Reliance launches 4G enabled low-cost phone

MUMBAI (Reuters) - Reliance Industries launched a low-cost phone with 4G-enabled features on Friday in a bid to woo tens of millions of low-income users to its upstart telecoms venture Jio's service.

The handset, named JioPhone, will "effectively cost zero" as buyers will be able to get the device for a one-time refundable security deposit of 1,500 rupees ($23.32), Reliance chairman, billionaire Mukesh Ambani, said, announcing the launch at the petrochemicals-to-retail conglomerate's annual general meeting (AGM).

The launch was widely anticipated as Ambani, India's richest man, uses the company's annual meeting to make key launch announcements that have in the past disrupted sectors.

 

($1 = 64.3200 Indian rupees)

(Reporting by Promit Mukherjee; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman)