Jio fever grips consumers

Frenzied looks, confused faces and long queues. This was the scene at the Reliance Digital outlet, inside V3S mall, where nearly 2,000 people gathered before the store opened to get their hands on Jio SIM card.

At the Digital Xpress Mini store in Jungpura, five staffers were hard at work to try and activate as many Jio SIM cards as possible. “We have at least 300 people coming in everyday to check for SIM cards or registering for one but we are only able to activate only 100 SIM cards daily with each taking 10 to 15 minutes,” one of the staffers said.

This was expected as RIL’s telecom offering Jio, which was formally launched on Thursday, offers the lowest data rates in the country -- 1GB for ₹50. To be sure, the consumer does not have to pay for calls.

“Because of the crowd, they had to call cops and get the crowed dispersed,” Ajay Sharma, a resident of Preet Vihar, said.

However, the company is trying to bring order. “We started a token system under which the user can register his phone number and name. The customer can come back later in the day to collect the SIM,” one of the store managers said.

But several consumers at the store didn’t look happy. “It is just a SIM card and any identification should work with passport photos,” an agitated consumer said after being rejected. He claimed that he had waited for over an hour.

However, store managers had a different view. They claimed that the customers were not aware of Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai)’s norms for SIM activation. “Everyone has to produce a local address proof or a proper Aadhaar card and not the e-Aadhaar for SIM activation,” one of the managers said.

Despite the hassles, people are excited. “Small stores are getting over 200 customers a day and larger stores are seeing at least 2,500,” a source said.