Re: Will Reliance Jio's aggressive pricing impact incumbent operators' (Bharti Airtel, Vodafone and Idea) profitability and sustainability or would it change the paradigms for the telecom sector. Comment.

by Simran Pipariya Sat Sep 24, 2016 7:00 pm

Yes, Definitely Reliance Jio's agressive pricing is impacting on its competitors as it is attracting more and more customer by providing them with the free 4G internet with high speed which has created chaos in the telecom sector.
Reliance Industries has offered users liberty to consume free voice calls and internet data till December 31.
After that, its services will become chargeable, that too at rates which will make key players such as Bharti Airtel, Vodafone and Idea Cellular feel the heat.
In my opinion Reliance is trying to acquire monopolistic market, as monopolistic market is a theoretical construct in which only one company may offer products and services to the public.
I think to stay and to be in the market, competitors will try to bring out some new strategies so that it can compete in the market effectively.

by vishal.sawlani Sat Sep 24, 2016 7:14 pm

NO I DON'T AGREE
While my other batch mates feel that JIO's aggressive pricing strategies is to effect the profitability & sustainability , I feel that all this is going to help all the competitors to increase their operations , sales , demand for services & henceforth increasing their profitability.

I can say this because while surfing on the internet on the main idea & concept of JIO I fostered a viewpoint that No there has to be the other side of the coin. There can't be only and only negative points for the Competitors.

I Feel that the incumbents will gain from increased demand for data, which will boost revenues, margins and returns. The launch of R-Jio is likely to accelerate mobile data growth by offering affordable 4G handsets and data prices.
Mobile data's acceptance & affordability is increasing due to continuous decline in data prices, the launch of 4G services at 3G prices, and the subsequent slashing in prices of LTE or 4G devices. Also, mobile data usage is increasing due to high price elasticity, an increase in smartphone shipments and the launch of LTE networks.

We believe the market views the launch of R-Jio as a major threat to incumbents & one of the incumbents is predicted to be out of the race materially. However, in our view, the market is missing the bigger picture, which is rapid growth in data consumption—accelerated by the launch of R-Jio—and the incumbents benefiting significantly.
This is the Reason I earlier stated they are going to benefit from this because earlier few people who were not aware of 4g services are also now aware because of JIO's marketing & now when the competitors are coming with aggressive plans like AIRTEL has come up with the Offering of rs 49/GB & Vodaone with 47K Crores Investment & Recently advertised the Vodafone Flexi Recharge.
, people tend to shift towards them as they are rational & because of the increased awareness more and more customers will purchase sims or will use MNP & get connected to them .

So as a result there profitability will increase & if one's profits are more automatically they will be able to sustain for a longer period.

by SONU KUMAR Sat Sep 24, 2016 8:18 pm

Yes, definitely Reliance Jio has created a panic among its rivals. It’s a very big tactics played by reliance launching Jio for free 4G internet. The main users of internet i.e. youth are highly attracted towards Jio because of free and its very high speed. At present Reliance market share has dramatically increased. This is the background of the story.
Now, it’s an obvious thing that aggressive pricing of Reliance Jio will impact on incumbent operator’s (Airtel, Vodafone, Idea ) profitability and sustainability. And this paradigm has already started changing in the telecom sectors. Incumbent telecom players Airtel and Idea Cellular suffered huge cuts in their price targets. Influential foreign brokerages Goldman Sachs, Credit Suisse and JP Morgan have cut their 12-month price targets for Airtel and Idea by as much as 19%. Shares of London-listed Vodafone Plc, which derives over a tenth of its revenues from the Indian market, too fell 3% to its lowest level in more than a month.
Jio’s price points to be potentially disruptive-Rs 149,Rs 299 and Rs 499, although most single out the Rs 149 plan as the one likely to inflict maximum damage to incumbents’ voice business.
“We see adverse impact for incumbents in the lower-tier segment as the lowest Rs 149 offer will appeal to voice only consumers who will now be able to make free calls,”.
It added that the Rs 149 offer surprised the market, which wasn’t expecting Jio to aggressively target the low end of the mobile turf. However, don’t immediately expect incumbents to match Jio on voice tariffs, and expect some pressure on their voice revenues.
“The need of a 4G phone should also limit the near-term impact, given that only 6-7 per cent of mobile subscribers have 4G phones in the country,”. Incumbents still have time to match Jio’s offer as the latter’s tariffs kick in only on January 1, 2017. In fact, since Jio’s services are free till December, it expects the 4G entrant to unveil a new set of tariffs closer to commercial launch.
Incumbents have been trying various data-pricing strategies to retain top-end users and have already cut effective rates. As the voice business plateaus, they have turned to pricier data services for growth and ramped up 3G/4G presence.
Airtel and Vodafone India recently offered unlimited voice calls on high-value postpaid packs to retain higher revenue paying customers ahead of Jio’s launch. The two, along with Idea, have also slashed effective data prices by nearly 70 per cent on some plans.

