Reliance Jio launching broadband service on Sep 5; monthly plan starts from Rs 700

After disrupting wireless telecom space with Reliance Jio foray thirty-five months ago, Mukesh Ambani-led RIL today announced pricing and launch date of its wired broadband service Jio Gigafiber.

"JioFiber commercial rollout will begin on September 5, on the third anniversary of Reliance Jio launch," said Ambani, addressing RIL’s 42nd Annual General Meeting (AGM).

JioFiber plans will start with 100Mbps and go all the way up to 1Gbps. It will be priced between Rs 700-10,000 per month, depending on the plan.

There will not be any charge for voice calls here on, added Ambani.

Jio Fiber will be bundled with subscriptions to most leading premium OTT applications.

Premium JioFiber customers will be able to watch movies the same day they are released in theatres,  as per RIL Chairman. The service will be launched in the middle of 2020.

With Jio fiber, a customer is promised to get a broadband speed up to 1 Gbps, landline phone connection, digital set-top box, UHD entertainment, interactive gaming, voice-enabled virtual assistants and many smart enabled solutions.

In 2018, Reliance piloted fiber rollout in 5 lakh homes. On an overage, every home consumes about 100 GB per month, the company found.

In last August, Jio had invited registration of interest from across India. The company claimed to have received 15 million registration from 1,600 towns.

We will complete our network roll out in the next twelve months, said Ambani. Reliance plans to reach 20 million residences and 15 million business establishments in towns, as mentioned above.

However, for Reliance, this would not be as easy as disrupting telecom was with cheaper tariff rate and low-cost sim availability.

The absence of infrastructure is a major challenge for existing players in offering broadband fiber service to the larger user base. The major reasons are fiber being expensive and the presence of complicated digging and lay process of fiber across municipalities in the country.

As of March 2019, there are around 18.42 million wired broadband users in the country, as per Internet world stat.

Besides, Ambani further announced the availability of Jio’s Internet of Things (IoT) from the beginning of next year in India. The company aims to connect 1 billion homes via the IoT platform.

Ambani outlined that the IoT segment offers a revenue opportunity of Rs 20K crore.

He also among many things said to install one of the largest blockchain networks in India.

"Using blockchain we can unprecedented trust and security on any kind of transactions and allow customers ownership on their data," said Ambani.

He also promised to back startups that support India's needs in agriculture, skill development, and healthcare.

In the past couple of years, Reliance has invested in 14 technology backed startups.