Mukesh Ambani’s telecom behemoth Jio, is now taking it to the skies — literally — as it announces India’s first in-flight telecom services. After massively disrupting the Indian telecom sector with dirt cheap data rates, today Jio has announced yet another innovation in the industry. It is becoming the first Indian telecommunication company to provide in-flight mobile services, by forming a partnership with Aeromobile.
“Jio and Panasonic Avionics Corporation subsidiary, AeroMobile, have partnered to launch India’s first in-flight services for JioPostpaid Plus users. Jio’s in-flight service will allow every Indian traveller travelling abroad, to stay connected with voice and data services on a flight, at affordable rates,” the company said in a press release.
As of yet, only people travelling abroad will be able to use these services, but the company plans to expand its offering to users travelling within India as soon as the option becomes available.
Now, the company claims that its plans are affordable, and don’t get me wrong, they are when compared to others. However, for the average Indian who has gotten accustomed to paying Rs. 1 for 1GB, the plans might sting a little, but it’s the price you have to pay for the extra luxury. The plans, starting from Rs.499, offer 100 minutes of ongoing calls, 100 SMS, and varying data limits. For the base plan, the limit is 250 MB, which grows to 500 MB and 1GB for Rs. 699 and Rs. 999 respectively.
The plans will automatically kick in once a user switches off the airplane mode on reaching 20,000 feet or higher. However, if it doesn’t, users can select “Aeromobile” as their carrier, manually, to avail the services.
Mr. Akash Ambani, Director, Jio, says: “JioPostpaid Plus brings with it industry-defining and highest-quality user experience, and through our partnership with AeroMobile we will now offer in-flight roaming services at an attractive price. We are delighted to bring this new service to our customers, who will be able to enjoy seamless, high-quality and secure roaming at 20,000 feet, keeping every JioPostpaid Plus user connected, always.”
This partnership with Aeromobile comes after a huge funding spree, which saw Jio take up multiple partners and more than $20 billion in funding in just a few months. This led to Reliance seeing a massive jump in revenue, securing ₹13,233 crores in profit in the first quarter of 2020, despite the pandemic.
