Jio launches industry’s first ‘calendar’ monthly prepaid plan

• Reliance Jio has introduced a new ‘calendar’ monthly prepaid plan.
• The ₹259 plan from Jio offers 1.5GB data per day, unlimited calls and 100 SMS per day.
• The plan offers a 1-month validity and renews on the same date each month.

Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Jio has announced a new ‘calendar’ monthly prepaid plan following a directive from the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI).

In January, the telecom regulator had directed telecom operators to launch prepaid plans with a 30-day validity as most plans offer a validity of 28 days, forcing customers to recharge their number 13 times a year.

In its first order for 2022, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) had directed telcos to offer “at least one plan voucher, one special tariff voucher and one combo voucher” with 30-day validity, which shall be renewable on the same date every month.

The new ₹259 plan from Jio offers 1.5GB of data per day, unlimited voice calls, 100 SMS per day and complimentary access to Jio’s suite of apps. The plan offers 1-month validity and renews on the same date every month.

Like other plans from Jio, subscribers can recharge multiple times at once so that the plans get queued and activated once the existing plan expires.

Jio currently offers a 28-day plan with similar benefits for ₹239. The new plan offers a validity of 30 days or 31 days based on the month.

The Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI), was against the directive from TRAI, stating that the practice of offering 28-day validity is decade-long and consumers are well versed with it.

As expected, the new plan will not result in any significant savings for the consumers.

As we can see in the above table, the cost per day for months with 30 days is slightly higher than the current plan with 28-days validity. However, subscribers will be able to save a small amount in months that have 31 days.

Airtel and Vodafone Idea currently do not offer a plan with monthly validity. We expect the telcos to soon introduce a similar plan.
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