So when are you dumping your service provider?

Who would have thought that just 13 years after incoming calls on mobiles became free there will come a day when you will not be charged at all for voice calls, including when on roaming.

That day was today and the announcement to this effect was made by RIL chairman Mukesh Ambani during the company’s AGM in Mumbai today. The 45-minute speech spelled out how Reliance Jio plans to completely alter the telecom business in India where despite mobile connectivity touching over 90 per cent of the population, the share of internet connectivity remains under 10 per cent.

Calling it “Datagiri”, Ambani  announced rolling out of Jio from December 31, 2016, with 4G data plans costing as low as Rs 50/GB. Students will get an additional 25 per cent data on their recharge while night time browsing will be free for all. If Reliance Communications’ 2003 Monsoon offer made owning a mobile phone an affordable option for the aam admi, today’s announcement will have a similar effect on mobile internet connectivity too.

Rival telecom companies had been preparing for this day but even then they got surprised when Ambani announced that voice calls would forever be free. Expectedly, their shares tumbled today. Both Idea Cellular and Bharti Airtel were down 9 per cent.

Reliance has tied up with a host of mobile companies with which you can get that coveted Jio SIM, with the cheapest phone being priced at Rs 2,999. Then there is JioFi 2 device, which is a wireless router that can be used as a mobile Wi-Fi. This device is available for just Rs 1,999 and one can connect up to 31 devices.