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In what could be a game-changer for the telecom industry, Reliance Jio Infocomm on Thursday unveiled plans to roll out a broadband services optical fibre network across 1,100 cities.
This will be one of the largest greenfield broadband networks in the world based on optical fibre. RJIo is likely to bundle offerings across broadband, internet-based set-top box for television and voice telephony.
RJio, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL), will offer high-speed broadband under the brand JioGigaFiber, targeting 50 million homes to start with. Registrations will start on August 15.
“Fixed-line broadband offers hundreds of megabits, even gigabits per second of data speeds. Jio is determined to move India to among the top five in fixed-line broadband,” said RIL Chairman Mukesh Ambani at the company’s 41st AGM here. “In countries with better developed communication infrastructure, more than 80 per cent of data consumption happens indoors through fixed-line connectivity. Optical fibre-based fixed-line broadband is the future.”
RJio also unveiled the JioPhone2, priced at ₹2,999, which will be available from August 15. It has rolled out a ‘Monsoon Hungama’ scheme under which old feature phones can exchanged for a new JioPhone for ₹501.
JioPhone, which was launched last year with a refundable deposit of ₹1,500, will come with added functionalities such as YouTube, WhatsApp and Facebook from August 15. The first version of the handset now has more than 25 million users.
“We have reduced the effective entry cost of the JioPhone from ₹1,500 to as low as ₹501,” Ambani said.
Hybrid retail
Reliance is also transitioning its retail business by creating a hybrid (online-to-offline) commerce platform. It will integrate Reliance Retail’s physical marketplace with RJio’s digital services. “I assure you that the size of Reliance will more than double (by 2025),” Ambani said.
While the launch of the optical fibre broadband services hit the share price of cable TV companies, RJio’s rival telecom operators put up a brave front. “We expect the initiative to transform allied sectors such as healthcare, education and agriculture in addition to the retail industry,” said Rajan S Mathews, Director-General, Cellular Operators’ Association of India. “The increased focus on technology will provide the necessary impetus to the industry and also hopefully the revenues of the industry that are being challenged at present,” he added.
Researchers at JP Morgan said: “...We would highlight that subscriber growth in fibre is unlikely to be as quick as telecom given last-mile connectivity issues.”
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