Jio completes 2 yrs, aims to take India to 'top 5' in broadband connectivity

Mumbai: With hopes of taking India to the top five countries in the world in broadband connectivity, network operator Jio has completed two years since its introduction in the market in 2016.

Touted as the largest and fasted growing wireless data subscriber base (2015.3 million), Jio has triggered a digital revolution and put the power of data within the reach of every Indian.

"In a short span of two years, Jio has unleashed the huge data potential in the country, catapulting it to highest mobile data consumption in the world. In addition to strengthening and deepening the digital and content ecosystem with various initiatives, our aim is to connect 500 million feature phone users in India, who don't have access to basic Internet," Reliance Jio Infocomm Limited spokesperson said in a statement.

"With Jio, Indians even in the remotest villages will have the same access to digital entertainment, digital learning, e-Healthcare, e-banking, e-Governance and real time information as is enjoyed in the developed countries. With JioGigaFiber and enterprise businesses in the offing, we are committed to take India to top 5 in the world in broadband connectivity, both for mobility as well as fiber based wireline connectivity," the spokesperson added.

In a short time span, Jio has become world's largest all IP network with "LTE spectrum across 800MHz, 1800MHz and 2300MHz bands, and the largest fiber footprint."

With its widest LTE coverage in India, Jio soon aims to cover 99 per cent of country's population. With Jio, India has achieved larger 4G coverage than 2G coverage set up over last 25 years by incumbents. Making free voice a "reality in India," Jio gave unlimited free calling with its tariff plans.

Also, mobile data consumption in India has gone up from 20 crore GB per month to nearly 370 crore GB per month.

"Jio customers alone are consuming nearly 240 crore GB of that data. India moves from 155th in broadband penetration to 1st in the world in terms of mobile data consumption. Within months of its launch, Jio became World's 1st and only Exabyte Telecom network with data transmitted over Jio's network surpassing 100 crore GB per month," the statement read.

"Jio added seven customers every second reaching 100 million customers in just 170 days. Today over 215 million (as on 30th June 2018) customers are enjoying digital life on Jio network," the statement added.

With the introduction of Jio, Tariffs become much more affordable - from the time when a GB of data cost anywhere between Rs 250 - Rs 10,000, post launch of Jio the cost has come down to less than Rs 15 per GB currently. Jio users pay even lesser on various plans.

TRAI SpeedTest portal, which officially monitors the quality of telecom networks in India, has consistently ranked Jio as the clear 4G network leader in coverage, usage and data speeds month after month.

"Prior to Jio, there were nearly 22,000 tariff plans on offer. Post Jio all operators are trying to replicate the Jio model by trimming the number of plans. Jio offers only a few simple tariff plans with specified marquee plans at any point in time. This has simplified life for customers and they are able to choose the best deal for themselves," the statement read.

With Jio, social media platforms like Facebook, Youtube and others have seen enhanced user base in India. India has become most active market for Google and Facebook, estimated 70 million additions in the first year of Jio's commencement of operations.

"Launch of VoLTE devices under LYF by Reliance Retail, which propelled all smartphone brands to increase focus on LTE shipments in the country leading to the current status where almost all smartphone shipments are LTE devices. Introduction of JioFi - the personal voice and data hotspot that enables users to enjoy Jio Digital Life on multiple devices and also enjoy the benefits of VoLTE calls on their old 2G/3G mobiles," the statement stated.

With 25 million JioPhone sold by June 30, 2018, the brand now is targeting 100 million customers in the "shortest possible time". While effectively free, consumers can get this device by depositing only Rs 501 and exchanging their old feature phone.

Over the two years Jio or its parent company, Reliance Industries, has acquired the music portal Saavn, announced deals with Erosand ALT Balaji, bought digital rights for Winter Olympics, Nidahas Trophy among others.

Announcing its presence in the digital education segment, Jio's parent company also acquired a majority stake in Embibe, the unique data driven education services platform catering to Engineering, Medical, Banking and Class 8-10 (Foundation) exams. Jio's own apps gained immense popularity with 200 million downloads for MyJio and more than 100 million for Jio TV.