Reliance Jio's beta launch kicks off with employees, family

Reliance Jio Infocomm is offering its employees and their family an opportunity to test its fourth generation (4G) telecom services. The company is offering up to four SIM cards free along with 75 GB of data to staff. Along with the service, employees and their families are also being offered 4G-enabled VOLTE handsets at a 25 per cent discount.

The company is offering its own devices under the brand name Lyf along with other brands to employees at a 25 per cent discount. The handsets can be bought from Reliance Digital and Digital Express stores. The prices of smart phones on offer range between Rs 15,000 and Rs 30,000. Reliance has around 50,000 employees across India.

In a response to a query sent by Business Standard, the company said: "The engagement with employees is part of our beta test phase, which will facilitate extensive validation of network and business platforms. This will also ensure Jio offers an unmatched and integrated digital experience to the consumers."

Along with the telecom service (high-speed data and voice), the company will also give employees access to numerous applications for free. These applications include Jio Beats (a music app), Jio Drive (a cloud service to store digital content), and Jio Play (entertainment app). The movies app has a vast library of Hindi and English content, for which the company has forged several partnerships to deliver even the latest movie within days of release. Once launched commercially, users will be able to access the latest television shows, movies and other sitcoms through the app.

In a mail circulated to employees, the company said: "As a special offer to Reliance employees, now you can obtain from Jio up to four pre-paid SIMs (free of cost) each loaded with crystal clear voice, 4G and Jio Net Wi-Fi data, and full access to Jio Drive and Media apps."

At the company's annual general meeting on June 12, Reliance Industries chairman Mukesh Ambani had said the company would initiate an extensive beta launch involving millions of friendly customers across markets. The beta programme would be upgraded into commercial operations around December this year, Ambani had said. With the full-scale commercial launch likely only in 2016-17, RIL employees will have access to free high-speed data services at least for a few months.

• The company is offering up to four SIM cards free along with 75 GB of data to employees.
• Along with the service, employees and their families are also being offered 4G enabled VOLTE handsets at a 25 per cent discount.
• The company is offering its own devices under the brand name Lyf along with other brands to employees which can be bought from Reliance Digital and Digital Express stores.
• The prices of smart phones on offer range between Rs 15,000 and Rs 30,000.