Why Reliance Jio won’t be able to offer discounted services to its users – Explained

Telecom operators like Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea would not be greatly worried by the Facebook-Jio deal on the count that any special pricing may accrue to the subscribers of Jio which may put them at a disadvantage. The biggest worry in a deal between a telecom operator and an over-the-top (OTT) player is preferential access of certain services and content to its own subscribers at a concessional rate. However, this is not possible under the differential data pricing regulation of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India.

Even e-commerce players like Amazon and Flipkart need not worry that Jio may provide free data for accessing its platform. Under the differential data pricing regulations, operators cannot price data or any other services differently for their own customers vis-a-vis customers of other players if the app is on the internet. Since the Jio Mart-WhatsApp platform will be available on the Internet and can be downloaded via playstore, Jio cannot provide any benefit to its own set of subscribers in terms of charges.