Jio on Thursday announced that it was withdrawing the Summer Surprise offer, which aimed to give Jio users three months of additional free service after Happy New Year offer ended a week ago. The company said that the announcement has been prompted by an "advise" from TRAI, the telecom industry regulator in India. The offer was announced on March 31.
"Today, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India has advised Jio to withdraw the 3 months complimentary benefits of JIO SUMMER SURPRISE," Jio said in a note. "Jio accepts this decision. Jio is in the process of fully complying with the regulator's advice, and will be withdrawing the 3 months complimentary benefits of JIO SUMMER SURPRISE as soon as operationally feasible, over the next few days."
Update: It seems that you will still get the Jio Summer Surprise if you hurry. The way Jio words its note to consumers hints that the process that allows a user to enroll for the Summer Surprise offer is not ending immediately. It will end when "operationally feasible" for the company. so in other words, it will probably end within a few days. In other words, hurry now if you want the Jio Summer Surprise Offer.
The Summer Surprise offer was announced by Jio on March 31 in a letter that Reliance chairman Mukesh Ambani wrote to Jio users. The offer was available to all those users who had subscribed to the Jio Prime membership, priced at Rs 99 per year, and had done a recharge of Rs 303 or more on their Jio number. The offer effectively gave Jio users another three months of free Jio service.
Importantly, Reliance Jio on Thursday noted that those who have already subscribed to the Summer Surprise offer will still get it. Nothing changes for them. It's just that the offer will be no longer open to new users, possibly after a few days, and several days before the deadline for it ends on April 15. "All customers who have subscribed to JIO SUMMER SURPRISE offer prior to its discontinuation will remain eligible for the offer," noted Jio.
As part of the Summer Surprise offer, which Ambani had called shagun offer, Jio had said that consumers would get the same service that they were getting as part of the Happy New Year, which in itself was a continuation of the Welcome Offer that Jio provided users when it went live with the service in September last year. This means Summer Surprise offer provided users with 1GB free data daily along with free calls and messages for another 3 months. The recharge Jio users had done to avail the offer was supposed to be used only after the completion of the three months.
The Jio Happy New Year offer expired on March 31. However, Ambani said the company had witnessed great rush for the Jio Prime membership and hence he extended the Prime membership deadline until April 15. The company also noted that Jio SIM will continue to offer free services to all existing Jio users until April 15.
What about those who already subscribed to Summer Surprise Offer?
The users who have already subscribed to the Summer Surprise offer will get the offer. This means these users, who already have that SMS notification telling them that their Summer Surprise offer will kick in from April 16, will see exactly that happening from April 16. These users will get three more months of free Jio services. Whether these users got the Summer Surprise Offer because they enrolled in Jio Prime by spending Rs 99 and did a recharge of Rs 303 or more before March 31, or they got it after the offer was announced officially, will get the Summer Surprise benefits.
So, no worry guys. If you are already part of the Summer Surprise offer, you are part of it until July 16.
Can others still get it?
While Jio is in the process of withdrawing the Summer Surprise offer, it hasn't yet done it. The company will do that when operationally feasible. In other words, read between the lines and you will see that it is giving consumers another, last minute, chance to get the Summer Surprise offer. This a Jio can do by enrolling for the Jio Prime membership, which costs Rs 99 for a year, and then do a first recharge of Rs 303 or more.
So for example, if you do this today, you will get the Summer Surprise offer, even though it has been withdrawn.
What about JIO Prime?
On March 31, Reliance chairman Mukesh Ambani had extended deadline to enrol for Jio Prime until April 15. That still continues to be the case. You will be able to enrol for Jio Prime until April 15, and possibly even beyond that because chances are that Prime is here to stay because it is just a membership offer.
Is JIO still free to use?
Yes, Jio is still free to use and will remain free to use until April 15.
What happens if you don't subscribe to JIO's Summer Surprise offer?
In case you can't subscribe to the Summer Surprise offer, there are three options for you.
-- If you are a Prime member, you will get access to Prime plans. These plans offer more data compared to regular Jio plans with the same cost. After April 15, you will have the option to subscribe to these plans.
-- If you are not a Jio Prime member, you can opt for the regular plans. Until April 15 you can use the Jio SIM for free but after that you must subscribe to a postpaid plan or do a prepaid recharge.
-- Finally, if you neither subscribe to Prime offers and nor to the regular Jio offers, then your Jio SIM in all probability will stop working after April 15. Although the reason why we use probability is because with Jio nothing is certain. It is offering 4G services for free for the last 6 months! This is unprecedented and on April 15 Jio may come out with something new, although chances of that happening are very low. So if you want to use the Jio services, our suggestion is that you get the Prime membership and opt for a nice plan. And the best time to do so might be now.
