Archive · 14 Aug 2026
Jio turns 10, data prices crash and consumption jumps 128-fold
Ten years ago, a company in India called Reliance Jio started selling mobile internet.
Before that, internet on phones was very expensive and slow.
Jio helped make the price of mobile data much lower.
One gigabyte of data used to cost ₹228, but now it costs about ₹8, which is almost 29 times cheaper.
Because data became cheap, people started using their phones much more.
Internet speeds also got much faster, going from about 2.5 Mbps to more than 68 Mbps.
People now use their phones to watch videos, shop, study, and pay for things.
In fact, people use more than 100 times more data than they did ten years ago.
Jio is now one of India's biggest mobile companies, with more than 500 million customers.
Reliance Jio completes 10 years since its launch on September 5, a decade marked by sharply lower mobile data prices and surging speeds and consumption in India.
The average price of 1GB of data in India dropped from ₹228 in 2016 to ₹7.9, making mobile data nearly 29 times cheaper, per an Analysys Mason assessment in Jio's IPO Draft Red Herring Prospectus.
Average mobile download speed rose from about 2.5 Mbps in 2016 to over 68 Mbps by December 2025, a more than 27-fold increase.
Monthly data consumption per wireless subscriber grew more than 128 times, from less than 0.2GB to 25.7GB during the period.
Jio's subscriber base reached 533.3 million by end of June 2026, with about 285 million 5G subscribers and average monthly data consumption of 43.7GB per subscriber.
- Who
- Reliance Jio, India's leading telecom operator, and Indian mobile data users.
- What
- Jio completed 10 years since launch, during which mobile data prices fell sharply while internet speeds and data consumption surged.
- When
- September 5 marks the 10-year anniversary, with data covering 2016 through mid-2026.
- Where
- India.
- Why
- Jio's launch triggered a decade of falling data prices, faster speeds, and dramatically higher mobile data consumption across the country.
- Operator
- Reliance Jio
- Anniversary
- 10 years since September 5 launch
- 1GB data price in 2016
- ₹228
- 1GB data price now
- ₹7.9
- Average download speed 2016 → Dec 2025
- 2.5 Mbps → over 68 Mbps
- Monthly data per subscriber 2016 → now
- Under 0.2GB → 25.7GB (128-fold rise)
- Jio subscribers (June 2026)
- 533.3 million
- Jio 5G subscribers (June 2026)
- About 285 million