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Tag: Jio

  • Airtel to dole out 5GB free bandwidth for post-paid & DTH customers

    Airtel to dole out 5GB free bandwidth for post-paid & DTH customers

    MUMBAI: It’s party time for Bharati Airtel’s broadband customers. India’s largest telco announced on 10 August that it would be doling out an extra 5GB of data bandwidth for every other Airtel service connection – postpaid mobile or digital TV (DTH) – within the family. The press note says the more the connections in a home, the more the free data on offer.

    Customers can avail this exciting offer for their existing as well as new Airtel postpaid mobile and digital TV connections.As an illustration, if a home has two mobile post paid connections, and an Airtel Digital TV (DTH) connection, then a further free 15GB of bandwidth will be added to its broadband account every month.

    Bharati Airtel (India) CEO- Homes Hemanth Kumar Guruswamy said that it is a move to delight its customers. “This is a gesture from us to thank our broadband customers for giving us an opportunity to serve them. Along with the unlimited free calling benefit on our landline, customers can now make the most of their Airtel broadband with the free additional data benefits.”

    Being dished out under its newly launched ‘myHome Rewards programme, the offer can be availed of through the myAirtel app or by registering one’s connection at www.airtel.in/myhome. Last year, the company had offered its customers free data under its Airtel surprises programme.

    Observers however see a pre-emptory tactic against Reliance Jio as it gets ready to launch its 4G services in a full-fledged manner. Jio is expected to disrupt the data pricing structure in India when it rolls out both its wireless and wired broadband services in the coming few months.

    In the past couple of months, most of the telcos have announced price cuts for data for their pre-paid packs.

  • Airtel to dole out 5GB free bandwidth for post-paid & DTH customers

    Airtel to dole out 5GB free bandwidth for post-paid & DTH customers

    MUMBAI: It’s party time for Bharati Airtel’s broadband customers. India’s largest telco announced on 10 August that it would be doling out an extra 5GB of data bandwidth for every other Airtel service connection – postpaid mobile or digital TV (DTH) – within the family. The press note says the more the connections in a home, the more the free data on offer.

    Customers can avail this exciting offer for their existing as well as new Airtel postpaid mobile and digital TV connections.As an illustration, if a home has two mobile post paid connections, and an Airtel Digital TV (DTH) connection, then a further free 15GB of bandwidth will be added to its broadband account every month.

    Bharati Airtel (India) CEO- Homes Hemanth Kumar Guruswamy said that it is a move to delight its customers. “This is a gesture from us to thank our broadband customers for giving us an opportunity to serve them. Along with the unlimited free calling benefit on our landline, customers can now make the most of their Airtel broadband with the free additional data benefits.”

    Being dished out under its newly launched ‘myHome Rewards programme, the offer can be availed of through the myAirtel app or by registering one’s connection at www.airtel.in/myhome. Last year, the company had offered its customers free data under its Airtel surprises programme.

    Observers however see a pre-emptory tactic against Reliance Jio as it gets ready to launch its 4G services in a full-fledged manner. Jio is expected to disrupt the data pricing structure in India when it rolls out both its wireless and wired broadband services in the coming few months.

    In the past couple of months, most of the telcos have announced price cuts for data for their pre-paid packs.

  • Reliance Jio touches 70 mbps download speed during trials

    Reliance Jio touches 70 mbps download speed during trials

    NEW DELHI: The download speed on Reliance Jio’s 4G network during its beta-test phase peaked at 70 megabit per second but remained in 15-30 mbps range on most occasions, as per field trial report by brokerage firm Credit Suisse.

     

    “We experienced peak download speed of 70 mbps during our trials, and on most occasions in the 15-30 Mbps range, even on the move,” said the report by Credit Suisse Research Analysts Sunil Tirumalai and Chunky Shah.

     

    At 70 mbps download speed, a Bollywood movie size video can be downloaded in about half a minute while at 15-30 mbps, the same can be downloaded in about three minutes.

     

    The report compared the commercially launched 4G service of telecom major Airtel and beta network of Reliance Jio and found “Airtel 4G giving 10-20 mbps, often slower than Jio, and 3G network speeds of sub 2 mbps (peak 7 mbps).”

     

    Analysts found urban coverage of RJio network at par with incumbents but remarked rural coverage as “poor.”

