Reliance Jio Attacks India Mobile Market with "Unlimited Free Calling"

source: Reliance Jio

“Lower price” is nearly always part of the strategy when an attacker enters a new market for the first time. So it will be for Reliance Jio, which is basing much of its marketing on “free domestic calls with no roaming charges.”

There are other “add value” elements as well, but Reliance Jio seems to aim for capturing more of the mass market by offering lower prices.

“While most of the monthly plans are targeted at the higher end users — of an average revenue per user of over Rs 500 per month, versus the current Bharti Airtel figure of Rs 196 — the Rs 149 plan is right in the mass market segment,” said Credit Suisse.

The average Bharti Airtel customer today spends Rs 196 per month, consumes 414 mins of voice (for incoming and outgoing calls) and gets 200 MB of data.

Reliance Jio will target that customer with an offer including  unlimited free voice, and 50 percent more data for 25 percent lower monthly spend.

There is a simple reason why a price attack is so often employed by new challengers: it is drop dead simple for consumers to understand. “Same product, lower price” is a simple value proposition.

The “better product, lower price” position is even easier to understand.