4G No Longer a Distant Dream in Suburbs, Thanks to Reliance Jio

Free internet has immensely helped the Indian consumers to experience 4G over the past few months.

Reliance Jio’s advertisement is visible on a board above Airtel’s logo outside a store in Mumbai. (Photographer: Vishal Patel/Bloomberg)

After the Indian telecom market made quite an entry in the Tier 2 cities, the craze for low-range VoLTE phones has reached a new high.

People in Kanpur, Lucknow and Ludhiana are now eyeing 4G phones ranging between Rs 5,000 to Rs 15,000. The reason for this can be attributed to the availability of RJio's 4G across small towns and big cities like Mumbai and Delhi.

The Quint went exploring the quality of service available in these areas, during which we managed to make HD voice calls on its network.

Nationwide network of 4G coverage in India

Current state of Jio’s network in Kanpur

This is the strength of Jio in Deoghar

Bhind district in MP

Kanpur in Uttar Pradesh, Deoghar in Jharkhand, and Bhind in Madhya Pradesh are those regions where a few months ago people weren’t able to avail 3G Internet, forget 4G. Most of the internet coverage in these areas was available through the 2G network. But ever since Jio 4G entered these cities, internet usage has reached out to the small towns.

Demand for 4G Phones Hits a New High

Under the Jio Welcome Offer, everyone gets the chance to use free, high-speed internet till 31 December 2016. But the catch with Jio is that you need a 4G phone and be in a city that offers 4G, or else you will neither be able to make calls or use 4G on Jio.

This has greatly made a difference to the demand for affordable 4G phones in cities other than Delhi and Mumbai right now.

Phone Makers Gung-ho on 4G Phones Now

Phone makers from India as well as China, have switched their attentions to making/selling 4G phones.

According to Cybermedia research, over 1.4 crore VoLTE phones have been shipped into India, for the quarter ending September 2016. This figure has doubled from the last quarter. Interestingly, this takes the total count of 4G-enabled phones in the market to 70%.

Numbers speak for itself here. (Photo Courtesy: Counterpoint)

According to research firm Canalys, the number of Xiaomi smartphone coming to India over the year is growing at the rate of 170%. Meanwhile, another research firm, says in the July-September quarter, the market share of the 21 Chinese brands has reached 36%. While the Micromax market share declined from 17% to 6.4%, Samsung’s market share has gone down from 29% to 21.6%.

It’s quite obvious that Chinese phone brands are ruling the roost with the incoming of affordable 4G internet in India.

(Story translated from Hindi Quint by S Aadeetya)