Reliance Jio...... However, it looks like, is not so.

by Shubham Patni Sat Sep 24, 2016 8:27 pm

Yes, As Reliance Jio’s commercial launch nears, incumbent telecom operators Airtel, Vodafone and Idea have cut tariff and bundled free calls with data to drive mass market adoption, brokerages said. The industry has been trying various data pricing strategies, with Bharti Airtel, Vodafone and Idea trying innovative price structures.Incumbent telecom players Bharti Airtel and Idea Cellular suffered huge cuts in their price targets as analysts feared Jio's launch would disrupt the $28-billion Indian telecom market.
Announcing Jio’s 4G launch earlier this week, Ambani had said customers must pay for only one service, either voice or data, underscoring a principle that threatens one of the main revenue streams for incumbents-they charge for both.
Jio will effectively charge for data at five paisa per MB or Rs 50 per GB.Incumbents have been trying various data-pricing strategies to retain top-end users and have already cut effective rates. As the voice business plateaus, they have turned to pricier data services for growth and ramped up 3G/4G presence.
Bharti Airtel and Vodafone India recently offered unlimited voice calls on high-value postpaid packs to retain higher revenue paying customers ahead of Jio’s launch. The two, along with Idea, have also slashed effective data prices by nearly 70 per cent on some plans.
Reliance is using penetration pricing, in which lower price of new goods are charged.We can see that Reliance is trying to be acquired monopoly market for attracting all buyers with single seller.
Hence, we can just wait for coming years to look at the actual position of the Reliance and the incumbents. It can happen that the other brands will get merge to compete with reliance.

by SONU KUMAR Sat Sep 24, 2016 8:41 pm

But from the customer's point of view, whatever is happening in the Telecom sector... if it is in the benefits of customers then it is good. If Reliance Jio impacted the competitors to decrease their prices of tariffs and plans, improvement in their network services... then it is in favor of customers.. and it should be taken as positive impact.
Customers do not want free services... but they want best services at reasonable price..
If Reliance Jio has shaken up the telecom sectors then, perhaps there must be a hope of happening good...

by hitesh kriplani Sat Sep 24, 2016 8:48 pm

I think the telecom sector will come under the Monopolistic competition because there are many number of firms i.e. large number of sellers and product differentiation is high.And they used market penetration as their pricing strategy with the aim to attract large number of customers by lowering their prices.
According to me JIO aggressive pricing will impact operators profitability and sustainability as with the launch of super cheap yet super fast internet people will get more attracted to JIO as today everything works with internet. though the other operators have lost millions of rupees because of it and yes this would definitely change the paradigms of telecom sector as to compete with JIO, other will surely lowering their rates to as minimum as possible.

The pricing strategy adopted by Reliance Jio is Penetration Pricing, it is a strategy where the price of the product is initially set low to reach to a wide fraction of market as because of low price most of the customers switch to Jio.

by abhay.jain.18j Sat Sep 24, 2016 9:38 pm

Yes, In my opinion Reliance Jio's aggressive pricing impact incumbent operators (like Bharti Airtel, Vodafone and Idea) profitability and sustainability because reliance jio is giving affordable & simple tariff like no voice call charges(both STD & Local),No roaming charges,No high data charges.
Interestingly, Jio's plans are more focused on the mass market than that of incumbents. At Rs 149 the company is offering 300 MB of data and unlimited local and roaming voice free and access to Jio entertainment apps. The company does not plan to charge for SMS either. For the higher end consumer the benefits are much more as Jio is offering data at significantly lower tariffs. However, the benefit of Rs 50/GB is only available for high end users or data sharks. Thus I will place this in oligopoly market structure because of the following reasons:-
a)There are few sellers;
b)There are large number of buyers;
c)Products can be differentiated.

