With the entry of Reliance Jio into the market, the telecom industry faces more rivalries and competition than ever before. After all the hype, can Jio live up to expectations?
The commercial launch of the Reliance Jio 4G SIMs on 5 September 2016 created large-scale unrest in the world of telecom. Telecom charges are among the primary expenses of today’s individuals. Jio effectively targeted this pain point of the Indian customer with its ‘free call’ plan. This one move has pushed people into a frenzy to get the Jio SIMs, which are now in extremely high demand. In fact, many retailers ran out of Jio SIMs on the very first day. The problem with this is that new SIMs are not easily available. It is therefore easy to believe the rumors of the SIMs being sold on the black market.
SIM unavailability is not the only issue that the company faces. Although the data services provided by the company have lived up to the customers’ expectations, the calling services have not. This is highly prevalent when it comes to internetwork calls. In response to the issue, Reliance has accused rival telecom brands of not providing more point-of-interconnections (POIs) despite the large number of requests. The company has criticised this behaviour of the telecom companies as poor ethics of business, and has made several complaints to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) as well. Another issue that has cropped up in the last few days is of Mobile Number Portability (MNP). Reliance has accused other major brands of not granting MNPs as per requests, thereby violating the MNP rules and regulations. Vodafone and Airtel representatives have refuted this claim, stating that they are doing everything they can on their end. Idea has yet to comment on the matter.
Reliance Jio has truly disrupted the standards of the industry, consequently facing a lot of resistance. The future of the company looks bright due to the overwhelming response of the Indian public. Nevertheless, only time will tell the outcome of the competition between Reliance and the dominant players in the industry.
Featured Image Credits: India TV News
Kavach Chandra
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