     

    During trials analysts experienced call drop-free RJio network in Mumbai but lost signal three – four times when they entered on village roads.

     

    Analysts said that they experienced seamless phone call experience between Reliance Jio and network of other telecom operators.

     

    “Overall, our take away is that the Reliance Jio network is turning out to be as strong a threat to incumbents as we had feared. Next focus would be on pricing and marketing execution,” the report said.

     

    The conglomerate is planning to do a soft launch of the 4G services on Dhirubhai Ambani’s birth anniversary this year, which falls on 28 December.

     

    Credit Suisse analysts said that the speeds will fall once a commercial launch happens and more users get on to the network but globally 4G has delivered better speed than 3G services.

     

    The company has matched up with incumbents on coverage in urban area but there is not much rural focus.

     

    “Until the rural network is fixed, RJio could enter into roaming agreements with other operators. We suspect Jio would use sub-1GHz spectrum for rural coverage,” the report said.

     

    Commenting on handset availability for Reliance Jio’s 4G service, the report said that ZTE is making Reliance Jio’s LYF branded 4G handset and some handsets of Samsung, LG, Lenovo and ZTE also supported VoLTE calls.

     

  • Will Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Jio do what Bill Gates’ Windows did?

    Will Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Jio do what Bill Gates’ Windows did?

    MUMBAI: Computer in its early days was only used by government organisations for various defence purposes. The size of the device kept getting smaller as generations passed by and now, deemed as a necessity, it is omnipresent in almost every house. But what opened the floodgates for computer in every house almost twenty years ago in 1995 was Bill Gates’ Windows 95.

    Cut to 2015 and the present scenario in India. The current fad, which might just be here to stay, are Over The Top (OTT) players. Media and entertainment content companies are bullish on the OTT scenario and multiple apps have mushroomed left, right and centre over the last few months. However, they haven’t yet managed to augment a revolution of sorts by their services, thanks to the poor infrastructure support in the country. The broadband or mobile internet bandwidth is, on the one hand, too slow to offer a good viewing experience and on the other, it is also very expensive.

    The country currently has more than 350 million internet users and the number is expected to reach 640 million by 2019, of which 528 millions are estimated to be wireless consumers as per a report by KPMG.

    The growth rate of smartphones and tablets is also very encouraging for the video on demand (VOD) ecosystem. The number of tablets in India is is expected to be more than 18 million by 2019, according to the US-based firm’s Visual Networking Index (VNI) global mobile data traffic forecast for 2014 to 2019.

    The report said that in India, the number of smartphones grew 54 per cent during 2014, reaching 140 million in number and the number of smartphones will grow 4.7-fold between 2014 and 2019, reaching 651 million in number.

     What Colors CEO Raj Nayak has to say is by far the most apt depiction of the Indian OTT ecosystem in the current scenario. “The only reason why digital has not yet taken off in  India is because of the bandwidth issue. If any service can resolve that issue, it will be a complete game changer. There will be a leapfrogging of content consumption in mobile devices be it smartphones or tablets,” he opines.

    		  

    And addressing that issue soon will be Mukesh Ambani’s ambitious project Reliance Jio.

    Reliance Jio is Ambani’s visionary mission of spreading internet to every nook and corner of the country. Industry watchers say that the organisation in entering the market with a ginormous corpus fund of approximately Rs 70,000 crore. Under the able leadership of cable industry veteran K Jayaraman as CEO of Reliance Jio, the company has now started to take the aerial route to fast forward proceedings. It is now connecting pole to pole through cable in order to spread deep and fast.

    Jio is also teaming up with multiple last mile owners (LMOs) to expedite execution. As was reported earlier by Indiantelevision.com, Reliance is planning to carry out Jio’s soft launch on the occasion of Dhirubhai Ambani’s birth anniversary on 28 December this year. 

    Speculations are also rife that Reliance Jio is planning to unleash its services with affordable pricing, which will no doubt disrupt the market. “The focus with Jio is not money but the vision that we have. The pricing and speed will surprise many,” said a source close to the development.

    The question on every one’s lips is: Will Reliance Jio resolve bandwidth issues in the country? Moreover, will Mukesh Ambani’s Jio do what Bill Gates’ Windows did?

