Reliance Jio has completed 5 years in India. Everyone knows how good the telco has been. In a short span of 5 years, overcoming the competition and entering into a different league is something that only be dreamed of, but Reliance Jio has done that. Since the time the telco came to the market, the internet penetration has increased by 312%, from 192.30 million broadband subscribers in September 2016 to 792.78 million broadband subscribers in June 2021 (TRAI data). This has largely been possible because of the low data rates introduced by Jio and the proliferation of 4G smartphones in India.
Data Cost Came Down by Over 93% Since Jio Came
In the October-December, 2016 period, the data cost in India was around Rs 160/GB. But almost five years down the line, in January-March, 2021 period, the data cost has dipped to Rs 10.77/GB (TRAI data). Even Indians are consuming more data than ever. The total data consumption per user/per month has increased to 12.33GB in January-March, 2021, as compared to 878.63MB in October-December, 2016. This is a jump of 1,303% in data consumption. Even voice call consumption by the users has seen a huge jump. Users started consuming over 164% more voice calling in January-March, 2021, as compared to October-December, 2016. Voice calling had to see a major jump because it was essentially made free by the operators with their unlimited plans. The only major cost that a user had to for was data. With voice calling free, the rise in consumption doesn’t surprise. Even the number of unicorn startups in India increased by 430%, from 10 in 2016 to 53 as of June 2021. The entry of Reliance Jio has truly been revolutionary, and it has changed how Indians consume internet services, and it has also contributed in a major way to boost the digital ecosystem in India. Reliance Jio is further in the drive to launch 5G as soon as possible which will further add to digitisation in India.
