And now, Reliance Jio GigaFiber FTTH set to disrupt home broadband
13 Aug 2018
The much-awaited broadband services of Reliance Jio that have been under the pilot programme at select places will finally roll out pan-India. Jio GigaFiber FTTH has been launched to take India’s broadband connectivity up a notch, which will be available for both residential and commercial locations.
Starting 15 August, India’s Independence Day, users will be able to register for the Jio GigaFiber service via Jio website and MyJio app. However, priority will be given to those who are residing in the already feasible areas.
Addressing the company’s 41st annual general meeting, Reliance Industries chairman Mukesh Ambani had announced the official launch of Jio GigaFiber in India on Independence Day.
While Jio has not yet announced pricing details, reports said its home broadband pricing would be “much more affordable and well below the current 4G mobile data rates that are in Rs2.7-5 per GB range.
Reliance Jio is poised to launch a mass-market, high-speed, wired, broadband service bundled with internet-based television programming starting at about Rs500 a month, or effectively half of what cable operators charge for similar services, say reports.
At present, cable operators offer home broadband packs – over 100 GB of data at 100 Mbps speed – at Rs700-1,000 a month per household and charge an additional Rs250-300 per home for TV services. Jio’s pricing for a similar bundled offer would be about 50 per cent lower as it focuses on volumes to drive demand.
Analysts estimate the company’s home broadband pricing to be at a 25-30 per cent discount to current 4G mobile data rates.
The Jio GigaFiber will come in two services – Jio GigaFiber router and Jio GigaFiber DTH box. While the former will be more suited for internet consumption on multiple devices with up to 1Gbps speeds, as the company claims, the latter will look to redefine the home entertainment experience with the services available on a television.
Apart from offering all the Jio apps on TV via the DTH box, the company announced that Jio GigaFiber users on TV will be able to make video conferencing on the televisions, so you do not need to cramp up multiple windows on the smaller smartphone displays anymore.
Jio says that the services will be available to the users within an hour, which means that the Jio engineers will arrive at your doorstep at set up the connection.
Ambani said the company’s fixed line broadband Jio GigaFiber FTTH will roll out to as many as 1,100 cities in India covering a large base of users. The Jio GigaFiber broadband services will offer high-speed fixed-line internet so that the users can watch ultra-HD content on TVs, voice-activated virtual assistant, virtual reality, and make multi-party video conferencing. Ambani said that the company has already invested over Rs250,000 crore to rev up the infrastructure in the mobile telephony and broadband sectors.
The telco is reported to be looking at commercial rollout of Jio GigaFiber before Diwali, initially in the metros and about 80 top tier 1and 2 markets.