Reliance Jio GigaFiber to offer broadband, landline and TV combo for ₹600

Currently, Reliance Jio is pilot-testing GigaFiber in New Delhi and Mumbai, providing 100 gigabytes (GB) of data at 100 megabytes per second (mbps) for free, except for the ₹4,500 one-time deposit for a router. To this, telephone and television services will be added in the next three months, and all three services will remain free for about a year, when the service will be commercially rolled out, the person mentioned above said on condition of anonymity.

While the landline will come with unlimited calling facility, television channels will be delivered over the internet (Internet Protocol Television).

“All these offerings will be powered through an ONT (Optical Network Terminal) box router which can connect 40-45 devices such as mobile phones, smart TVs, laptops, tablets and a range of smart devices," the person cited above said. Additional services could include gaming, closed-circuit television and smart home systems.

“While the triple combo—which will offer 600 channels with seven-day catch-up option, landline and 100 mbps broadband—will be priced ₹600 a month, the tariff for adding other smart home services may cost extra and depending on the plan, the tariff could go up to ₹1,000 a month," the person added.

With speeds of at least 100 mpbs, going up to 1 gigabytes per second (gbps), Jio GigaFiber will also enable storing CCTV surveillance footage and other data on the cloud, making it accessible across devices.

At the last annual general meeting of Reliance Jio’s parent Reliance Industries Ltd in July, chairman Mukesh Ambani, India’s richest person, had announced that GigaFiber will be the largest greenfield fixed-line broadband rollout globally, with simultaneous introduction in 1,100 cities across India.

The service is now being rolled out across 1,600 cities, Reliance said last week in a statement announcing March quarter earnings.

Rival Bharti Airtel Ltd, however, will focus on premium customers and expand its broadband service across India’s top 100 cities, instead of copying Reliance Jio’s ambitious plan to create a fibre-optic network across India.

The commercial launch of Jio GigaFiber could disrupt the wired broadband market in the same way Reliance Jio disrupted the wireless market in September 2016.

Moreover, the wired broadband market is a highly under-penetrated one. As of February end, there were just 18.29 million wired broadband users as against 531.54 million mobile broadband subscribers, data from the telecom regulator showed.

Registrations for Jio GigaFiber had opened in August last year.

In October, Reliance said it would buy majority stakes in Den Networks Ltd and Hathway Cable and Datacom Ltd for ₹5,230 crore—a move that will boost Jio GigaFiber.

Through these investments, Reliance Jio had said in October last year, it plans to boost 27,000 local cable operators that are aligned with Den and Hathway through superior back-end infrastructure, tie-ups with content producers, and investment in digital infrastructure for connecting customers.

Mint could not ascertain the current size of Jio GigaFiber’s footprint.

An email sent to Reliance Jio was unanswered till publishing of this story.

On Monday, RIL shares fell 2.76% to ₹1,344.80 apiece on the BSE while the benchmark Sensex shed 1.26% to end the day at 38,645.18