The telecom industry has been caught off-guard with the ‘no paying for voice calls and no more blackout days’ announcement by Mukesh Ambani at the 2016 Reliance Annual General Meeting. Relaince Jio, their much-talked-about offering, is all set to take over the digital space with not only high speed data, but also zero charges for voice calls. Mukesh said at the AGM:
“I have great pleasure in announcing that all voice calls for Jio customers will be absolutely free. Free voice calling across India, to any network, at all times. And no domestic roaming charges.”
It doesn’t end there. Reliance Jio is also absolutely free for customers until the end of the year.
The offers are not only tempting to a customer, but are also compelling enough to make other competitor companies slash their prices considerably, to levels lower than ever before. Here is a quick look at the different services they are offering to customers:
High speed data across the country:
The speed of the internet can go up to one Gigabit per second (1GBPS), and Reliance Jio is expected to be able to cover 90 percent of the Indian population by the first quarter of next year.
High speed data plans:
This is the core of Reliance Jio; the project is dedicated to the Prime Minister’s vision of a digital India. Here is a chart which will help you understand the plans better:
Sustainable hardware and software quality:
Mukesh Ambani said at the AGM:
“It is future ready, and it can be easily upgraded to support even more data as technologies advance to 5G, 6G and beyond.”
A part of the plan is to offer handsets to interested customers, which are going to be enabled with Voice over LTE (VoLTE) technology for people to be able to seamlessly use the data services of Jio. These handsets are going to be available at prices as low as Rs 2,999.
Instant activation, online or offline:
In the next six weeks, RIL will ensure that anyone who walks into a Reliance store with an Aadhar card for Jio activation will have an activation and access to high speed data services in 15 minutes. They are also going to facilitate e-KYC activations, which won’t even require customers to leave their homes to avail the facilities.
Digital fund and entrepreneurial benefits:
They have created a Jio Digital India fund, which is meant to be used to partner with thousands of digital entrepreneurs in India and help fuel their growth with the high end platform that they have created. They are looking to create Digital Entrepreneurship Hubs in cities to increase opportunities for companies with good potential.
As we are headed towards an all new India, do tell us what you are expecting from Reliance Jio in the comments section.