Reliance Jio launches free WiFi service in Manali

Tourist town of Manali will get high speed Wi-Fi facility for free from Thursday. The service was started here on trial basis for over a month now and now this free service will be available on regular basis.

Reliance Jio Infocomm Limited, with help of Manali municipal council, has placed Wi-Fi hotspots at various parts of the town. Now, both local residents and tourists will be able to enjoy free high speed wireless internet service on the Mall Road and nearby areas of town.

Manali municipal council vice-president Chaman Kapoor said the free Wi-Fi internet service would be an added advantage for tourism of Manali.

"Local sub-divisional magistrate will inaugurate a function on Thursday following which the service will be started. Municipal council is also organizing a programme on Mall Road to educate people about how to use this free internet service. Technical people from Reliance will also be present in the programme," he added.

Source: Economic Times

Reliance Jio to launch Jio World to offer app-based services

Mukesh Ambani-owned Reliance Jio, the only pan-India license holder of broadband wireless spectrum, is building a customer interface and app store bundled into one online service called Jio World, which will be available as an app, Mint reported.

Jio World will serve as a guide to the entire Jio ecosystem. The app based service will bundle the Jio family of apps, upcoming deals and account-related updates.

The report said that most of the services can be accessed on Jio World through two main icons, mZone and Jio Drawer.

Jio, which is likely to launch commercial services in India by December, is preparing to offer "unique combination of products, services and applications on the Jio platform" at launch, the company said while announcing its fiscal first-quarter results.

The company is banking on its content such as on-demand video, music streaming, news and high definition television services to consumers on the go at affordable prices in a bid to differentiate itself and attract subscribers in a highly competitive telecom market. The company will also delve into mobile payments and digital wallet services, another niche area which many analysts expect to become mainstream as increasing number of users adopt smartphones.

Over the next few months, Jio will launch downloadable applications for the Android and iOS operating systems, available on their respective app stores.

Recently Telegraph India reported that Reliance Jio was planning to offer consumers heavily discounted mobile Wi-Fi (Mi-Fi) devices to attract data users. It is looking to expand the addressable 4G market in the country by promoting Mi-Fi hotspots that allow users to stream data via 4G networks.

Reliance Jio inked deals with Chinese handset makers ZTE, Alcatel OneTouch (TCL Communications), Huawei, CK-Telecom and Beijing Tianyu Communication Equipment-owned K-Touch brand, and Indian brand Intex for procurement of smartphones for the company's consumer electronics brand, ReConnect, which will sell 4G handsets across India, ETTelecom recently reported.

Source: ET

Reliance Jio plans to offer heavily discounted mobile Mi-Fi devices

Mukesh Ambani-owned Reliance Jio, the only pan-India license holder of broadband wireless spectrum, is planning to offer consumers heavily discounted mobile Wi-Fi (Mi-Fi) devices to attract data users, Telegraph India reported.

Jio, which is likely to launch commercial services in coming few months, is aiming to expand the addressable 4G market in the country by promoting Mi-Fi hotspots that allow users to stream data via 4G networks

Mi-fis can connect up to 10 devices at a time and cost around Rs 3,000. Reliance Jio is likely to reduce prices by about 50% to incentivise users to shift to its network, according to telecom analyst Sandip Agarwal.

Agarwal however cautioned that Reliance Jio's dependence on Mi-fi devices to drive penetration would be detrimental to user experience because of the need to carry an extra device. These devices also need to be charged separately and have a limited battery life.

Sunil Bharti Mittal-led Bharti Airtel has already raced past Jio to expand its 4G services to cover nearly 300 towns to take the first mover advantage, becoming the first telecom company in the country to roll out 4G services pan-India. It already offers its customers Mi-Fi hotspot access.

Reliance Jio inked deals with Chinese handset makers ZTE, Alcatel OneTouch (TCL Communications), Huawei, CK-Telecom and Beijing Tianyu Communication Equipment-owned K-Touch brand, and Indian brand Intex for procurement of smartphones for the company's consumer electronics brand, ReConnect, which will sell 4G handsets across India.

Devices under the ReConnect brand will be priced between Rs 4,000 and Rs 25,000, they added. Jio has said it would ensure availability of under-Rs 5000 4G smartphones coinciding with its services launch. Jio had promised that if there was any gap between demand and supply of smartphones at a particular price level, it could bridge the gap with its own brand under Reliance Retail.

Under the partnership with Jio, companies like Huawei, ZTE, and Alcatel OneTouch will also provide dongles, Wi-Fi routers or Mi-Fis and other broadband products aimed at homes and small office or home office customers.

Source: Economic Times

Reliance Jio asks handset partners to Make in India

Taking a leaf out of the Make in India story, Reliance Jio Infocomm has asked handset manufacturing partners to make 4G phones in India. If the mobile makers agree on a configuration with the Reliance Industries unit, then the retail unit of the Mukesh Ambani-led group will buy all the handsets they make in India.

Reliance has approached mobile handset makers Micromax, Lava, Karbonn, Intex, and Lenovo among others to partner on this project. "Some of them have already said they were coming up with manufacturing facilities (in India). The idea is to get 4G phones coming from these facilities rather than other technologies," a person familiar with Jio's plans told ET. "Cheap handsets are critical for 4G uptake, and sourcing them locally is a way to make them cheaper," this person said. The phone makers either declined to comment or did not respond to ET's queries. Jio also declined to comment.

