Jio launches broadband services at 35-45% lower price than competitors

Billionaire Mukesh Ambani's Jio on Thursday announced launch of its fibre-based broadband service, offering minimum internet speed of 100 Mbps for Rs 699 a month, a rate 35-45 per cent lower than rivals, as it looked to repeat the disruption caused in the telecom sector three years back.

JioFiber will offer free voice calling anywhere in the country, unlimited data and video conferencing, the company said in a statement.

Annual subscribers will get 4K set top box, for streaming TV channels, free while a 4K television set would be complimentary with plans with higher payouts such as 'Gold' and above.

The company announced complimentary high definition set-top box and an advance modem Jio Home Gateway, zero-latency gaming and device security of up to five devices in all the plans priced between between Rs 699 to Rs 8,499 per month.

"For Gaming, Device Security, Home Networking, VR Experience, Video Content services, provided by RCITPL (a platform service company) and TV Video Calling & Conferencing, subscribers need to purchase compatible devices," Jio said.

Jio is offering complementary television sets to annual subscribers of broadband plans in the range of Rs 2,499 to Rs 8,499. The company is also offering television set on two-year subscription of gold plan priced at Rs 1,299 per month.

"The launch of JioFiber, with its revolutionary services is just the beginning of a new and exciting journey. As always, we will continue working hard to bring more such amazing services to your home and take Jio Fiber to the next level. I want to specially thank our 5 lakh JioFiber Preview users, who have contributed significantly in perfecting our product and service experience," Akash Ambani, Director, Reliance Jio Infocomm, said.

The company has announced launch of the service across 1,600 cities.

Reliance Jio, Mukesh Ambani's vehicle for re-entry into the telecom space, had three years back begun mobile services, offering free voice calling and data. That got millions hooked on to his network which started charging for internet data usages from April 1, 2017, while voice calls continue to remain free.

Jio's Rs 3.5 lakh crore investment in 4G telecom services coupled with aggressive pricing had unleashed intense competition in the market that forced rivals to either fold up or merge to better compete with it.

"Currently, the average fixed-line broadband speed in India is 25 Mbps. Even in America, which is the most developed economy, it is around 90 Mbps. JioFiber, India's first 100 per cent all-fiber broadband service, will start from 100 Mbps and go all the way up to 1 Gbps. This will propel India to top 5 broadband nations globally," the statement said.

JioFiber customers subscribing to Rs 699 plan will get three-month complimentary access Jio Cinema and Jio Saavn app and Rs 849 plan subscriber will get three-month access to video entertainment apps. Subscriber of higher plan will get access to annual subscription of leading video entertainment apps bundled in their plans, according to the statement.

Customers opting for JioFiber will need to pay Rs 1,000 installation charges and Rs 1,500 refundable fee.

State-run BSNL tops fixedline broadband service segment with 9.05 million customers. It is followed by Bharti Airtel with 2.4 million customers, Atria Convergence Technologies 1.45 million, Reliance Jio's subsidiary Hathway Cable & Datacom 0.84 million and MTNL 0.74 million.