From today, Reliance Jio's 'Monsoon Hungama' to offer Rs 501 JioPhone

Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Jio has advanced by a day to July 20 the launch of its monsoon 'hungama' scheme that would offer its JioPhone to customers for Rs 501, a company source said.

Earlier, in the annual general meeting of Reliance Industries, Ambani had announced that the scheme will begin from July 21.

The offer will begin at 5.01 PM on Friday, the timing that reflects the Rs 501 price tag of the JioPhone. The registration for new JioPhone is already live on the official website of Relaince Jio.

"Jio will start monsoon hungama scheme from 5.01 pm on July 20. Even the timing has been kept to reflect effective price of the phone," the source told PTI.

According to the source, Reliance Jio will announce the terms and condition of the scheme on Friday.

From August 15 onward, both existing and new, JioPhone users will also get to access Facebook, WhatsApp and Youtube. The phone, however, supports Google Maps.

How Jio was born: Tired of poor internet speed, Isha Ambani mooted the idea

Billionaire Mukesh Ambani's telecom venture Jio, which catapulted India as the world's largest mobile broadband data consuming nation in less than two years, was first seeded by his daughter, Isha Ambani, in 2011.

This was revealed by Ambani, the richest Indian, in his acceptance speech last night after his oil-to-telecom conglomerate, Reliance Industries was presented with the 'Drivers of Change' award at the Financial Times ArcelorMittal Boldness in Business Awards.

Since the idea first cropped up, Reliance, which owns and operates the world's largest single location refinery complex at Jamnagar in Gujarat, has spent more than $31 billion to break into India's mobile-phone market. The 2016 upstart, called Jio, dislodged rivals and has emerged as the nation's No. 4 carrier by offering call services free for life and data transmission at dirt cheap rates.

Jio is also gearing up for newer data-heavy services that can connect homes, businesses, and cars to the internet.