Pricing strategy used by Reliance Jio’s strategy is "PENETRATION PRICING" because in penetration pricing lowest price for the new product is charged. This helps in prompt sales and keeping the competitors away from the market.
The spectre of price war is back in the telecom space, with industry insiders and analysts predicting Bharti AirtelBSE 0.17 %, Vodafone and Idea CellularBSE -0.18 % to slash their rates to respond to the enticing tariffs that Reliance Jio Infocomm is offering.
Due to reliance jio the shares of other telecom service provider has lower down and if reliance merge with the Aircel then its total revenue will become 26000 crore in which 15000 crore will be of reliance and 11000 crore will be of Aircel. This merge will have a very great impact on the other telecom service provider in which Airtel will occur a great loss.

by kartikay tiwari Sat Sep 24, 2016 9:44 pm

The launch of Reliance Jio has certainly changed the dynamics of the Indian telecom sector with its humongous scale and disruptive pricing. Small tel cos like Bharti Airtel, Idea, Vodafone are trying hard and are under pressure to retain their customers. In his ambitious plan of broadening the company’s pan-India network, Reliance Industries Ltd’s (RIL) telecom unit chairman Mukesh Ambani announced that voice calls will be free on the Jio network forever and data services would priced as low as Rs 51 per GB, thus creating an Internet landscape in India.
In my opinion, these telecom industries are placed in monopolistic competition because there are many sellers in the market selling differentiated products even though they serve a similar purpose.
They are charging low price to increase its sales and capture market share. Talking about the competition in this case monopolistic competition arises because there are few sellers in the market and consumers has choice what to buy the only difference is that only price level changes of different operators

by ajmera911 Sat Sep 24, 2016 9:50 pm

I think Reliance Jio's aggressive pricing is definitely going hit the profitability and sustainability of it's rivals hard as Mukesh Ambani-owned Jio's management is counting on its introductory offer of free calls and data to grab a 100 million customers as fast as possible.
Prashant Singhal, global telecom leader at EY, expects Jio's aggressive pricing to impact incumbent operators' profitability and sustainability while Hemant Joshi, partner at Deloitte, said it would change the paradigms for the telecom sector reason being the real deep pockets of owner Mukesh Ambani along with other investors/ shareholders as compared to other telecom companies who would be forced to drain there resources/ finances.
Incumbents have been trying various data-pricing strategies to retain top-end users and have already cut effective rates but all are going to proved futile and in vain.

by Varshita Rathore Sat Sep 24, 2016 10:13 pm

Rishabh verma wrote:From my point of view, there is an imperfect competition which is going on between the telecom companies and the market structure is “OLIGOPOLY”. Pricing policy adopted by RELIANCE JIO is “PENETRATION PRICING POLICY.” On the other hand, reliance jio’s aggressive pricing policy will surely impact incumbent operators like bharti aritel, Vodafone and idea on their profitability and sustainability and at the same time it will change the paradigms of the telecom sector, rather I would say that it had taken the telecom sector into the new era by introducing a new type of network which is a 4G network which gives an astonishing speed over the internet. This new, better and improved network will surely help our country to grow as in today’s fast moving world internet is a necessity for all.

Talking about the market structure no doubt this is an Oligopoly Market. But the discussion doesn't end here. The question arises whether it a pure/perfect oligopoly or a differentiated/imperfect oligopoly. Here the market is differentiated oligopoly i.e., the products are heterogeneous in nature.
Other than that it surely has a great impact on the market, I agree on this point.

by Vartika Shukla Sat Sep 24, 2016 10:22 pm

Rishabh verma wrote:
Vartika Shukla wrote:According to me it has imperfect competition type of competition in the market. Reliance has oligopoly type of market structure. Mr. Ambani being an inner Steve jobs released such a market strategy by launching JIO 4G sim. The announcements themselves were surprising: free voice calls, cheap 4G data rates, dirt-cheap 4G devices and the promise of unrestricted Internet access. In Filmy line we can say the HALLA boll in the market. India has always been the poor connectivity and data scarcity. They are data services at cheaper prices but it has effected market badly because due to this company other companies are getting effected badly and there importance are going down the vein. RELIANCE being one of the oldest and top companies in India is creating it place by engraving there jio system. According to me its not good because it just seems to be free available profitable tariff plan but its not so , as the former app of jio has every power in our cell phones then only the other related things will work with that app. The company is getting the full data of every person getting that sim registered with them. In the press conference the was raised that if they genuinely want to provide free data services and tariff plan should provide there sim in normal telecom stores why is only reliance store providing the sim?
Its because they want to acquire the telecom market in a wrong way just to get monopoly in the market.