    Indiantelevision.com spoke to multiple industry stakeholders to ascertain their expectations. Here’s what they had to say: 

    Spuul Global CEO Subin Subaiah says, “Give a consumer higher speed at lower costs, and it gives him a huge incentive to consume more content – especially video – online. We  are watching Reliance Jio’s launch with keen interest, which should lead to other service providers following suit – creating a market where data costs and speeds are not an  impediment to consumption.”

    		  

     

    Reliance Industries’ latest AGM grabbed Eros Now COO Karan Bedi’s attention. “Mr Ambani in their AGM announced that they are rolling out Reliance Jio in December and that’s  a very positive move. The statement made Airtel roll out their 4G services immediately and the service is good. Other telcos are also planning to unleash their services soon. So  overall it’s certainly a move towards the positive side,” he says.  

     

    ”Bandwidth has been an issue for OTT services and we are looking forward to the new launch of Reliance Jio. Hope it turns out to be a consumer friendly proposition. Any improved internet service will certainly help the ecosystem,” asserts Zee Digital Convergence Limited CEO and India web portal CEO Debashish Ghosh.

    		  

     

    #Fame CEO Saket Saurabh adds, “We are waiting for the launch. Let’s see how it goes. If the internet infrastructure develops, it will be good for the entire ecosystem.”  

     

     “From a consumer perspective, 4G would more be a network bandwidth problem solver and hence would immensely expand the experience of browsing and interacting with  mobile internet products. And from a digital and mobile player perspective, I expect 4G to significantly enhance the reach and innovation in the mobile video ecosystem. Today,  Indian online users watch approximately 40 per cent of YouTube videos on their mobile phones even when the experience is not the best and I am really looking forward  to Reliance Jio’s launch. Any new player disrupting the mobile ecosystem adds a new dimension to the environment. So from a consumer perspective, just as Monsoon Dhamaka  was a massive disruption to making mobile phone accessible to all, I expect 4G launch of Reliance to be also a dhamaka for the consumer and the mobile marketing,” opines Madhouse South Asia COO Milind Pathak.

    		  

     

    Ping Network CEO Rajashree Naik adds, “Even a marginal shift in internet speeds will have a significant impact in data consumption – for us in the video space, there is a relevant link between consumption and speeds. For everyone in the internet and content space, if the consumer experience is enhanced because of speeds much of our own    business metrics will change. So whether it is Jio or any other data options that will make it cheaper to consume and remove the buffering hurdle, will certainly be something to look forward to.”  

    Even as the stage is set for Reliance Jio’s disruptive entry into the Indian telecom market, rivals are gearing up to fire their respective salvos. While India is waking up to some interesting times ahead in the telecom space, what each one does to change the ecosystem, only time will tell.

  • Reliance Retail to develop market for Mukesh Ambani’s Jio

    Reliance Retail to develop market for Mukesh Ambani’s Jio

    MUMBAI: Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries, which will soon launch its pan-India 4G datacom services under the brandname ‘Jio’, has assigned the mandate to develop the market for compatible devices and drive its growth to its retail arm – Reliance Retail.

     

    As per an IANS report, Ambani in a letter to the Reliance Retail team wrote, “Devices are cornerstone in bringing broadband to the masses. The long-term evolution (LTE) ecosystem for devices in India is nascent.”

     

    Ambani also announced that Reliance Jio MD Sandip Das will step down from his current role and drive the initiative by joining the board of Reliance Retail to mentor the Jio division.

     

    The report quotes sources as saying that Ambani is attaching much importance to the 4G data telecom space and sees it as one of the major drivers of growth within the $75-billion group.

     

    The next-gen of the company, Isha and Akash Ambani, recently, secured approvals to join Reliance Jio Infocomm’s board of directors.

     

    Das had personally sought a shift in his role to mentor the Jio initiative of Reliance Industries, said the report.

     

    “It will take the resources, deep conviction and substantial expertise of Reliance to build an LTE device ecosystem to a level similar to the availability of 3G devices,” said Das, who has been associated with a host of Indian and global telecom firms in the past, in the report.

     

    And added, “As Reliance Retail is building electronic goods sales stores and channels to pioneer and dominate this ecosystem, it will be a wonderful challenge for me to mentor this.”