Reliance Jio’s mission to democratise broadband in India is likely to take shape starting 12 August next week. The company, hosting its annual general meeting (AGM) on the date could make the announcement to commercially launch its Jio GigaFiber service and its prices.
This event is usually the platform where Reliance makes big announcements, including Jio mobile service as well as the JioPhone device, presided over by the company chairman, Mukesh Ambani.
The details of the report look accurate, as the company in its recent media statement highlighted that the ‘ongoing beta trials of JioGigaFiber services is in its final stages’ which suggests that official launch of the broadband service from Jio is imminent.
Jio GigaFiber: What Consumers Will Get?
The same Hindu report had also pointed out that Jio GigaFiber will be made available along with the entertainment and smart home (IoT) solutions.
Jio has been pilot-testing its wired broadband service in different pockets of country. This service from Jio works on the optical fibre technology, which promises high-speed internet up to 1Gbps.
Jio will provide users with internet router, and set-top box which will be connected to its network. This will in turn focus on transforming your house into a smart home.
In addition to broadband internet, Jio is likely to bundle TV service for consumers. The TV service is reportedly going to be based on Internet Protocol technology, similar to Airtel’s Digital TV network available to consumers for the past couple of the years.
The telco intends to offer 600 TV channels, landline connection and 100Mbps broadband service, all bundled together.
How Much Will it Cost?
According to a report from Livemint earlier this year, Jio will be offering these as a bundled service for Rs 600 per month. The same report also said that the service will be added in the next three months, and will be offered at free of cost for one year.
Having said that, you still have to spend big on getting the Jio GigaFiber router which will cost Rs 4,500 as the security deposit to get the service working.
But if you don’t want high-speed internet (1Gbps transfer/download speeds), then Jio is reportedly also offering another plan with minimum security deposit of Rs 2,500 which will provide you with 50Mbps internet speed.
What Else Can We Expect?
This platform could also be used to launch the third generation of JioPhone, which is the leading feature phone device in the market.
Earlier this year, a report by GSMArena said the new JioPhone 3 will come with a 5-inch touchscreen and will support 2GB of RAM. It is also rumoured that the phone will offer 64GB of on-board storage with an option to expand via a microSD card and run on AndroidGo software, ditching the KaiOS in ecosystem in process.
But the ailing feature phone market, which has been hit with falling demand for the existing JioPhone devices, it will probably make sense for the telco to introduce a better version of the device, without hiking up its price by much.
Anything less than Rs 4000 should be acceptable to the consumer, but anything beyond that, the next JioPhone might see a premature end.
We’ll be covering the AGM 2019 through our live blog on Monday, stay tuned for that and more with The Quint.
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