Jio starts fibre-to-home service

Tariff plans start at ₹699 a month and go up to ₹8,499

NEW DELHI, 07/11/2016: Last week it was reported that Reliance Jio will end its Welcome Offer on December 3 after a TRAI directive. And that is still happening. But there is also a chance that Reliance may figure out some way to extend the free offer, if that is what the situation demands. According to a new report, Reliance Jio has informed analysts that it may extend free data and voice calls services till March 2017. "Mass scale free welcome offer could continue until March 2017 to attract subscriber growth towards the celebrated 100 million mark with RJio's indicative data pricing at Rs 130 - 140 per GB. Photo: V. V. Krishnan

Reliance Jio on Thursday announced the commencement of JioFiber, its fibre-to- home service, across 1,600 cities in India with the basic pre-paid ‘Bronze’ plan starting at ₹699 per month and going up to ₹8,499 a month for its ‘Titanium’ pre-paid plan.

Under the Jio Welcome offer, the basic plan offers 100 GB of data (with 50GB extra), free voice calls to anywhere in India, TV video calling, conferencing, gaming, home networking (content sharing at home and outside) and device security for up to five devices.

On payment of ₹2,500 for installation, which includes a security deposit of ₹1,500, the subscriber will get Jio home gateway worth ₹5000, 4K set-top box worth ₹6,400 and bluetooth speaker worth ₹2,999 and annual subscription for Jio content.

“With JioFiber, Jio continues to deliver on its promise of connecting the unconnected while bringing about transformational changes to Indian homes, that it started with its mobility service three years ago, on September 5, 2016,” said Jio in a statement.

Television sets will be available to customers committing to long-term plans starting at ₹1,299 per month.

43-inch TV set

Under the Jio Titanium offer with a monthly rental plan of ₹8,499, users will get a 43-inch 4K TV worth ₹44,990 and an annual subscription of leading OTT apps along with Jio home gateway worth ₹5,000, along with the 4K set-top box. Titanium subscribers will get 5,000 GB of data at a speed of 1 Gbps.

Jio’s Diamond, Platinum and Titanium subscribers will get immersive, virtual reality (VR) experience (theatre- like personal experience on a VR headset) and premium content, which includes first-day, first-show movies and special sports content.

“Currently, the average fixed-line broadband speed in India is 25 Mbps.

‘In top five soon’

“Even in America, which is the most developed economy, it is around 90 Mbps. JioFiber, India’s first 100% all-fibre broadband service, will start from 100 Mbps and go all the way up to 1 Gbps. This will propel India to top five broadband nations globally,” said Jio.

Commenting on the launch of JioFiber, Akash Ambani, director, Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd., said, “Our customers are at the heart of everything we do, and all of JioFiber has been designed with the sole purpose of giving you a delightful experience.”