Reliance Jio's free service sparks mobile wars in India

Mumbai

OUTSIDE a tiny Reliance store in a trendy Mumbai neighbourhood, residents queued for hours this week for a new SIM card promising free data - and a dramatic reshaping of the Indian mobile landscape.

Mukesh Ambani, India's richest man, announced his long-awaited Reliance Jio 4G network with an audacious free service for the rest of 2016, followed by vastly cheaper data plans and free voice calls for life.

Anticipating the shake-up, rival Airtel has already slashed 3G and 4G prices by up to 80 per cent while Vodafone has heaped more data into its prepaid tariffs.

Yet analysts said that comp…