Bharti Airtel's two new data plans unlikely to hurt Jio growth: Report

Bharti Airtel`s new data plans are unlikely to impact Reliance Jio`s market share as the latter`s plans are still competitive, said a report by Credit Suisse. Airtel has recently introduced two new schemes -- Rs 48 plan that gives 3GB data with 28-day validity, and Rs 98 plan with 6GB data and 28-day validity.

"Jio`s plans stay more competitive (20-25 per cent cheaper) than Airtel and therefore Jio should continue to gain market share on smartphones," it said.

"The feature-phone offer by Jio is very attractive and we expect Jio to continue to add more than 10 million feature-phone users per quarter," Credit Suisse said.

On Airtel`s new data plans, the report said they were either meant for "voice-only customers to encourage them to start experiencing data and data top-up for existing combo plans that have daily data usage limit of 1-1.5GB". 

As per the report, the impact may not be substantial as Jio also offers unlimited calling plans along with 2GB data at Rs 98 compared with Airtel that provides the same at Rs 129.