Reliance Jio offers free voice, free app and data @ Rs 50/GB

Reliance Jio has announced its tariff whereby it will offer free voice pan-India, free app worth Rs 15,000 till December 31, 2017 and data will be charged at Rs 50 per GB.

Speaking at the company's AGM, Mukesh D Ambani, CMD of RIL said, "Jio will put an end to voice call charges that are domestic and data must be affordable."

"Data will be charged at Rs 50 per GB and it is the highest quality and lowest data rate anywhere in the world," added Ambani.

"Reliance Jio has announced Jio welcome offer from September 5 whereas voice, data and video is free till December 31. The commercial launch will happen on December 31, 2017," commented Ambani.

RJIL’s customer offering is built on four pillars - Widest coverage of LTE services, superior IP-centric network quality, transformational data capacity and affordable services. In terms of services, the focus is on 4G LTE, FTTH and Wi-Fi thereby providing high speed broadband access widely available to all customers across India.

This type of broadband access network offers high capacity, low latency services at an affordable price, a first for most Indian customers. RJIL will enable content focused services, with the ability to offer rich, multimedia communication and digital services.

Customers can enjoy unlimited access to Jio services from the activation of Jio SIM till December 31, 2016. Jio’s 4G-LTE services include unlimited HD Voice calls and Video calls, unlimited SMS, unlimited high-speed data. Jio Premium apps such as JioPlay, JioOnDemand, JioBeats, JioMags, JioXpressNews, JioDrive, JioSecurity, and JioMoney will be free till December 31, 2017.

Reliance is selling 4G devices through Reliance Retail network and today launched 4G handsets at Rs 2,999 and JioFi Personal Router solution at Rs 1,999. Reliance Retail’s device distribution business has evolved into a robust distribution network with widest reach. Reliance Retail has so far introduced 20 LYF smartphone models ranging from Rs 3,000 to Rs 20,000 in the market. More than 2 million smartphones have been sold through the distribution network since operationalising the channel.

Reliance Retail operates 2,857 stores with a retail footprint of over 12.8 million square feet across over 250 cities in India whereas Reliance Digital has a network of 1,379 stores deployed over 225 cities.

Apart from 1 lakh strong device channel, the company has also appointed 5 lakh+ connectivity sales channel for SIM and recharge sale. Reliance Jio has deputed 16,000 sales personnel operating across geography and service center operational at more than 1,000 locations.

RJIL is the first telecom operator to hold pan India Unified License. It has total liberalised spectrum holdings of 846.10 MHz, including 440 MHz in the 2,300 MHz band (one block of 20 MHz in all 22 circles), 213.60 MHz in the 1,800 MHz band (blocks ranging from 2x3 MHz to 2x10 MHz in 18 circles) and 192.50 MHz in the 800 MHz band (blocks ranging from 2x2.5 MHz to 2x5 MHz in all 22 circles, including spectrum acquired from Reliance Communications (RCOM) across 13 circles). All of this spectrum is liberalised and can be used for rolling out any technology.

In addition, RJIL has entered into agreement with RCOM for sharing of spectrum in the 800 MHz band across 21 circles. Only RJIL is using sub-GHz spectrum band for LTE services in the country today. The combined spectrum footprint across frequency bands provides significant network capacity and deep in-building coverage for RJIL.

The Reliance Jio network is radiating across 18,000 cities and towns and over 2 lakh villages in 2,300 MHz and 1,800 MHz bands.

"By March 2017, 90 per cent of India's population will be covered," added Ambani.

Jio has joined hands with leading global telecom operators like China Unicom, China Mobile, China Telecom, Singtel, T-Mobile US, Telefonica and Axiata Group for Rich Communications Services (RCS) profile worldwide. RCS initiative will provide a common universal profile which will enable these mobile operators to deploy an interoperable RCS implementation with a core feature set and configuration. The network is also future proof as it is 5G and 6G ready.