The Indian Business Tycoon Mukesh Ambani yesterday backed Reliance industries and launched the dream project by giving effective free of cost smartphone and 4G Service at peanuts price which can be game changer in Indian telecom sector. This was announced during the companies 40th annual general meet which was held in mumbai on july 21. The phone will be available in market in September month for which users have to prebook the device on August 24.
Even though the phone is effectively free, there is a catch in the form of one-time security deposit fee of Rs 1,500, which is refundable only after 3 years that the user need to pay. This seems to be win-win situation for both Reliance Jio as well as the end customers.
The phone is the third step in Ambani’s three-step plan to bring an end to “digital dis-empowerment and unfairness.” Pointing out that there are 78 crore phones in India, of which more than 50 crore are feature phone users, Ambani expressed his regret that so many users will be left out of the “digital revolution.” His three-step plan aims to address just this issue.
The first two steps of the plan involve improving connectivity and data affordability. Ambani promised that Jio 4G network coverage will cover 99 percent of India’s population, surpassing 2G networks in that regard.
Features of Jio Smartphone
Image Credits: Youtube
The phone is the first Long- term evolution (LTE) ready device that can play videos too using Jio apps. The phone is equipped with 22 Indian regional languages and can be operated using voice commands.The device features a 2.4-inch QVGA display and looks very much like your average feature phone. Additional features like FM radio support, a microSD card slot and a torch are present.
Reliance Jio has also promised to bring near field communication (NFC) ready phone later this year that will allow users to make digital transaction on a single tap from their linked jan dhan account, bank account and Jio Money,
This move from Reliance Jio is surely going to hurt other telecom sectors at bigger scale and may kick out some telecom companies or we can see more mergers after what vodafone-idea merger had happened few months back. The other telecom now have to come up with some tactical strategy to survive in competition which will be daunting task for them.