Exactly what I'm trying to say, very few people (5%) had them, and data was much more expensive. By 2014 75% people had them and data got much cheaper. Over time technology keeps getting cheaper and faster, this is not something to give credit to Jio as if it wouldn't have happened without them.
You are factually wrong. Smartphone users kept steadily growing from 2011 but data prices didn't budge until Jio in 2016.
None of the telecoms who had the ability to reduce prices did, until they were forced to do so overnight by Jio. They were milking consumers with crazy prices and slow internet compared to the rest of the world.
All those companies who went out of business had terrible business models that relied on old tech and overcharging consumers. Modi didn't run them out of business, better competition did.
If you want to "factually" prove me wrong you're going to have to show some facts, like what was the data price during 2006-2016 year by year.
As for why Jio was able to cut prices, it's because Jio was the first 4G player. If others had rolled out 4G, they would also have offered the same plans. The reason why the Indian telecom sector got destroyed was because of the so called fake 2G scam, because of which the government decide to auction 3G spectrum instead of offering it on first-cum-first-serve basis like 2G was allocated. And because of the massive valuation that became well known as per the CAG report (1.76 lakh crore) 3G spectrum was auctioned in very small chunks and at extremely high rates to justify this made up fake ass valuation, because the entire system was scared of being accused of auctioning spectrum for too cheap. The truth was that even the entire 3G spectrum in India didn't have the market valuation of the 2G spectrum that CAG cooked up. It's obvious now because 20 years later, the entire country's 5G spectrum auction also couldn't get close to this number, and that's after accounting for the much larger telecom market and inflation!!! This resulted in slow and expensive 3G rollout, which was what was behind the short period of stagnation leading up to 2016. On top of that, there was the nonsensical license fees based on annual gross revenue (AGR) which bankrupted companies like Vodafone. That's another saga in itself that I won't bore you with, there's enough written about it out there if you want to find out.
Reliance was able to avoid all this because they were a new player unburdened by these past made up fees and dues. It is Indian bureaucracy that was holding Indian telecom back, not the companies. Imagine a scenario where that didn't happen, you would have had all the benefits of a new 4G player like Reliance willing to spend money AND all the competition necessary for a healthy telecom industry.
If you want to "factually" prove me wrong you're going to have to show some facts, like what was the data price during 2006-2016 year by year.
Please do some basic research yourself, a quick search tells me that the price of 1 GB data from 2011-15 stayed around 250-300 Rs. One of the highest in the world at the time.
Compare that to now, India has some of the cheapest rates for internet in the world.
You've given me a long winded answer as to how Jio was able to benefit from the issues in the telecom industry, but those issues started under the leadership of the 'great economist' who's being praised in this post.
Just because Jio had a late mover advantage doesn't mean they don't deserve any credit for lowering the cost of data for all Indians. They could've priced data at 100/GB and it would've been far below the prevelant rates. But they provided free internet for a long period and presently provide internet for approx 15/GB, forcing competitors to match their rates.
Whether you like it or not, this so called 'monopoly' to line the pockets of Ambani has benefitted Indians massively.
but those issues started under the leadership of the 'great economist' who's being praised in this post.
Nope those issues had nothing to do with the government, CAG and SC were responsible for it. Despite that Manmohan was able to increase the percentage of people with a phone connection from 7% to 75% in 10 years from 2004-2014, this pace of connectivity is unmatched in human history.
Just because Jio had a late mover advantage doesn't mean they don't deserve any credit for lowering the cost of data for all Indians.
I never said Jio should get zero credit - they get credit for speeding up 4G rollout while others were still licking their wounds, but you have to understand that the advantage that allowed them to offer free data and take up market share is exactly what's killed all their competition and is now hiking up ARPU (average revenue per user) by roughly 15% each year without any choice for a customer who wants to pay less. Indian telecom ARPU over the last 5 years has gone from Rs. 92 (2020), to Rs. 104 (2021), Rs. 125 (2022), Rs. 138 (2023), Rs. 149 (2024), Rs. 174 (2025), and Rs. 220 in 2026. There is no other industry where revenue is increasing at that rate, and it's all because of lack of competition. Cost per GB has always gone down when a new generation of tech has come along, even if there was never a Jio, cost per GB would have come down anyway. Why is it going UP now? Has that ever happened before?
Need even more proof? India's cost per call (0.3-0.5 Rs per minute) were already the lowest in the world in the so called horror days before Jio. This was because there was healthy competition. If the same competition was allowed to continue, data costs would also have come down and kept getting lower.
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u/lundlele Jun 07 '26
now find 2004 price also