I think my friend, you are against this jio sim or somehow unsatisfied with it. First of all, Mr. ambani is not steve jobs and the other thing is there is o fee voice calls foe this sim, rather the packed data or we can say the mobile data will be deducted for your calling.
MY FRIEND, i am not against the sim or company but its just that people our in the wrong perception that they are in profit by using JIO sim as a free services.Yes i agree they are providing us free services but its just to capture our loyalty towards them that it which will be in vein after specific time which they providing for free.

by Varshita Rathore Sat Sep 24, 2016 10:27 pm

Rishabh verma wrote:
Vartika Shukla wrote:According to me it has imperfect competition type of competition in the market. Reliance has oligopoly type of market structure. Mr. Ambani being an inner Steve jobs released such a market strategy by launching JIO 4G sim. The announcements themselves were surprising: free voice calls, cheap 4G data rates, dirt-cheap 4G devices and the promise of unrestricted Internet access. In Filmy line we can say the HALLA boll in the market. India has always been the poor connectivity and data scarcity. They are data services at cheaper prices but it has effected market badly because due to this company other companies are getting effected badly and there importance are going down the vein. RELIANCE being one of the oldest and top companies in India is creating it place by engraving there jio system. According to me its not good because it just seems to be free available profitable tariff plan but its not so , as the former app of jio has every power in our cell phones then only the other related things will work with that app. The company is getting the full data of every person getting that sim registered with them. In the press conference the was raised that if they genuinely want to provide free data services and tariff plan should provide there sim in normal telecom stores why is only reliance store providing the sim?
Its because they want to acquire the telecom market in a wrong way just to get monopoly in the market.

I think my friend, you are against this jio sim or somehow unsatisfied with it. First of all, Mr. ambani is not steve jobs and the other thing is there is o fee voice calls foe this sim, rather the packed data or we can say the mobile data will be deducted for your calling.

I disagree with you on this point. No matter reliance Jio has revolutionized the market. But the thing is no matter what, no company will provide its customers goods/services for free. They will charge its customers full value of the service provided. Whether direct or indirect customers will always be charged for whatever good/service they are using. Wink

by mahak agarwal Sat Sep 24, 2016 10:32 pm

YES it will have great impact on others operators like bharti airtel, vodafone &many others operators.As we all know reliance jio has come up with such a wonderful features like free call rates,free messages and they are charging Rs50/GB data as compared to others operators are charging very high rates. jio has entered in such a way that everyone is astonished it has a huge impact on companies profitability and sustanibility of others operators(airtel,vodafone,idea) as well as it will change the paradigms for the telecom sector.talking about the competiton in this case monopolistic competiton arises because there are few sellers in the market and consumers has choice what to buy the only difference is that only price level changes of different operators.
They are charging low price to increase its sales and capture market share.

by ruchi gupta Sat Sep 24, 2016 11:06 pm

yes, jio is having a great effect on other operators.
Free voice is key to making Reliance Jio's integrated plans much more compelling cost-wise than those of peers.Reliance Chairman Mukesh Ambani took the wraps off the Jio network by offering free calls and rock-bottom data prices that sent shares of established players into a nosedive on fears of an all-out price war. shares if many operators have also fell after this. so overall its high time for other operators to change their policies in order to stand in a competition.

by Harshita Sharma Sat Sep 24, 2016 11:12 pm

Telecom companies can be kept under oligopolistic market structure as there are few of them in competition with one another. If we talk about Jio for now it can be kept under monopolistic market structure as it has taken over the market within a few days of it's launch , and will enjoy that position until another company is ready to launch their similar product (airtel has already launched 4G before Jio). Yes, As Reliance Jio has been launched commercially, incumbent telecom operators Airtel, Vodafone and Idea have cut tariff and bundled free calls with data to drive mass market adoption, brokerages. The industry has been trying various data pricing strategies, with Bharti Airtel, Vodafone and Idea trying innovative price structures. Market leader Bharti Airtel has also announced two plans with data tariffs effectively lower by an eye-catching ’80 per cent’.

