Jio's GigaFiber to offer broadband, landline, TV combo for Rs 600 a month

Reliance Jio is expected to price its initial GigaFiber package at Rs 600 per month and the offer is likely to combine the broadband service with landline and television services, Mint reported citing sources. The price effectively is half of what other cable operators charge for similar services.

Reliance Jio is currently pilot-testing GigaFiber in New Delhi and Mumbai, providing 100 gigabytes (GB) of data at 100 megabytes per second (mbps) for free, except for the Rs 4,500 one-time deposit for a router.

Reliance Jio unveiled broadband service GigaFiber in August 2018. At the last annual general meeting of Reliance Jio’s parent Reliance Industries Ltd in July, chairman Mukesh Ambani, India’s richest person, had announced that GigaFiber will be the largest greenfield fixed-line broadband rollout globally, with simultaneous introduction in 1,100 cities across India.

"With local cable operators now as part of the Jio ecosystem, we look forward to bringing Jio's advanced JioGigaFiber and Smart Home Solutions to more Indian homes, even quicker," Ambani said in the statement in August 2018.

What JioGigaFiber has to offer

— GigaFiber will provide  100 gigabytes (GB) of data at 100 megabytes per second (mbps) for free.

— Telephone and television services will be added in the next three months.

— The three services will remain free for a year

Reliance Jio GigaFiber will also offer an option to connect to 40 devices to its smart home network for a price of up to Rs 1,000.

Benefits of Jio landline

The landline will come with unlimited calling facility, television channels will be delivered over the internet (Internet Protocol Television).

Jio GigaFiber will provide features like Ultra HD entertainment on TV, voice-activated virtual assistant, multi-party video conferencing, virtual reality gaming and shopping, and smart home solutions.

Registration:

Registrations for Jio GigaFiber had opened in August last year. Those who are interested in it can visit: gigafiber.jio.com/registration for the registration.

Reliance disrupted India's telecoms sector when it launched telecoms unit Jio in late 2016 with cut-price mobile data plans and free voice calls.

In October, Reliance said it would buy majority stakes in Den Networks Ltd and Hathway Cable and Datacom Ltd for Rs 5,230 crore—a move that will boost Jio GigaFiber.

Through these investments, Reliance Jio had said in October last year, it plans to boost 27,000 local cable operators that are aligned with Den and Hathway through superior back-end infrastructure, tie-ups with content producers, and investment in digital infrastructure for connecting customers.

Impact on competitors

With the introduction of Jio GigaFiber in the broadband segment, the competition is expected to increase multifold and BSNL, which is the biggest player in the segment with over 9.30 million users in India. Other telecom and broadband companies have also come up with new plans, offers and benefits for their subscribers so as to procure customer retention and acquire more customers.

Broadband companies like ACT Fibernet and Bharti Airtel have started launching new plans, offers, and benefits for their subscribers so as to procure customer retention and acquire more customers. These broadband companies have already started investing heavily in the sector in order to stay ahead of the competition. Bharti Airtel has been making massive leaps in this area by giving their subscribers discounts on half yearly basis and various annual broadband plans. The broadband service provider has also removed FUPs in certain regions or circles and has also been offering additional benefits for their customers to make sure they do not leave their services.