Reliance Jio’s 4G tariff plans unveiled on Thursday are beneficial for mid- and high-level users and not the low-end users.

An analysis done by BusinessLine based on actual monthly payouts by mobile users suggest that users who spend more than ₹500 a month stand to gain by switching to RJio, while those who pay less than ₹200 a month may not benefit at all.

Take, for example, a user in Mumbai who currently pays ₹150 a month for making just voice calls with no data usage at all. For this user, the best option available from RJio is the ₹149 plan, which offers unlimited voice calls and 300 MB data. While the data is of no use to him, the RJio plan is valid only for 28 days, which means he will have to pay more for the remaining 2-3 days in the month.

Similarly, somebody who uses a ₹50 top-up plan every month to stay connected with his or her family will not find it beneficial because the lowest plan from RJio is ₹149. The entry level plan is essentially a voice plan as it bundles only 300MB of data but there are cheaper options available in the market.

“We believe that RJio’s tariff plans are simple, but there are very few options at lower end of the segment (below ₹500),” said analysts at Edelweiss. The other major challenge for the low-end users will be to buy a 4G-enabled phone that is not available for less than ₹3,000. There are only about 5 per cent of Indian mobile users who have a 4G-enabled phone.

However, those who pay more than ₹500 currently, which is about 35-40 per cent of overall Indian telecom market, may find some value in the RJio offer. “A study of the tariff plans shows that real value for a Jio customer accrues only if she uses both data and voice benefits. Using it only as a data SIM while retaining voice usage on their current SIM does not give meaningful savings,” said analysts at Credit Suisse.

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