China Development Bank withdraws insolvency petition against RCom

China Development Bank (CDB), the biggest foreign lender to India's Reliance Communications Ltd (RCom), on Friday withdrew a petition seeking to drag the indebted telecoms carrier into insolvency.

A lawyer for CDB told the National Company Law Tribunal that the Chinese bank had filed to withdraw the petition. The tribunal allowed CDB's plea to go forward.

CDB, which is owed around $2 billion along with two other Chinese banks, had filed the petition in November seeking insolvency proceedings against RCom, saying a large amount of loan principal and interest payments was overdue.

After RCom's debt-reduction plan, including an asset sale to Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd, was announced last week, CDB told Reuters that it was in talks with RCom.

Details of the terms of a possible settlement between the Chinese bank and RCom were not immediately known. By 0847 GMT, RCom shares were trading 4.2 percent higher in a Mumbai market that was up 0.4 percent.

Last week, RCom signed a deal to sell most of its wireless assets to Jio in a deal people familiar with the matter said was worth nearly 240 billion rupees ($3.8 billion), subject to final adjustments at the time the transaction closes.

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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Reliance Jio is offering 100% cashback on JioFi: Here's how to avail of it

Reliance Jio is currently offering 100 per cent cashback on its JioFi portable Wi-Fi device, which connects to 10 devices at the same time. The cashback offer is valid for those buying JioFi in exchange for an old dongle, router and 4G data card.

According to the terms and policies of the cashback offer available on Reliance Jio's online portal, customers seeking to avail of a 100 per cent cashback on JioFi need to exchange their old dongle, router or 4G data card. In exchange, Reliance Jio provides additional data worth Rs 2,010 – 5 GB data worth Rs 210 per month for 10 months – that equals 100 per cent of the device amount.

jiofi There also is another scheme where users who do not wish to exchange can get an offer worth Rs 1,005 on purchase of JioFi online. In purchases made without exchange, Reliance Jio provides additional data worth Rs 1,005 – 5 GB data worth Rs 210 per month for 5 months – that equals to 50 per cent of the device amount.

Step 1: To avail of 100 per cent cashback, you need to purchase JioFi device through Jio online portal by paying Rs 1,999.

Step 2: You have to visit a Reliance Jio store with original invoice, JioFi Box with or without old dongle or other device for exchange

Step 3: You need to purchase a Reliance Jio SIM card, which can be done at a Jio Store or any other partner store by furnishing identity proof, address proof and passport size photograph or Aadhaar card...  READ MORE

The 2017 agenda: Reliance Jio to soon venture into DTH, broadband services

Reliance Jio stormed into the telecom industry with the launch of ultra-affordable high speed 4G internet services combined with free voice calls, SMS and Jio apps. To keep the momentum going, Reliance Jio Infocomm is reportedly gearing up to expand the company’s product portfolio by venturing into diverse areas such as broadband services and Direct-to-Home (DTH) TV services.

Things to expect from Reliance Jio in 2017

Reliance Jio FTTH broadband services

Reliance Industries plans to spend a further Rs 18,000 crore additional investment required for its fibre network as it expands Jio's 4G reach, reports Business Standard. The Reliance Jio fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) broadband services has already been offering trials at a few locations and the services will expand to more cities soon.

Based on the information posted by users on social media networks, the Reliance Jio FTTH broadband services offers speed ranging from 70 Megabits per second (Mbps) to 100 Mbps. This is way faster than what the competition is currently offering in the market.

As with Reliance Jio, pricing would be a key factor for the success of Reliance Jio broadband services.

Reliance Jio DTH service

Reliance Jio is expected to launch direct-to-home (DTH) TV services, which will broadcast native TV channels and stream online content with the help of Jio’s broadband services.

The Reliance Jio DTH service would offer more than 350 channels – with at least 50 high-definition (HD) channels. Also, the DTH services will make use of Jio’s cloud capabilities to store content for later viewing purpose and therefore the user will get the flexibility to save the program directly on cloud, therefore, eliminating the need of external storage device.

Reliance Jio 4G VoLTE feature phone

Reliance Jio is reportedly working on a feature phone that will support 4G VoLTE services. The feature phone also purportedly sports hardware buttons to use the suite of Jio apps. The phone will be subsidized by Reliance and might retail at a value ranging from Rs 999 – Rs 1,500.

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