by Harshita Sharma Sat Sep 24, 2016 11:13 pm

Telecom companies can be kept under oligopolistic market structure as there are few of them in competition with one another. If we talk about Jio for now it can be kept under monopolistic market structure as it has taken over the market within a few days of it's launch , and will enjoy that position until another company is ready to launch their similar product (airtel has already launched 4G before Jio). Yes, As Reliance Jio has been launched commercially, incumbent telecom operators Airtel, Vodafone and Idea have cut tariff and bundled free calls with data to drive mass market adoption, brokerages. The industry has been trying various data pricing strategies, with Bharti Airtel, Vodafone and Idea trying innovative price structures. Market leader Bharti Airtel has also announced two plans with data tariffs effectively lower by an eye-catching ’80 per cent’.

by Mohish Sat Sep 24, 2016 11:16 pm

Yes, Reliance Jio's aggressive pricing impact incumbent operators but not for the longer time.As reliance brought Jio in market with attractive offers of 4G it is attracting most of the costumers but other competitors of reliance are also coming with new offer of 4G like Airtel came with 90 days 4G data in cheaper cost with more high speed it will create more competition in market. Reliance came with huge disruption in the market with there free services till December but when we look towards other services reliance doesn't fit in all the segment as reliance fails to provide good calling facility because of low network facility. Reliance communication and aircel is going to merge soon this will bring new possibilities for reliance. As per my opinion reliance came with brilliant idea in telecom sector but leading companies are also there which can change the market again.

by Akansha Jain Sat Sep 24, 2016 11:37 pm

Yes, I definitely agree with the statement that Reliance Jio has shaken up the whole telecom sector. Moreover the launch of Reliance Jio is turning out to be a "Game Changer" as it is providing better services at an immensely cheaper prices as compared to the other telecom players in the market, for example, it's 4G LTE services is offering not only high speed data but also better quality of calls. One of the major advantage with Reliance is that their technology is more modern and upgraded then other existing companies in the sector.
Reliance Jio competitive pricing strategy is expected to impact the incumbents (Bharti Airtel, Vodafone and Idea) which might see their profitability and margins going down in the near future.
Reliance Jio is also expected to change the paradigms for the telecom sector as the other players will have to cut down their prices and improve their services as well in order to give a cut-throat competition to Jio and to survive in the industry. The telecom players need to defend their market share which they have previously captured and to restrain thier customers from switching to Jio.
According to me their prevails oligopoly market structure in the telecom industry as in this type of structure there are very less number of highly influential and strong competitors sharing market dominance and the decision of one will effect the other the decisions are interdependent. Like the highly influential firms are Reliance, Airtel, Vodafone, Idea and we all have seen how the pricing strategy of Reliance Jio effect the decisions and profit of other companies like Airtel, Vodafone as these two are also planning to reduce their price.

by Prateek Poddar Sat Sep 24, 2016 11:57 pm

Reliance has created threat for the other telecom companies by launching JIO. As it is offering "No Voice Call Charges, No Roaming Charges in the Spirit of One INDIA", attracting YOUTH by charging 90% less data charges from the today's industry.

Decline in data tariffs may impact operators' profitability and sustainability, as telecom sector is reeling under financial stress, "High Debt burden, slowdown in Revenue Growth".

It is a MONOPOLISTIC Competition, "Many Brands, Highly Differentiated amongst all the Brands".

