Reliance Jio is leaving no stone unturned in pushing India towards digitisation. After disrupting the telecom industry in the country, the company has now stepped up its game in home broadband with upgraded FTTH (fiber-to-the-home) service.
After initial reports about Jio GigaFiber being tested in select cities in India last September, a new report suggests that the telco will soon start providing the high-speed FTTH service to people living in Mumbai. India Today reported that the service is already live in some areas in Southern Mumbai, including Walkeshwar Road and Nepeansea Road.
This is seen as a major step towards revolutionising the broadband industry in India. FTTH service promises up to 1Gbps speed, equivalent to 125MBps speed, and users say that they are getting speeds between 70Mbps and 100Mbps, which is quite impressive on its own.
What makes Jio's FTTH GigaFiber more appealing is the free unlimited access for 3 months. Let's call it the Happy New Year offer for FTTH. If Jio's earlier moves have taught us anything, there is a fat chance that the company will soon start offering the bundle free.
We have been testing the Jio's mobile internet service from early days and so far the company has managed to live up to the expectations. We are hoping the same goes with its FTTH service too.
Once the 3-month free trial ends, and if Jio doesn't extend it by another 3 months, users will be paying competitive prices to continue using the service. While the official pricing is still not out, it was reported in last November that Jio GigaFiber plans will start at Rs. 500 for 600GB with a validity of 30 days and could go as high as Rs. 5,500 for 3000GB.
Rivals
To our surprise, Jio isn't going to rule the FTTH space alone in India. The telco's biggest rival, Airtel, has also joined the bandwagon and has been testing its V-Fiber service more broadly. Airtel V-Fiber is available in Chennai, Mumbai, Bengaluru and Delhi-NCR. To make it more interesting, India's number one telco has also offered a 3-month free trial to users who sign up for V-Fiber.
Both Airtel and Reliance Jio are going head-to-head and it is exciting to see how this competition will paint the new landscape of digital India.
