Contrary to reports that said Reliance Jio would launch its 4G services in select areas by the end of this month, Mukesh Ambani, the chairman of Reliance Industries (RIL), said they will be available for the group's employees initially from 27 December.
The 4G services will be offered to the group employees first on the eve of the 83rd birth anniversary of RIL founder Dhirubhai Ambani.
"We are happy to share that we will unveil Jio to our colleagues first, on the eve of our founder chairman's (Dhirubhai Ambani) birth anniversary," Mukesh Ambani with his wife Nita Ambani said in an invitation letter to Reliance Industries group employees.
Bollywood actor Shah Rukh Khan and musician A R Rahman will host the Reliance Jio 4G launching function to be held on 27 December.
"We want every member of our Reliance family to participate either in person or virtually through a Jio telecom beamed live to more than 1000 locations across India," PTI quoted the Ambanis as saying in the invitation letter.
Earlier this week, the global brokerage firm Bank of America Merrill Lynch (BoFA-ML) said the much-awaited launch of 4G services by Reliance Jio is likely to happen by the end of this month in select areas, particularly Mumbai.
However, the commercial launch of Reliance Jio 4G services across the country may be delayed till April-June 2016, it said.
A report by another brokerage firm, Credit Suisse, said the download speed on the network touched a peak of 70 megabits per second (Mbps) during the trial phase, but stayed in the range of 15-30 Mbps most of the time.
At a peak download speed of 70 Mbps, a user can download a Bollywood movie-size video in just 80 seconds, while it can be downloaded in a little more than three minutes at 30 Mbps and a slightly more than six minutes at 15 Mbps.
CLSA said Vodafone is more vulnerable than Bharti Airtel to Reliance Jio services as it holds limited 4G spectrum.
