During the Annual General Meeting 2018, Reliance Jio Infocomm Limited, an Indian mobile network operator, introduced its much awaited JioGigaFiber FTTH broadband service in India. The telecom operator made its first commercial debut in 2016. It has achieved nearly 215 Mn subscribers in its operation of 22 months, being the first operator to offer unlimited data at cheap prices while making local calls free across the country. Reliance Jio will install a FTTH service, bringing fiber optic cable line to the local home connection with minimum loss of speed during transmission from the exchange.
The change was brought into perspective when the company revealed that nearly 80% of data is consumed inside the four walls of homes and offices. Considering this, it was decided that creating broadband systems for the necessities of indoor users would be the finest way to prepare newer services to consumers. These services will not only provide higher data speeds and consistency at the same time without any fluctuations, but will also drain out less battery on a smartphone taking into account that the device will no longer has to search for cellular networks for a continual internet connectivity.
Mukesh Ambani, CEO of the company, announced that broadband services expected to be made available simultaneously in 1,100 cities in the country. Registrations for JioGigaFiber have started from August 15 and the company is all set to pile out the services in areas based on the interest of the customers and registrations received.
Analyst View:
Reliance Jio already has already disrupted the Indian telecom market with its pricing, but it is not immune to competition. It is to be seen whether its fiber broadband service garners as many subscribers as its wireless network. As the extensive rollout of JioGigaFiber network is still awaited, Jio’s entrance in the broadband area will clearly spark competition and is likely to lift India’s global ranking amongst broadband lines. With more focus on customers being the primary selling point, Jio will definitely strive to offer the best speed-volume-price combo to gain superior market share in broadband services in the near future.
