Jio Prime Rs. 399 Plan gives 1GB per day for 84 days, Rs. 309 for 56 days

The Jio Prime membership that became functional in March 2017 had offered its subscribers with a Dhan Dhana Dhan offer where users were given four months of data and free calls for the price of one month. Now that the plan is going to end, the users are now given a new offer where paying Rs. 399 gives you the same plan for a total of three months, i.e. 84 days. Also, for someone who wants a lesser price for now will be getting the validity of 56 days for Rs. 309.

The new set of plan benefits will be available from 11th July and will be applicable for all new as well as existing subscribers. As part of these unlimited benefit, customers can enjoy 1GB Data per day at 4G speed followed by unlimited at 128 kbps, unlimited local, STD and national roaming voice calls and unlimited national SMS.

Jio is also introducing Every Day More Value (EDMV) that provide 20% more value than its competitors’ best plans. In a way, that is true because the validity of 84 days is good for that price, which gives it an average price of Rs. 133 per month for 1GB per day of 4G data and then unlimited at 128 kbps, and there is unlimited free calling and SMS on home network and during national roaming.

Do you still think you would stick to Jio after the actual offer has ended? Has the network been stable enough for you to consider tagging along and taking the Jio services ahead of the others that you have been using earlier?

Facebook, Airtel to Roll Out 20,000 Express Wi-Fi Hotspots in India

Facebook has rolled out in India, its ‘Express Wi-Fi’ service that offers Internet facility through public hotspots to users in rural parts of the country.

Social networking giant Facebook has rolled out in India, its ‘Express Wi-Fi’ service that offers Internet facility through public hotspots to users in rural parts of the country.

The commercial roll out of the project comes a year after Facebook pulled the plug on the controversial ‘Free Basics’ programme that drew severe criticism from advocates of net neutrality.

Unlike Free Basics that provided access to selected websites for free, Express Wi-Fi works on a “paid” model and the access will not be restricted to any particular websites.

Users can log onto public wi-fi hotspots made available through partner telecom operators and buy daily, weekly or monthly data packs being sold through local entrepreneurs.

over 20,000 wi-fi hotspots over the next few months.

“India’s population is about 1.3 billion people, but only 390 million are connected to the Internet. Express Wi-Fi is part of our global initiative and we want to expand Internet connectivity to underserved locations,” Facebook Asia Pacific Head of Connectivity Solutions Munish Seth told PTI.

He added that Facebook is working with internet services providers (ISPs) and over 500 local entrepreneur retailers.

Internet user base in the country has seen a significant jump in the last few years, helped by smartphones becoming more affordable and data prices falling, especially after Reliance Jio rolled out services.
Tech giant Google has also rolled out free Internet access through public wi-fi hotspots at various railway stations in partnership with RailTel.

“The market still remains under-penetrated and all these efforts (by others) will help expand it further,” Seth said.

Asked about the role Facebook will play in the programme, he said the company will just provide the platform and solutions.

“We will not charge the ISP/telecom operator or the entrepreneur. The operator decides on the pricing and will handle the data as the Internet traffic flows through their system. We are just providing the solutions,” he added.

Facebook’s Express Wi-Fi service is available through nearly 700 hotspots across the four Indian states of Uttarakhand, Gujarat, Rajasthan and Meghalaya. Facebook had started testing Express Wi-Fi in India in 2015.
The tariffs are dependent on the operator and the validity of the plan.

The ISPs are AirJaldi in Uttarakhand, LMES in Rajasthan, Tikona in Gujarat, and roll out in Meghalaya is being carried out by a company called Shaildhar.

Express Wi-Fi is also live in four other countries — Kenya, Tanzania, Nigeria and Indonesia.
The US-based company had launched the Free Basics programme in 2015 in partnership with Reliance Communications and allowed access to selected websites.

However, it met severe criticism as critics saw this as violation of the principle of net neutrality that advocates equal treatment of all internet traffic.

Facebook finally pulled the plug on the controversy-ridden programme in India in February last year after sectoral regulator, Telecom Regulatory Authority of India barred operators from charging discriminatory rates for Internet-access based on content.

Interestingly, Facebook continues to run the Free Basics programme across many countries.