Jio to be simple, smart, secure

Reliance has invested over two lakh crore in building new facilities across its businesses as well as creating new businesses, says Mukesh Ambani.

June 12, 2015 11:37 pm | Updated June 13, 2015 02:26 am IST

Mumbai: Mukesh Ambani, Chairman & Managing Director of Reliance Industries Ltd. and Nita Ambani, non-independent Director, RIL arrives for the 41st annual general meeting of the company in Mumbai on Friday. PTI Photo by Mitesh Bhuvad(PTI6_12_2015_000052B)

Mumbai: Mukesh Ambani, Chairman & Managing Director of Reliance Industries Ltd. and Nita Ambani, non-independent Director, RIL arrives for the 41st annual general meeting of the company in Mumbai on Friday. PTI Photo by Mitesh Bhuvad(PTI6_12_2015_000052B)

Ending all speculations, Reliance Industries Ltd. (RIL) Chairman and Managing Director Mukesh Ambani, on Friday, said that the company’s digital broadband telecom service under the name Jio would be launched in December, 2015.

He said to make the service affordable to everyone, the company had been working with vendors to supply 4G enabled smartphones at below Rs.4,000 and people in rural India can access high speed data at monthly bill of Rs.300 to Rs.500.

“Jio is now present in 29 states, with a direct physical presence in nearly 18,000 cities and towns. Jio’s wireless footprint covers over one lakh villages. We will have 100 per cent national coverage within three years,” Mr. Ambani told shareholders at the RIL’s 41st Annual General Meeting here.

“All the key components of the Jio broadband network are now operational. We are currently in the pre-launch testing and stabilisation phase. Over the next few months, we will initiate an extensive beta launch and this program will be upgraded into commercial operations around December this year,” Mr. Ambani said.

Commercial launch in December, monthly bill can be as low as Rs.300-500 and 4G smartphones below Rs.4,000.

The company has been working with vendors to supply 4G enabled smartphones at below Rs.4,000 and people in rural India can access high speed data at monthly bill of Rs.300 to Rs.500.

Jio is the only operator in the world that will provide next generation digital services over an end-to-end all-IP network.

In the coming months, Jio will launch several applications such as Switch-and-Walk that would allow customers to seamlessly copy everything from their old phone to a new phone.

He said Jio was the only operator in the world that would provide next generation digital services over an end-to-end all-IP network. “We are also connecting Enterprises, SMB, and SME customers over this high speed IP network, enabling advanced services using cloud based solutions,” he said.

He said Jio would connect the remotest village of the country to any Internet destination hosted anywhere in the world and Jio’s broadband assets would be the bedrock for the Digital India, planned by the government.

Mr. Ambani said Jio would ensure availability of 4G LTE smartphones across all price points starting from ultra-premium models to entry level models.

“The combination of Jio’s strong initiatives and a supportive global environment gives me the confidence that we will see 4G LTE smartphones in India at prices below Rs.4,000 by December,” Mr. Ambani said.

He said Jio was well-positioned to emerge as a global Tier-1 telecom operator. “We followed an integrated business strategy and today, Jio is capable of offering a unique combination of telecom, high speed data, digital commerce, media and payment services,” he said.

In April this year the company launched its first mobile application, ‘Jio Chat’, a communication application that integrates chat, voice, video calling, conferencing, file sharing, photo sharing in a single application. In four weeks, Jio Chat now has a million active users.

In the coming months, Jio will launch several applications such as Switch-and-Walk that would allow customers to seamlessly copy everything from their old phone to a new phone, ‘Jio Drive’, an application that will bring powerful cloud capabilities to every smartphone.

Another area that Jio is working on is Jio Money, its digital money and digital payments business. “Jio Money will play a crucial role in digitisation of payments in India by offering a platform for ubiquitous, affordable and secure digital payments solution for smallest merchants, restaurants, and taxi drivers. No additional device is needed and they will be able to accept payments using just their phone,” Mr. Ambani said.

“We have created a slew of innovative digital applications, with a roadmap to introduce similar applications in education and healthcare. In everything that we have done at Jio, we have lived by the three mantras of ‘Simple, Smart and Secure’. Jio’s true success will be measured by a whole new generation of entrepreneurs stepping up to leverage the digital assets that Jio has built,” he added.

He said RIL’s growth would be based on hydrocarbons and consumer businesses. “Along with a New India, a New Reliance is taking shape. The new generation in Reliance will take your company to newer heights.

“We are not only working to make Digital India a reality, but also enabling a Digital Bharat — thereby destroying the digital divide between the urban and rural areas. In our digital business, our plan is to provide the same power of computing, communication and information to every individual, whether in towns or rural areas, that the U.S. President had ten to fifteen years ago. All this at about Rs.300 to Rs.500 per month,” Mr. Ambani said.

He said Reliance had invested over two lakh crore in building new facilities across its businesses as well as creating new businesses and full benefits of this entire investment cycle would be realised from the year 2016-17 onwards.

0 / 0
Sign in to unlock member-only benefits!
  • Access 10 free stories every month
  • Save stories to read later
  • Access to comment on every story
  • Sign-up/manage your newsletter subscriptions with a single click
  • Get notified by email for early access to discounts & offers on our products
Sign in

Comments

Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.

We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.