About a month back, Jio introduced its paid offers to its 100 million subscribers stating its monetization plans. To lock in customers through free schemes, the entity evolved a ‘Prime Offer’ which asked the existing users and new ones to sign up before 31st March to enroll themselves up for a yearly membership at a nominal fee of ₹99. Disguised under this nominal fee is a monthly charge of ₹303 that customers could pay to enjoy free benefits for another 12 months till 31st March 2018.
As of today, Reliance Jio Infocomm confirmed that at least 50 million subscribers (that’s half of the total) have converted into prime members for ye another year. And this comes obvious, those willing to pay ₹99 will also opt for a minimum monthly charge of ₹303 else the money would go to waste. The figure was revealed by a company executive to ET. He said,
The Jio Prime membership scheme has received enthusiastic response from Jio customers. Reliance Jio claims half the users are now paid subscribers. We are pleased to note that millions of customers are joining the scheme every day, signifying their interest in the attractive offers.
This massive figure might have knocked the air out of your lungs, but we’d suggest you take these claims with a grain of salt. Reliance Jio would surely want the country’s internet-frenzied populace to believe that most of their existing user base signing up for the new and alluring ‘Prime Offer.’
But, several reports on the interweb suggest that the conversion rate is only 13 percent and a mere 16 Mn individuals have jumped the ship by paying Rs. 99 to secure affordable data services for the next 12 months. This number is even lower as compared to the number of new users — 20 million — who’ve signed up for Jio’s network in the past four weeks. You only have until tomorrow to sign-up for its Prime offer to continue your bundled data and voice services.
After flagging off their service in September last year, Reliance Jio has only seen an upwards trajectory in terms of users. Their growth can be directly attributed to ‘greedy’ customers drooling over its ‘free voice and data services’ which have been offered to new Jio SIM card buyers. The free services offer was previously supposed to end on December 31 but was extended until March of this year through the ‘New Year Offer.’
For those unaware, Jio had amassed 70+ million users under its spectrum until December. However, in February, Mukesh Ambani-owned telecom company crossed the 100 million customer mark within only 170 days of launch. Today’s announcement will further keep the pressure intact for its competitors.
Ever since its inception, the company has reeked havoc on its telecom rivals, Airtel, BSNL, and others, who’re now running amok in search of partnerships for the betterment of their 4G services. In addition, it is believed that Jio has driven the merger of Vodafone India and Idea, which is now the largest telecom carrier in the country, pushing Airtel to the second spot.
