India, Aug. 22 -- In April, Reliance Jio quietly changed the terms of its Rs.195 recharge pack. The 90-day pack would now have a validity of 30 days. In other words, a customer who paid once for three months would now have to pay every month. But alone Jio wasn't tinkering with prices. Airtel revised the price of its Rs.179 plan to Rs.199. There were no headlines. Operators change plans routinely.

Across India, the cost of staying connected on a mobile phone is quietly going up.

And now Jio Platforms, the mothership on which Reliance Jio rides, is set to go public with its IPO, the draft prospectus for which is available for scrutiny. When looked at closely, the company has an interesting story to tell. The Average Revenue Per User (ARP...