Reliance Jio is generating a lot of interest among Indian users after its superfast 4G LTE data was released to users. After letting its employees access the high-speed mobile internet and voice services last December, Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Jio Infocomm extended its services to the public through an invite system. As it appears, Reliance Jio roll-out is progressing swiftly, and this may result in an early launch this year.
Earlier, it was expected that the Jio 4G services will be rolled out to the public by December, but according to two RIL officials familiar with the company's plans, the launch might happen sooner than expected. Reliance is expected to commence the commercial operations of the Jio 4G in India by September, LiveMint quoted industry sources as saying.
The telecom unit of India's second most valuable company, Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL), has reportedly covered more ground as part of its testing programme for the Jio services, which could push the launch date forward considering the solidifying groundwork, one of the unnamed sources told Mint. Even before the commercial launch, the operator ranked sixth in terms of data usage in India with 13 million GB in the March quarter, PTI reported.
Comparatively, Airtel users consumed 45 million GB data during the same period, which put the carrier on top of the charts. But the gap isn't too vast and it is likely to become smaller once the commercial rollout of Jio services begin in India. The investment banking division of the infrastructure finance company, IDFC, revealed that Jio will have 90,000 mobile cell sites with 608 million GB data per month capacity across the country at its launch, IANS had reported earlier.
Earlier this month, Reliance launched its official Jio website, Jio.com, where the company has asked interested people to register for a network trial. The website also offers a glimpse of what the users can expect from Jio's app ecosystem, which includes apps such as MyJio, JioChat, JioPlay, JioOnDemand, JioBeats, JioMags, JioXpressNews, JioDrive, JioJoin, JioMoney, and JioSecurity.
Read: Reliance Jio rolls out 4G internet to public: How to get the service before anyone else
Reliance Jio is targeting 100 million subscribers within 100 days of launch and about 131 million customers by the end of 2019-20, US-based brokerage firm Morgan Stanley had said earlier this year. The firm added that Reliance Jio could earn $1.7 billion in revenue by the end of 2016-17 if the commercial roll-out of 4G services began in April. The company's annual revenue is expected to rise to $6.69 billion (Rs 45,492 crore) by March 2020.
