Mukesh Ambani next big bet?: A laptop with in-built SIM card

Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Jio is in talks with the US chip maker Qualcomm to make laptops with built-in cellular connection for the Indian market.

The chipmaker has been already working with Jio for the 4G feature phone. "They could take the device and bundle it with data and content,” Miguel Nunes, senior director, product management, Qualcomm Technologies, was quoted by ET report. The laptop could come with Windows 10 pre-loaded.

Jio is yet to officially issue any confirmation in this regard. Entrackr's query to Jio did not elicit a response till the publication of the article. According to the Counterpoint Research, cellular-connected laptops could be the next big ARPU device for operators beyond smartphones.

Once the device is compiled or out in the market, would pave the way for the SIM card to be inserted and a smartphone cum laptop can be made available to the users.

At present, Jio has a device play Reliance Retail, which sells MiFi dongles, LYF smartphones, and 4G feature phone. It currently sources these devices from various Chinese original device markets (ODMs).

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Besides, there are no cellular laptops available in the Indian market.

Meanwhile, Qualcomm, that wants telecom operators to understand the value of the product, also held talks to the home-bred Internet of Things (IoT) brand Smartron to bring the Snapdragon 835-powered laptops with cellular connectivity.

According to an industry estimate, about 20 per cent laptops sold in India every year can be converted to the SIM-enabled devices, the service provider could end up adding Rs 300 crore to Rs 1000 crore to their revenue depending on the tariffs they fix and the plans the customers choose.

Just after Jio launch in September 2016, India became the highest mobile data user in the world. Indians have consumed over 1 billion GB of data every month compared to 200 million GB earlier.

The telecom operator had triggered a tariff war, offering months of free data and charging cheap rates in the country with 4G network. Jio, that has been bringing a major chunk of India’s 1 .4 billion population on the Internet, has over 160 million paid users base.

Notably, it has set an internal target of reaching 400 million subscribers by the end of 2018.

Now with built-in sim card laptop project in the process, it will give a major boost to Jio growth.