'Low tariff an opportunity for Jio to fine-tune network'

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SME Times News Bureau | 20 Jan, 2017
Even though cheap tariff is hurting the revenues of Reliance Jio, as in the case of other networks, it also presents an opportunity for the latest entrant to fine-tune its network to gain traction among users, says a telecom expert.

"The relatively low tariff of Jio is the opportunity also to further fine-tune their network itself because there are gaps, there are issues in network-optimisation," Mahesh Uppal, director of telecom consultancy firm Com First told BTVi in an interview.

"So while the company gets its network up to speed, it is good idea for them to makeover -- through out of necessity -- and by actually giving cheap or free services," he said.

He felt that the free services will continue for some time and this is not great news for the sector in the sense that it is hurting revenues all across the board.

"But it is certainly not bad news for the customers in the short term at least because they will have the benefit of cheap broadband services," Uppal said.

"For any new entrant, the only way to differentiate the product or get people to use their services is to compete aggressively on price. So freebies are the norm when a company enters the market for the first time," he added.