Micromax, Lava, Karbonn, and Intex are planning manufacturing units in India, with production set to commence in the next six months to a year. Jio has signed deals with Chinese handset makers Huawei, ZTE, Alcatel OneTouch (TCL Communications), CK-Telecom and Beijing Tianyu Communication Equipment-owned K-Touch for procurement of smartphones for the company's consumer electronics brand, ReConnect, which will sell 4G handsets across India, according to executives at the handset makers.

Devices under the ReConnect brand will be priced between Rs 4,000 and Rs 25,000, they said. Jio has said it would ensure availability of under- Rs 5,000 4G smartphones coinciding with its services launch. The company had promised that if there was any gap between demand and supply of smartphones at a particular price level, it could bridge the gap with its own brand under Reliance Retail. The brand is ReConnect.

Under the partnership with Jio, companies like Huawei, ZTE, and Alcatel OneTouch will also provide dongles, routers and other broadband products aimed at homes and small office or home office customers, the people said.

Jio has already placed an order for around five million smartphones with these vendors and some others including contract manufacturer CK-Telecom, which has got the largest share of the order. The companies didn't respond to emails seeking comment.

Jio, which has been working on a 4G rollout for five years, is expected to launch the service around December. At the moment, a bulk of the work done is on the 2300MHz band, which travels much shorter distances than 1800MHz or 800MHz, both of which Jio has and will be deploying in the future.

Source: Economic Times

Reliance Jio's 4G Beta Launched for Employees

Mukesh Ambani-led energy-to-retail conglomerate Reliance Industries (RIL) is set to start its fourth generation (4G) bundled mobile and data services through a beta launch on August 15, coinciding with the India's 69th Independence Day. Reliance Jio, the telecom arm of RIL, seeks to test the network with one lakh Reliance employees to start with before a commercial launch in December.

The group, which has invested around Rs 1 lakh crore on its 4G network, plans to expand the beta launch to 5 million consumers by September-end by offering about five Jio connections to each Reliance employee for an extensive beta programme to further test the network to plug loopholes, if any, said sources in the know of the development.

This comes at a time when Sunil Bharti Mittal-led Bharti Airtel has already raced past Jio to expand its 4G services to cover nearly 300 towns to take the first mover advantage, becoming the first telecom company in the country to roll out 4G services pan-India. Reliance Jio's first full year of commercial operation will be FY 2016-17. Till then, the network is expected to work in the beta mode.

"We don't want to take any chances. We have successfully conducted pre-launch tests and demonstrated lawful intercept and monitoring (LIM) facilities for long-term evolution (LTE) data and voice, video & messaging services in all telecom circles and extensive beta launch will further test our networks before full-fledged commercial launch in December this year," said a Reliance Jio employee. An e-mail sent to RIL seeking response on this story remained unanswered till the time of going to print.

Source: TOI

Reliance Jio to be launched via over 1,000 Jio Centers

India's Reliance Industries Ltd will launch its ambitious 4G telecoms venture in December through a direct physical presence in over 1,000 "Jio Centers" and will also sell self-branded devices under its retail unit, the company disclosed in a post earnings presentation on Saturday.

The energy conglomerate run by the country's richest man, Mukesh Ambani, re-entered the telecoms sector in 2010 and has already invested over $15 billion in building the country's largest 4G broadband network, with commercial operations expected to start in December.

The company will start "extensive" beta tests across the country in the next few weeks to test its network, joint chief financial officer V. Srikanth told reporters on Friday, after the company posted estimate-topping first quarter profit boosted by its highest gross refining margin in six years.

Reliance will use a two-pronged strategy for ensuring device availability, using open market as well as self-branded devices under its retail unit's electronics arm, Reliance Digital.

"Reliance Digital would be a catalyst by making available entry level to ultra premium 4G LTE smartphones... in driving the device ecosystem in India for Jio," the company said.

The much-delayed launch and investment in the venture has drawn criticism, but Ambani allayed some concerns when he told shareholders in June that the Jio network will roll out with coverage to about 80 percent of the country's population.

Apart from the 1,000 'Jio Centers,' the company will have 500,000 connectivity outlets and 1 million additional recharge outlets at launch, the company's presentation said.

It has also engaged with global smartphone brands including Apple, Samsung, Huawei and Xiaomi

to ensure availability of 4G devices and pocket routers across price ranges, the company said.

Reuters had reported in May that the company was in talks with Chinese manufacturers to secure cut-price devices that could be bundled with its network and sold in packages at prices as low as $30.

Source: ET

RJio raises $750-mn loan to buy gears for 4G rollout

Telecom arm of RIL, Reliance Jio Infocomm on Wednesday said it has raised a $750 million (nearly Rs 4,500 crore) loan that will be used to finance goods and services from Samsung Electronics and Ace Technologies Corp, which are being tapped for its infrastructure rollout.

"Reliance Jio Infocomm Limited... has signed a $750 million loan backed by Korea Trade Insurance Corporation (K-sure) on May 7, 2015. The loan is guaranteed by RIL and will be primarily used to finance goods and services procured from Samsung Electronics and Ace Technologies Corp, which are being sourced for the infrastructure rollout of RJIL," RJio said in a statement.

The loan has 12 years of repayment time. This is the first facility by K-sure with RJio and its largest deal in India, but is the second facility by K-sure with the Reliance Group -- including RIL and RJio -- the statement said.

This marks the second round of financing for RJio from Korean export credit agencies (ECAs) and the third overall between the group and Korean ECAs in three years, highlighting growing business with Korean organisations.The facility is funded by nine relationship banks of Reliance, including The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation, Australia and New Zealand Banking Group, Banco Santander SA, The Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ, JPMorgan Chase NA, Mizuho Bank, and Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation, ING Bank and DZ Bank AG.

Source:Business Today