Finally, Reliance Jio launches 4G service in India

NEW DELHI: On the eve of Reliance founder chairman Dhirubhai Ambani’s 83rd birthday anniversary, Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Jio Infocomm (RJI) has launched its 4G services in India for its employees.

“I want all of you to take 5 things back: digital life, connected intelligence, Jio life, Jio together and Why Jio? Because life is going digital. Le me now welcome Jio,” said Ambani Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) Chairman and Managing Director.

The launch was held at Reliance Corporate Park in Mumbai, while RIL other employees were virtually connected at around 1000 locations including Dallas in the US.

“Jio will help advance and realise the potential of every Indian and India. I have no doubt that with the launch of Jio, India’s rank will go up from around 150 to among the top ten in the next few years for internet and mobile broadband penetration," RIL chairman said.

Telecom arm of RIL, RJI will begin the commercial roll-out of the service from March-April.

The company will also launch affordable 4G smartphones, price between Rs. 4,000 and Rs 25, 000. The company is re-entering the telecom sector after more than five years gap.

On June 12, Ambani had unveiled details of Jio’s fourth-generation (4G) services at the 41st annual general meeting of parent RIL .

“The company will offer data and voice services at half or less than half the current rates. The offerings will include instant messaging, live TV, movies on demand, news, streaming music and a digital payments platform,” the RIL chairman had said.

“I am confident that Jio will play a significant role in lifting India from its current 142nd rank on Internet penetration to among the top 10 nations in the world,” Ambani had said.

Jio is the first telecom operator to hold pan India Unified License. It holds the highest amount of liberalised spectrum among telecom operators totaling to 751.1MHz across the 800MHz, 1800MHz and 2300MHz bands.

The company plans to provide seamless 4G services using LTE in 800MHz, 1800MHz and 2300MHz bands through an integrated ecosystem.

Jio has already launched instant messaging application Jio Chat and will launch apps in education and healthcare sectors.

For seamless connectivity, Jio had also partnered with Anil Ambani’s Reliance Communication to share the latter’s 1, 20,000 km optic fibre network across the country.