Jio celebrates 10 years with Rs 1,499 4G plan and Rs 299 2G upgrade
Published
The anniversary deal bundles a 4G feature phone with six months of data and calls. The Rs 299 figure depends on what a 2G user would have spent anyway, and Jio has not yet said when the offer ends.
Original report
Offer details as reported on 30 September 2026. Based on one outlet's report; Jio's own terms were not available at the time of writing.
For Rs 299, a 2G feature-phone user can move to 4G, according to the arithmetic in one report of Jio's new anniversary offer. Jio marked 10 years with a deal on its JioBharat 4G feature phone aimed squarely at people still on 2G, Odisha Ray reported.
The phone costs Rs 1,499 and comes with six months of benefits. The Rs 299 is not a price tag. It is what is left once the usual cost of staying on 2G is taken away.
The Rs 299 is a net figure, not a sticker price
The report puts a typical 2G recharge at Rs 199 a month, or about Rs 1,200 over six months. Take that from the Rs 1,499 phone-and-benefits bundle and the gap is Rs 299.
Spread over six months, that is roughly Rs 50 a month more than a 2G user already pays. The whole bundle works out to about Rs 250 a month.
That extra Rs 50 a month buys a very different phone plan.
Six months of 4G data and calls come in the box
The bundle includes 14GB of data a month and unlimited HD voice calls, according to the report. Over six months that is 84GB of data.
It also carries Jio's own apps:
- JioTV, with more than 500 channels
- JioHotstar
- JioPay
- Jio Safety Shield
The phone has a 2.4-inch display and a 2,000mAh battery. It is still a feature phone, not a smartphone.
The offer is pitched as a decade of connecting Bharat
Odisha Ray framed the deal as the latest step in Jio's 10-year push to bring cheaper connections to Bharat, with the 2G-to-4G upgrade as the headline benefit.
That is one outlet's framing. No other outlet's account of this offer could be checked, and no Jio spokesperson is quoted in the report.
Which leaves several things a 2G user would want to know before buying.
What we don't know yet
- The end date. The report calls it a limited-period offer but gives no closing date.
- Jio's own maths. The Rs 299 rests on the report's assumption of a Rs 199 monthly 2G recharge. A user who spends less on 2G would see a bigger gap.
- How the six months work. It is not clear whether the benefits are bundled with the phone or delivered as a recharge.
What happens next
The terms should become clearer once Jio publishes the full offer details. Until then, the Rs 299 figure is best read as an estimate, not a price Jio has quoted.
This story was produced with AI assistance and reviewed, edited and verified by the reporter before publication.
Covered by 1 outlet across the spectrum: 0% left, 0% center, 100% right.
Who is covering this story
- Right-leaning (1): odhisharay