The new plans offered by Airtel, Vodafone and Idea too seem pretty good. You must have heard about them. But in case you haven't, here are some highlights:
-- Airtel seemingly has a Rs 345 plan that gives users 28GB 4G data per month. Although half of this data is available only between 3am to 5am.
-- Idea is offering a Rs 345 plan with monthly data quota of 14GB.
-- Vodafone has a Rs 346 plan, with monthly data limit of 28GB.
-- At the same time, there are other plans from these companies. In some older plans, the amount of data that is available has been doubled. In some others, a few new features have been added.
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This all sounds good. After all, if you are getting more data for the same amount of money as well as now have all your calls and messages available for free, it is great news. The problem, however, is that none of these plans have been announced publicly by the companies that are supposedly offering them. So, they are not available in most cases. Chances are that you can't walk into an Airtel store and subscribe to Rs 345 plan.
There is just too much confusion. India Today Tech asked Airtel, Vodafone and Idea to comment on these plans that they are supposedly offering, but they offer no clarity. The reason is simple: they want the confusion to persist because they are too loathe to give up their old ways. The confusion among customers is good because it allows Airtel, Vodafone, Idea and all these old telecom companies to charge different rates from different customers. May be just to create buzz, they will offer some special plan to 100-odd customers. You will hear about it in news. But that plan won't be available to all.
Companies that hate giving out information about their services and products to consumers in a clear and concise way are the worst. They feed on the misinformation or missing information. Your friend, because he called up Airtel customer care, may have a great plan for his phone. But just because you never bothered to call up Airtel customer, you will keep using a bad plan where you will pay Rs 1000 for 2GB data. That great plan, which your friend has, won't be available on the Airtel or Vodafone website. So you won't know about it and will keep on paying high prices.
Companies that hate giving out information about their services and products to consumers in a clear and concise way are the worst. They feed on the misinformation or missing information.
Then there is the pre-paid vs post-paid argument. Just because post-paid users are somewhat more committed, they will get the raw end of the deal. All these special 28GB plans that companies are offering are for only pre-paid customers. What about post paid customers? As an example, Airtel says they will get a "surprise offer" on March 13 directly through a SMS or My Airtel app. What will be this surprise offer? No one knows, but it is almost sure that different customers will get different surprise offers. And these surprise won't be available to all.
This is the same kind of misinformation and obfuscation that is seen when it comes to salaries. Salaries are not made public in an organisation because keeping them secret helps the company maintain a certain level of coherency. It has both negative and positive aspects to it.
Then there is the pre-paid vs post-paid argument. Just because post-paid users are somewhat more committed, they will get the raw end of the deal. All these special 28GB plans that companies are offering are for only pre-paid customers. What about post paid customers? As an example, Airtel says they will get a "surprise offer" on March 13 directly through a SMS or My Airtel app. What will be this surprise offer? No one knows, but it is almost sure that different customers will get different surprise offers. And these surprise won't be available to all.
This is the same kind of misinformation and obfuscation that is seen when it comes to salaries. Salaries are not made public in an organisation because keeping them secret helps the company maintain a certain level of coherency. It has both negative and positive aspects to it.
But phone plans and data tariffs are services. They are not salaries. These are services that telecom companies sell at a price. Keeping them secret from users serves no purpose from consumer's point of view. It just helps telecom companies make more money in a not so nice manner. It helps them feed on people who might not want to take that half an hour long call with customer care.
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This is where Jio is different. Just the way Airtel, Vodafone, Idea and others have followed Jio in simplifying their mobile phone plans by getting rid of different call rates and roaming, they should now follow the new telecom company in coming clean on what all plans are available to consumers. All of that information should be on the company website. There should be clarity on what all plans are available to all customers. There should not be hush-hush, wink-wink. If there is a Rs 499 plan available for customer A, the same plan should be available customer B too.
Jio has the same plans for both pre-paid and post-paid users. The only differentiation is between Prime members and non-Prime Jio users. But all of this is spelled out clearly on the Jio site. There is transparency on Jio tariff, at least for now. May be Airtel, Vodafone, Idea and others can learn to clarify their plans for their users.