Two years of Jio: How free calls, data catalysed India's digital revolution

When Mukesh Ambani launched Reliance Jio in 2016, the telecom industry was a multiplayer market, consumers were careful about their data usage and very few cared to consume video content on their mobile data network.

Cut to 2018, two years after Jio first introduced free voice calling and months of dirt-cheap data services, content is in demand like never before.

Content provider and OTT services like Amazon Prime, Netflix, Eros Now, Voot, Hotstar, Gaana and Saavn among many others have taken off in a big way.

Global internet giants Facebook, Google and Amazon are prioritizing Indian language services to attract internet consumers in far-flung rural areas who prefer content in local language than English.

“Jio has built a Digital Connectivity Platform of unparalleled capacity and a nation-wide reach. This has enabled Reliance to strategically reinvent itself as a Technology Platform Company,” the company said in a statement on completion of two years.

Reliance Jio to invest Rs 500 bn in Jio Fibre to Home foray; launch by year-end

Jio Fibre to Home - Reliance Jio, which is set to disrupt the fixed broadband as well as media and content delivery platform segments with the launch of services, will invest Rs 500 billion on last-mile connectivity of 50 million homes with fibre over the next two to three years, according to sources close to the company.

A team of around 10,000 people was being put in place for the FTH roll-out, said sources, adding this would be one of the largest and fastest deployments of FTH broadband services anywhere in the world. Jio’s target is to ensure that customers use an ...

Google's X Labs to share FSOC technology for Andhra's fiber grid

In a first, X Development LLC, a subsidiary of Google's parent company Alphabet Inc, will supply and deploy two thousand cutting-edge Free Space Optical Communication (FSOC) links for Andhra Pradesh (AP) fiber-grid.

FSFC is an optical communication technology that uses light to wirelessly transmit data to telecommunication and internet applications. The technology remained outside the commercial applications for long owing to distance, speed, and efficiency related problems, which are a thing of past going by the specs of SPOC links being offered to AP government.

Known for its work on the development of Google's driverless car, X Labs is going to implement FSOC technology that can provide wireless internet connectivity with as much as 20-gigabit speed and to a distance of up to 20 km, in the state.

A delegation headed by AP IT minister Nara Lokesh entered into an agreement with X Labs CEO Astro Teller for this collaboration at the latter's headquarters in Mountainview in California late on Friday, after months of testing the suitability of this technology for AP fiber grid.

AP executed this 3-in-1 (phone, internet, and television) connectivity project entirely using the electric poles, stringing 24,000 km of overhead fiber cable, and is expected to cover 85 per cent of the households in the state. The government proposes to use FSOC technology to connect the remaining areas that are cut-off by difficult terrain, forest areas, river crossings, railway crossings etc. besides increasing the network reliability.

100 GB broadband data for Rs 500: Reliance Jio may launch JioFiber by Oct

Reliance Jio Infocomm, which has been testing its fibre-to-the-home (FTTH)-based JioFiber broadband in select cities, is expected to commercially launch its services by October, according to a report in the Economic Times.

Under its base plan, Reliance JioFiber might offer a whopping 100 GB of broadband data for as low as Rs 500. In terms of bandwidth, the JioFibre services are speculated to offer 100 Mbps speed.

Recently, Business Standard reported that the Reliance JioFiber broadband services would launch with a preview offer – similar to how the company launched its Jio services -- with free access to JioFiber services for 90 days. Under the complimentary offer, the JioFibre broadband services will offer a blazing speed of 100 Mbps and a monthly free data of 100 GB, besides free access to Jio premium applications. The user will continue to get 1 Mbps of speed after 100 GB data cap.

Though the services would be offered for free, Reliance Jio would charge Rs 4,500 as a one-time refundable installation charge that will be returned if JioFibre users choose not to continue with JioFiber.

To counter JioFibre, India’s leading broadband service provider Bharti Airtel recently upgraded its plans and is now offering almost 100 per cent of additional free data on every plan. Under the new plans, the company is offering 60 GB of high-speed broadband data at Rs 899, up from 30 GB offered earlier. Similarly, the updated Rs 1,099 plan dishes out 90 GB, compared with 50 GB earlier. The higher Rs 1,299 plan offers 125 GB, compared with 75 GB, while the premium Rs 1,499 plan offers 160 GB, against 100 GB earlier.

For Airtel broadband customers in the Delhi-NCR region, the company is running a promotion and offering additional 1,000 GB of broadband data on select plans.
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Reliance Jio to offer 100 GB free data, 100 Mbps speed at JioFibre launch

After shaking the telecom industry, Mukesh Ambani-promoted Reliance Jio is gearing up to launch its much-awaited Fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) broadband services in India.

During its network testing phase, which lasted almost 6 months, Reliance Jio had swept the market by offering free access to many of the Jio services – from 4G high-speed data, voice calls, SMS, apps. In acquiring a record 100 million subscribers during this period, Reliance Jio severely dented the revenues and user base of key rivals like Bharti Airtel, Vodafone and Idea Cellular.

According to a news report in India Today, Reliance Jio would follow the same process as it launches JioFibre network. Currently, the JioFibre broadband services are running under trials in 5 cities. Delhi, Mumbai, Jamnagar, Pune and Chennai are the cities where the trails are going on.

There is no specific timeline defined for the launch of JioFibre broadband services but the launch date offers along with services offered through JioFibre broadband have been reported by India Today in a news report.

The Reliance JioFibre broadband services would launch with a preview offer, which will offer complimentary access to JioFibre services for 90 days. Under the complementary offer, the JioFibre broadband services will offer blazing fast speed at 100 Mbps with a monthly free data of 100 GB and free access to Jio premium applications. The user will continue to get 1 Mbps speed post 100 GB data cap.

Though the services are free, Reliance Jio would charge Rs 4500 as refundable installation charges that will be refunded to JioFibre users if they chose not to continue the JioFibre.
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Telecom wars: Bharti Airtel ramps up 4G data with Rs 1,600-cr Tikona deal

In the midst of an aggressive war in the telecom sector, leading operator Bharti Airtel on Thursday made public its plan to go big on data. The telco announced the acquisition of Tikona Digital Networks’s 4G business, including broadband wireless access (BWA) spectrum and 350 sites across five circles. With the deal, which values Tikona at Rs 1,600 crore, Sunil Mittal-led Airtel is gearing up to face Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Jio with a stronger data offering and faster customer addition. The deal is subject to requisite regulatory approvals.

The company’s total mobile data customers are around 54. 9 million, of whom 37.6 million are only 3G and 4G users. Jio crossed the 50-million mark for data customers in November 2016.

Bharti gets 22.8 per cent of its total mobile revenue from data. Tikona currently has 20 MHz spectrum in the 2,300 MHz band in the Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh (East), UP (West), Rajasthan and Himachal Pradesh circles.  

Airtel plans to roll out high-speed 4G services on the newly acquired spectrum in those five circles, immediately after the closure of the transaction. (READ MORE)