Reliance Jio to offer TV content on any device, anytime

If you are fussy about not missing your daily fix of TV soap opera, you may have reason to cheer. Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Jio Infocom Ltd, which is scheduled to roll out its 4G cellular network soon, will also offer television on demand on its network.

Jio, through its subsidiary Reliance Jio Media Pvt Ltd, has got a multi-service operator (MSO) licence, and the Jio service will let you view TV programmes any place, any time, with control of content on your remote. No more missing your favourite programme, no more recording on your set-top box.

“Jio will bring true digitisation and a transformation of the current television viewing experience, and mark a shift in the controls from the broadcaster to the hand of the consumer,” Ambani, CMD of Reliance Industries Ltd, said at the recently held 41st AGM of the company.
As an MSO, Jio will become a TV channel distributor in addition to a telecom operator. The timing could not have been better, as sector regulator Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) is set to begin online registration of local cable operators (LCOs). “Where LCOs are not available, RJio Media can become an LCO,” sources who were consulted by RJio on its MSO roll out strategy, told HT.

An MSO is a cable operator who gets programming services from a broadcaster, and under a revenue sharing agreement, transmits them to subscribers directly or through an LCO.
Reliance Jio did not respond to queries for this report.

According to a senior Trai official, “The strategy for converged play is going to be critical to capture this market. Broadcasting … with a broadband strategy is going to be the future for players in the market.”

Competitors in the MSO space include Hathway, Digi Cable Network and DEN Satellite.
Reacting to queries, Hathway’s GM (marketing and communications) Akhil Rampal said, “The market is so diverse that everyone has a big opportunity to tap, be it platforms or even channels… Hathway, the largest MSO (in India), is seeing this as a big opportunity not only from a digital Cable TV perspective but also from a Broadband POV and increasing penetration for this business.”

Source: Hindutan Times

Reliance Jio to be the leading 4G player by 2019-2020: Report

Mukesh Ambani-owned Reliance Jio Infocomm will be leading the country’s 4G LTE market with 40 percent market share by 2019-2020, while the share of Bharti Airtel, Vodafone India and Idea Cellular will reach 60 percent by 2019-20, up from 53 percent in 2016-17, a report by Bank of America Merrill Lynch said.

The brokerage firm however said that Jio may find it difficult to poach high-end subscribers from Airtel, Idea and Vodafone if it further delays the launch of 4G services in the country. Jio has already delayed its commercial 4G launch to early next financial year from December this year.

The brokerage firm said that Jio would need to focus on offering a differentiated service as aggressive pricing alone would not be able to help the telco gain a sustainable advantage.

Reliance Jio holds the highest amount of liberalised spectrum among telecom operators which can be used for deploying any technology for mobile services. It has a total of 751.1 MHz spectrum across 800 MHz, 1800 MHz and 2300 MHz bands, and plans to provide seamless 4G services using LTE in 800 MHz, 1800 MHz and 2300 MHz bands through an integrated ecosystem.

Jio recently filed intimation for sharing of spectrum in the 800MHz band with RCom across seven circles to telecom department (DoT).

The Indian 4G subscriber base is estimated to reach 90 million by 2017-18, while the 4G smartphone base will jump from 5 million in 2015-16 to 180 million by 2017-18, Bank of America Merrill Lynch said, adding that there will be a faster acceleration towards 4G with a large proportion of 2G subscribers leapfrogging 3G to move to 4G.

The brokerage firm expects 4G net additions to be faster than 3G net additions by 2018-19. “3G subs to be largely restricted in areas where 4G coverage is limited,” the firm said.

Source: Telecom Talk

Reliance Jio to expand mobile broadband service in Punjab

Indian operator Reliance Jio plans to provide full mobile broadband connectivity in the state of Punjab, ET reports, citing Mukesh Ambani, owner of Reliance Industries (RIL), Reliance Jio's parent company. "We will commit to all the additional resources it takes so that Punjab will be the first state in India where every single village which will be covered with mobile broadband connectivity", Ambani said. Ambani also said that his company has already invested over INR 39 billion in Punjab. Ambani did not give an exact date when all of the state's villages will be connected with 4G services.

Source: telecompaper.com

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