In September 2016, Mukesh Ambani-owned Reliance Jio stirred up a storm in the telecom sector with its affordable cellular service, and before the dust could settle, it is all set to disrupt the industry again with the JioFiber broadband service.
The company has kicked off "JioFiber Preview Offer" in select areas of six select cities—Mumbai, Delhi-NCR, Ahmedabad, Jamnagar, Surat and Vadodara. It has plans to expand the beta trials in more cities in coming days and if all things go as planned, JioFiber will be commercially launched pan India during Diwali, reported The Economic Times.
Also read: India's own GPS IRNSS NavIC made by ISRO to go live in early 2018
JioFiber broadband service slab is expected start at Rs.500 per month, and what's interesting is that it will offer minimum of 100GB data for download at a staggering speed of 100mbps. That's more than double the data and speed that its rivals are offering currently.
Unlike Reliance Jio cellular service, which trigged mass migration from other network providers, JioFiber will encourage people to subscribe to untapped optic fiber-based broadband service market. Currently, out of 1.3 billion population, only around 20 million are wired broadband users in India, of which, more than 50 percent are subscribing to state-run Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL).
Dismal subscriber numbers are attributed to high subscriptions rate, but with the arrival of Reliance JioFiber, wired broadband sector will soon turn for better with faster and cheaper service by the end of this year.
Just a few weeks after, emerging player ACT Fibernet launched new super-fast internet service in select cities (Hyderabad & Bengaluru) with 1gbps internet speed, 400 times faster than national average of 2.5mbps.
Even arch-rival Airtel, anticipating Reliance Jio's JioFiber official launch, too has commenced promotional campaign of its premium broadband service V-Fiber with lucrative deals up to 1,000GB data free for one year.
Read more: Airtel is giving 1,000GB free broadband data for a year
Reliance JioFiber effect
Like Reliance Jio pushed the 4G-VoLTE smartphone adoption rate in the market, affordable JioFiber service is expected to spear head the smarthome revolution in India.
Internet-of Things (IoT) gadgets such as Amazon Alexa, Google Home, Nest Thermostats, smart home surveillance system, Wi-Fi connected smart refrigerators, Air Conditioners (ACs) have become standard home appliances in the developed markets and it won't be long before it becomes mainstream in India.
Keep an eye on this space for latest news on Reliance Jio products.
