Jio: Make voice free. Sell the data.
Jio launched on a 4G-only network, gave away voice and data for months, then kept voice free forever and charged for data. Explore when giving away what rivals charge for builds a market, and what it costs.
See the idea in one picture ↓- to 100 million customers
- 170 days
- domestic voice, always
- ₹0
- per GB at launch, Jio’s figure
- ~₹50
- data a month, Feb 2017
- 100 cr GB
Figures as reported by the company.
Independent educational analysis. Scenarios, people, numbers and illustrations on this page are original PMcademy practice material, not company research results or an endorsement.
Think about the customer who counts every rupee.
“I count every rupee of talk time. Video? Never.”
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Our fictional learner, Ramesh, runs a small shop and recharges his phone with small amounts. He rations calls and has never streamed a video because data feels too expensive. If calls stop costing anything and data becomes cheap, his phone becomes a different product. Ask what your customer avoids today only because of price.
Rivals earn most of their money from the thing you plan to give away.
Calls are rationed and data is a luxury
Calls are free and data is everyday
Read the analysis
Imagine a market where companies make most of their money charging for one thing, while the thing that will matter tomorrow is still expensive and rarely used. You could compete on price for today’s thing, or make it free and charge only for tomorrow’s. The product question is what you charge for, and what you give away to build the habit that pays.
Give away what rivals charge for
- 1What people paid for
Calls were charged by the minute, and data was priced like a luxury.
- 2Free to start
A launch offer made voice and data free, and 100 million people joined in 170 days.
- 3Voice free, data paid
Voice stayed free for good, and cheap data became what people pay for.
Animated illustration. Names, numbers and people are fictional teaching material.
Free removes the reason to wait.
Illustrative data and simplified behaviour. This model does not represent a live company system or measured company results.
Read the analysis
Use the model below to compare three pricing paths for the same network. Charge for voice and data as rivals do, give everything away for a launch period and then charge for data, or keep voice free forever and charge only for data. Watch how many of a hundred fictional people join, how much data they use and what they pay. The numbers in the model are illustrative.
Sign-ups during a free offer are not paying customers.
Reliance reports 100 million customers in 170 days and 100 crore GB of data a month.
How many stayed and paid once the free period ended.
- Share who pay after the free period
- Revenue per customer
- Data used per customer
Read the analysis
Reliance reports 100 million customers in 170 days, during a period when everything was free. That shows how strong the pull was, not how many would pay later. In your project, plan the moment free ends, and measure who converts, what they pay and how long they stay, rather than celebrating sign-ups alone.
Free is expensive, and rivals will answer.
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Giving a service away for months means carrying the full cost of the network with almost no revenue, and some people who join for free will leave when payment starts. Competitors cut prices, and regulators look closely at free offers. In return, adoption is fast, usage becomes a habit, and a building such as a 4G-only network makes the free part cheap to keep. Decide how long you can fund free, and what makes people stay when it ends.
Free trial, free forever or cheap for all?
Your fictional team is launching a language-learning app in a price-sensitive market where rivals charge a monthly fee. You can offer a long free trial, a free version forever with paid extras, or one very low price for everyone from day one. Choose one and explain when and why people will start paying.
Choose a next move
Leave with a pricing decision.
Your artifact
Write a pricing decision: what rivals charge, what you charge for and give away, the habit free builds, when people pay and the conversion you expect.
Critique my project artifact using only the evidence I provide. Write a pricing decision: what rivals charge, what you charge for and give away, the habit free builds, when people pay and the conversion you expect. Separate observed facts, assumptions, proposed tests and missing evidence. Identify a failure mode and a cheap check. Do not invent company results or user research. Ask for my artifact before starting.
Read the analysis
List what your product offers and what rivals charge for each part. Decide what to charge for, what to give away and for how long. Write the habit the free part should build, the moment people start paying, the share you expect to convert and the signal that would make you change the price.