While T-Mobile and Jio operate in starkly different conditions, they are both driving their own brand of innovation.
What’s great about T-Mobile and Jio is they tend to plan two steps ahead. Whether they think “outside the box” or they are just playing a different game, the results most often make an impact that competitors need to respond to. When you waltz, someone leads, the other follows…
Earlier this week Verizon announced they would reinstate unlimited plans, and T-Mobile has moved their cheese again. Verizon’s $80 plan was designed to compete with their rival T-Mobile’s ONE unlimited data plan which costs $70 per month. Verizon sets itself apart from T-Mobile by giving a 10GB of tethering data per month with a full HD video streaming to customers.
In response T-Mobile supped their T-Mobile One (Binge On) plan by adding high-definition video and 10GB of high-speed hotspot usage to its $70 unlimited smartphone data plan.
John Legere, T-Mobile superstar CEO, addressed Verizon’s change on T-Mobile’s fourth-quarter earnings conference call Tuesday morning.
“We drag the carriers kicking and screaming to the future,” he said. T-Mobile had ushered in the industry’s move to unlimited data last year.
T-Mobile added 2.1 million customers during the quarter, continuing a trend that vaulted it past Sprint to become the No. 3 carrier in 2015.
Jio forces everyone’s hand
On the other side of the world, in India, Reliance Jio has only been around for a few months (hard to believe) but is already making waves and serious headaches for competitors. With its free 4G services, the new entrant has already bagged 73 million subscribers in just over 100 days from its inception. Also, it is quickest one to achieve that milestone. Having said that, customers are going crazy about the free 4G services – and so are rival telecom operators.
To compete with Reliance Jio, India’ second largest telecom network, Vodafone recently launched SuperHour packs, where the company is offering unlimited data/voice calls on an hourly basis by charging a nominal amount. These plans received a massive response from the audience, which in fact forced Idea Cellular to launch their own hourly packs. In addition, operators such as Airtel, Idea, and Vodafone are rolling out daily data packs too.
Two companies setting the agenda in two very different environments. Good for consumers, tough for competitors, great for the industry!
More Here [LatinPost] [NewsDog]
This article originally appeared on PricingDataPlans
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