Reliance Jio on Friday announced that its much-awaited JioPhone Next smartphones will be available in stores from this Diwali at a retail price of Rs. 6,499. The company is offering individuals to purchase the phone at Rs. 1,999 down payment and the remaining in 18-24 months of EMIs.
These smartphones, tagged the world’s most affordable by the company, will come along with bundled recharge plans of 18 months and 24 months offering 5 GB data and 100 minutes per month at Rs. 300 monthly recharge.
Nomura India said that the plans being offered by Jio along with the smartphones are at 20-30 per cent premium to comparable daily data plans in the market. “We don’t think R-Jio will charge a premium from Jiophone Next users (vs other smartphone users) and, in our view, Jiophone Next plans signal that a tariff hike is imminent,” Nomura India said in a note.
The brokerage firm said that with JioPhone Next’s bundled prices implying 20-30 per cent hike in unlimited data plans in the near term, it could boost average revenue per user by 13-17 per cent in 2022-23 for the three players in the market.
Nomura India is also of the view that such a tariff hike could propel the enterprise value of the three private-sector telecom players by 17-22 per cent in the coming years.
“In our view, both Bharti and R-Jio are well hedged to gain from either market consolidation (duopoly) or market repair (sharper tariff hikes, further relief measures),” Nomura India said. The brokerage firm has a buy rating on Bharti Airtel and recently downgraded to neutral from a buy.
