Change that JIO brought to the life of its competitor's subscribers

Reliance JIO has been in the midst of controversy ever since its launch in India, last year. Reason it brought a revolution in telecom industry which no one could have thought of. Plans offered by JIO were customer centric instead of firm centric as is the case most of the time. One India, one number with unlimited local and STD calls, followed by unlimited 4G data with good network connectivity.  All these services were free of cost, people just needed a 4G enabled handset. Rest was up to JIO to pamper the people like never before.

 People thronged the stores for buying sim cards and within no time subscribers of JIO started to become a threat to other leading telecom players in India. The dominance of Vodofone, Airtel, Idea, BSNL took a back seat and they started to come out with strategies to retain their existing customer base which has started taking a dip due to the tempting offers of JIO. As a result of which call rate were reduced and data pack was increased by the competitors of JIO.

JIO delivered what it promised to the masses, only difficultly people faced was getting their JIO sim card activated initially. But once the sim card got activated then services were as promised. Even in the remotest of area ,JIO was able to provide network support to its subscribers, where its competitors failed miserably. That was another reason WHY JIO became so popular.

When JIO’s competitors were busy approaching TRAI for putting a nail to JIO’s exponential growth. JIO was working towards making itself more and more efficient in terms of its service and network coverage. Even today JIO’s competitors are behind JIO rather than coming out with ways that can be beneficial to them and their subscribers. JIO has given one of the best experiences to its subscriber so until and unless, something more soothing is presented to the masses they will not step back. This is what all competitors of JIO should do now rather than going behind things which doesn’t take them anywhere.

Now Vodafone, Airtel, Idea and BSNL have come up with unlimited call and enhanced internet plans at prices slightly higher than that of JIO but at least a beginning has been done. It forces me to think, if this was possible before, then what were they waiting for till now? If reduced call rate and higher internet usage scheme was within their purview, then what caused the delay in it reaching the masses? Had they done it before, JIO wouldn’t have been able to make its mark in market and pose a big threat to them. But now the damage has been done. From next time onwards strategies should be focused on customer’s need basis.

I am not a subscriber of JIO but need to thank JIO for the change it has brought to the life of Vodafone, Airtel, Idea and BSNL subscribers. Now my mobile and internet bill has drastically come down and am getting better service. There are times when my telecom provider is unable to provide me network coverage during roaming but JIO doesn’t fails, I have seen it with my friends who are patrons of JIO. Another reason could be Vodafone, Airtel, Idea and BSNL are yet to come to term with One India, one number full connectivity whether its within circle or outside circle.

Reliance’s strategic business thought keeps it ahead in business

Newspaper, digital media and social circuit is abuzz with Reliance’s new launch Jio, a revolution in Indian telecom industry. Such is the impact of Jio that its competitors in India are trying to come out with more customer oriented plans now. Everyday companies are coming with new plan, reason they fear losing their customer base, which has started to shrink already.

Just to refresh, Reliance had been into telecom for over a decade now.  When Nokia was introducing its handsets in India year ago, Reliance was offering mobile phone with connection as a very reasonable rate, which led to a revolution, where people from all walks of life were in possession of cell phone. Reliance was able to roll out good number of handset in market. To retain customer it launched lot of plans for reliance customers. For Nokia phones one needed to buy a sim from any service provider of their choice.

Even I have a reliance phone, it was bought by me couple of years ago do unlimited STD calls, with the condition being, other user should also be a reliance customer. The experience was awesome, had I tried the same in any other service provider would have been robbed. It was not that I didn’t try with other service provider but no was able to beat Reliance’s offer so didn’t had a choice. I know couple of people who still use reliance phone WHY? Because reliance to reliance calls, are unlimited at nominal charge.

Then came the era of smart phones, where people’s phone changing frequently was at peak. A person would not keep a phone for more than 6 months or so. Then some prominent players in the market came up with lucrative yet expensive mobile plans. After sales service of few of them were lethargic but they stayed in market with their deceptive ads. People suffered a lot. But with not much option in hand they decided to continue with their respective mobile service provider

 Reliance was still in business but had slowed a bit to come out with something revolutionary. It was studying all these behavioral changes in the customer pattern especially in term of usage like net pack, voice calling, SMS etc. The outcome of the study was “Jio” its meaning in hindi is “to live”. Must say their plan offering will is meant for people to live with joy in terms of mobile usage, without worrying much about the cost.

When someone slows down in the race, it doesn’t necessarily mean that he/she is out of race but it can have a different view as well. That they are planning something out of the box to make grand comeback, reliance’s new offering Jio is one such thought. The team which has worked on Jio has thought about one thing ie to benefit to its user in cost effective manner.

I feel that’s the reason WHY Reliance has been to retain its position in market for such long time without much difficulty.