Data tariff war: Rivals offer goodies before Rel Jio's launch

A new data scheme for pre-paid subscribers has Airtel offering double data at night with savings up to 30 percent. Now this is not a direct price cut but it does slashes rates at night by almost 50 percent.

Idea Cellular has responded by slashing 4G and 3G data charges by up to 50 percent across circles. It has also launched a "day and night twin pack" which offers a 30 percent discount on data. This is directed at young working subscribers, most of whom access the internet at night.

Vodafone and Reliance Communication are also staying away from blatant price cuts and have instead resorted to promotional offers and customised offerings to attract subscribers.

Vodafone U, for instance, offers subscribers to avail data loans of up to 60 MB, offers a subsidised calling facility to three Vodafone numbers at 20 paise per minute, and throws in unlimited free music.

RCom has done something similar, they provide data loan services for prepaid customers with a loan top-up of 60 MB.

Analysts say these heavy discounts and special offers should help offset some of the damage expected when Reliance Jio launches its basic prepaid 4G data services at a price that is 88 percent lower than its competitors.

There is a good chance that this data price war will escalate, after all, the telecom industry went into a tizzy when Docomo first entered the scene and that was a time when competition was a lot less intense, and a lot less money was at stake.Disclosure: Reliance Industries, which owns Reliance Jio, also owns Network18, which publishes Moneycontrol.com.