Penetration Pricing Strategy (Basically followed by all the telecom indusries)

by sunali Sun Sep 25, 2016 12:18 am

Reliance was the company that set revolution for mobile services in India back in 2002,when they launched CDMA sim with handset that offer night calling free one of the best cheap tariff plans at that time. This JIO plan is same which will revolutionize the High Speed Network to the entire nation.On annual reliance meeting when Mukesh Ambani finished his speech the entire telcom sector of india was in red color(share market). Idea cellular hit there 52 weeks low whereas Airtel also reaches there lowest for past 26 weeks crashing about 9% Rcom led by Anil Ambani have also there considerable low after Mukesh Ambani speech.
Bharti Airtel, the largest loser in terms of m-cap, lost Rs 8,455 crore m-cap at Rs 124,199 crore . Idea Cellular lost Rs 3,528 crore at Rs 30,140 crore, and RCom lost about Rs 1,182 crore at Rs 12,333 crore. BSE data show.
This was the great impact on all the telecom industry.Shares of Bharti Airtel, Idea Cellular and Reliance Communications saw their share prices dip further on Friday, after analysts slashed price targets on some of them, and warned that the launch of new rival Reliance Industries' Jio venture is set to be much more disruptive than earlier imagined.
slow reliance company is building the relationship with there customers by charging low price .

by himashish Sun Sep 25, 2016 12:36 am

Reliance Jio's entry with much awaited plans of free data, free voice calls with probably the worlds cheapest plans will push other telecom operators to the other end of the string. jio's management is counting on its introductory offer of to grab 100 million customers rapidly. It is an oligopolistic market that is dominated by only a few large firms compete in various other ways, such as advertising, product differentiation. And in my view, its an example of Penetrating Pricing, because of its low price set which is less than any other operator.

by abhik Sun Sep 25, 2016 12:49 am

yes the entry of reliance jio will definitely have a great impact on incumbent operators. Reliance Jio Infocomm kicks off its much awaited but delayed 4G services,shaking up the industry with free voice and dirt cheap data, which top rivals Bharti Airtel. Vodafone and Idea will be forced to react to, draining their finances. Mukesh Ambani-owned Jio's management is counting on its introductory offer of free calls and data to grab a 100 million customers rapidly. so definitely it has an great effect on the telecom sector.

by devendra sharma Sun Sep 25, 2016 5:14 pm

Yes according to me JIO aggressive pricing will impact operators profitability and sustainability as with the launch of super cheap yet super fast internet people will get more attracted to JIO as today everything works with internet.talking about the competiton in this case monopolistic competiton arises because there are few sellers in the market and consumers has choice what to buy the only difference is that only price level changes of different operators.

by Mohini Choudhary Sun Sep 25, 2016 8:20 pm

Yes according to me because the telecoms sector is currently reeling under financial stress, high debt burden and slowdown in revenue growth. Further decline in data tariffs may impact operators' profitability and sustainability. JIO aggressive pricing launch of super fast internet people will get more attracted to JIO because people are mostly connected to each other over internet, Reliance Jio is giving affordable & simple tariff like No voice call charges(both STD & Local),No roaming charges,No high data charges,No blackout days.I would place telecom companies like Bharti Airtel,IDEA, Vodafone in Monopolistic Competition because in monopolistic competition as there are few sellers in the market and buyers have huge choice of what to buy, difference being only the prices offered by different companies."Customers should pay for only one service, either voice or data. Not both. The world over operators charge for only data while voice and messaging are essentially free,". The era of paying for voice calls is ending. Jio will usher India into a new era on the Jio network across India, to any network, always. And in the spirit of 'One India' - no roaming charges also. Jio will put an end to voice call charges in India. Reliance Jio may look to disrupt some of the prominent geographies of existing operators, leading to a re-distribution of the market share which is concentrated among the top three operators (Bharti Airtel, Vodafone and Idea).

by ABHISHEK SINGH.1605 Mon Sep 26, 2016 12:18 pm

Reliance Jio's pricing is definitely attacking on competitors price. As we can see that Airtel, Vodafone and Idea have cut tariff and bundled free calls with data. The market share has already goes down after launching of Jio. Incumbents have been trying various strategies to retain top end users.
From my point of view, there is an imperfect competition which is going on between the telecom companies and the market structure is “OLIGOPOLY”. Pricing policy adopted by RELIANCE JIO is “PENETRATION PRICING POLICY.” On the other hand, reliance jio’s aggressive pricing policy will surely impact incumbent operators like bharti aritel, Vodafone and idea on their profitability and sustainability and at the same time it will change the paradigms of the telecom sector, rather I would say that it had taken the telecom sector into the new era by introducing a new type of network which is a 4G network which gives an astonishing speed over the internet. This new, better and improved network will surely help our country to grow as in today’s fast moving world internet is a necessity for all.

by Sponsored content