Jio set to move into DTH, offer high-speed internet: report

Reliance Jio which has shaken up the telecom industry in India with its Jio 4G offerings, has more up its sleeve. In a few months the conglomerate will roll out its direct to home services, which have the potential to make life hard for existing broadband players as well as DTH operators, reports The Indian Express.

The service will come in the form of a high-speed optical fibre – pushing speeds up to 1 Gbps. The cables are already laid for most of India and some pilot services are being offered in parts of Mumbai. There is no clarity yet on the final hardware offering or the date of full rollout. As far as pricing goes, the company has suggested that it will offer value for the customer like with all its Jio services.

Customers of the service will get access to high-speed internet as well as a host of Jio services. The hardware will include a set-top-box as well as an Android smartbox or Apple TV that will help users control the content and also play games.

The speeds will be unprecedented for the Indian home segment where 16Mbps is considered a luxury. With the Jio fibre offering, if all goes according to plan, customers will be able to stream and play high-definition games with multiple players. Also, 4K videos will become much easier to access without any buffering.

However, where Jio could bring in big impact is with JioTV which will offer more than 360 channels, at least 50 of which will be in HD. The offering is differentiated from existing players because of the seven-day catch up option. This content is not saved locally, but on Jio servers and pulled in as per demand. Users will be able to use a voice enabled remote to search by channel, show, category or even by names of actors.

It is not new for broadband services to offer television channels. MTNL tried IPTV many years ago while Airtel too has a similar service.

However, none have been really successful. For households with multiple televisions, a single router will work but with individual set-top-boxes.

Then there is Jio MediaShare, with which the company is promising the ability to locally play content across all your devices from your PC or hard drive using the Home Gateway. Jio is also working on solutions to make legacy music systems and televisions smart.

Plus, the service wants to push internet of things (IOT) as well. It will use smart plugs (already available in the market) to control appliances in a home. The home gateway will also enable better security of home through surveillance with real-time monitoring via cameras, connected doorbells and motion sensors.

It might take a few months for the services to be rolled out as Jio wants to go pan-India with them. Also at the moment getting the necessary permissions to install the Jio fibre in residential societies and other private compounds is proving to be the big hurdle. However, if things fall into place it could be another game-changer from Jio.