Well, you can continue enjoying the high-speed 4G data, unlimited free voice calling and SMS till March 2017, and possible beyond that. Indian telecom watchdog, Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has given green light to Reliance Jio’s free promotional offer.
According to the regulator, the tariff plans offered by Reliance Jio are in full compliance with its regulations and the existing tariff orders. The regulator has communicated the same to incumbent telecom operators Airtel, Vodafone India and Idea Cellular. These telcos earlier moved to telecom tribunal TDSAT against TRAI for allowing Reliance Jio to continue its free offer beyond the 90 days.
You would remember that Reliance Jio started its operation with free preview offer for almost a year. Then with its commercial launch, started the Jio Welcome Offer which was available till 31st December 2016. The operator further extended the offer till 31st March 2017 and give it a new name ‘Happy New Year Offer’. The one difference in the last promotional offer is that you can actually buy extra 4G data packs.
Back in December 2016, TRAI asked Jio to clarify as to “why it’s free promotional offer should not be treated as predatory” and also explain “how they do not violate any of the existing regulatory guidelines”. In response Reliance Jio stated that the latest Happy New Year Offer is considerably different from the earlier Welcome Offer. Where the Welcome Offer provided 4GB of free data per day, the latest promotional scheme offered only 1GB of free data per day. In addition, users are also provided with an option to top up their 4G data to restore the high-speed beyond the Fair Usage Policy (FUP) limit.