JioPhone pre-booking suspended due to overwhelming demand

Reliance Jio has suspended the pre-booking of its much awaited "effectively free" 4G feature phone following overbooking of the initial lot, which is expected to be delivered in September.

"Millions have pre-booked the JioPhone. We will inform you when pre-booking resumes," a message on Reliance Jio website said.

A company official said pre-booking has been suspended after receiving an overwhelming response. However, Jio didn't respond to queries on whether the pre-booking was stopped across all Jio stores and retailers.

Reliance Industries Chairman Mukesh Ambani in his last annual general meeting speech had said the company plans to sell 5 million JioPhone every week.

The pre-booking of JioPhones started on August 24 against payment of a refundable deposit of Rs 500 and rest of the refundable deposit of Rs 1,000 has to be paid by the customer when the company starts delivering them in September.

Ambani had announced that total amount will be refunded after 36 months when the customer returns the phone.

According to sources, the delivery of the JioPhone is expected to start around the second week of September.

He said that voice calling for customers of the "effectively free" JioPhone would always be free and they would get unlimited data for a month against a payment of Rs 153.

JioPhone, which can be operated by speaking out instructions to dial, type messages and the like will come with pre-loaded Jio apps for messaging and entertainment. The phone can be connected with television sets for watching live TV using the Jio TV app.

The phone will also include some of the popular instant messaging and social networking apps.