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Tag: Reliance Jio

  • Free Jio: TDSAT reserves order on appeal for stay

    MUMBAI: Telecom tribunal TDSAT has reserved its decision on an interim appeal seeking a stay on Reliance Jio’s free promotional offer. TDSAT reserved its order after hearing all the parties concerned including the incumbent operators Idea Cellular, Bharti Airtel, Jio and the regulator TRAI. Jio, however, maintained that it did not violate any tariff orders in giving out two promotional offers.

    Separately, Vodafone India had moved the Delhi High Court blaming TRAI to be acting as a mute spectator to Jio’s violations of regulations and IUC norms.

    Before TDSAT, Airtel had sought a stay on TRAI’s sanction to Jio to continue with the free promotional offer. Airtel had also alleged that TRAI is “perpetuating illegality” by allowing the 4G entrant to game the IUC regime by allowing Jio to offer free data and voice services. Idea had subsequently moved the tribunal.

    Both had also requested for a direction to TRAI to furnish records related to the authority’s decision. The appeal had also appealed for restraining Jio from offering its consumers the zero tariff plan and other promotional offers.

    Jio commercially launched on 5 September 2016 with inaugural free services, which it extended in December till 31 March, 2017.

    The regulator had on 31 January, 2017, said that Jio’s free plans were not the violation of the regulatory guidelines on promotional offers. It added that its examination found that the 4G entrant’s ‘Happy New Year Offer‘ launched on 4 December, 2016, is different from the Welcome Offer, thereby it could not be treated as an extension of the promotional offer as the benefits were different.

    Jio will now however start charging its customers for its mobile services from 1 April, 2017. The telco had also launched 10 Prime packs of users that join the network before 31 March, 2017, and had also launched a buy one get one free offer for Jio Prime users.

  • Most Jio subs to get Prime benefits

    MUMBAI: Reliance Jio has enrolled customers to its Jio Prime membership plan, at Rs 99. The plan is an extension of the company’s ‘Happy New Year’ offer and Jio customers could enroll to Jio Prime before 31 March.

    Jio has launched paid prime and non-prime offers. Under the Prime offer, Jio customers get a one-year extension of existing unlimited data benefits, which under Happy New Year offer. The Prime subscription may be availed by both, existing Jio users and those who subscribe to Jio’s services till 31 March, 2017.

    The new plans could be seen here: https://www.jio.com/en-in/4g-plans

    For prepaid users, the plans offered starts from Rs. 19 which is valid for one day, and offers 200 MB 4G data for Prime customers whereas 100 MB for non-Prime subscribers.

    Rs. 49 (with three-day validity) offers 600 MB for Prime and 300 MB for non-Prime users. Other plans are of Rs. 96 (seven-day validity), Rs. 149 (28 days), Rs. 303 (28 days), Rs. 499 (28 days), Rs. 999 (30 days), Rs. 1,999 (90 days), Rs. 4,999 (180 days) and Rs. 9,999 (360 days) offering different data packs depending on the recharge.   

    For postpaid users, the plans are of Rs. 303 (28 GB 4G data for a month with 1 GB daily data limit), Rs. 499 (58 GB data with 2 GB data limit per day), and Rs. 999 (60 GB data for a month).

    All Jio Prime plans offer unlimited voice calls to all operators as well as free roaming. Booster packs are also there for users if they exceed the data limit of the plan. Rs. 51 booster pack offers 1 GB 4G data. Others include Rs. 91 (2 GB data), Rs. 201 (5 GB data), and Rs. 301 (10 GB data).

    A recharge of Rs. 99 would have to be done before 31 March, 2017 from MyJio, JioMoney, Jio.com or a retailer. The Jio Prime plans come into effect from 1 April, 2017, the day the existing Jio Happy New Year Offer expires.

    Similar to the previous HNY offer, the Prime membership too will provide users with an FUP limit of 1GB data for each day. Effectively it translates to 30GB data for a month, meaning Rs 10 per day. A customer who still does not have a Jio connection can get on the network on or before 31 March in order to avail the Prime membership offer.

    Also Read :

    Jio data offer unsustainable, acknowledges Airtel

    Q3-17: Reliance: Jio busts records, organized retail op profit grows 55 percent

  • Cisco & Jio to build world’s largest all-IP 5G-ready platform

    MUMBAI: Reliance Jio is collaborating with Cisco to further expand Jio’s existing multi-terabit capacity, first all-IP converged network.

    With this network, Jio offers a unique combination of high-speed data, mobile video, VoLTE, digital commerce, media, cloud, and payment services. It is the first network of its kind globally with the fastest growth to 100 million broadband and VoLTE customers, reaching the milestone within six months of launch. With the Cisco All-IP network, Jio will help deliver the vision of Digital India and transform the delivery of citizen services from transportation, utilities and financial inclusion to entertainment, agriculture, education, and healthcare in the country.

    Cisco forecasts that mobile data traffic will grow 7-fold from 2016 to 20211. Technology has become the biggest driver of economic development in India. Jio network has exceeded consumption of more than 1 exabyte of data per month, establishing its clear leadership as the dominant data network.

    The Jio All-IP digital platform is a result of co-innovation around product and services between the two companies. It is built on Cisco’s Open Network Architecture and Cloud Scale Networking technologies featuring IP/MPLS, spanning areas including Data Center, Wi-Fi, Security and Contact Center solutions.

    The All-IP network is built for the ever-increasing volumes of data, and its promise to shape the future of India, with end-to-end digital solutions and broadband for all. Jio has more than 185,000 miles (or 300,000 KM) of fiber, and built India’s largest cloud data center to build platforms for applications and vertical solutions. Since its launch, Jio has accelerated India’s monthly user data consumption 40 times, the highest in the world. With the advanced All-IP network, Jio offers a premium broadband service at U.S. $0.15/GB, making it the most affordable in the world.

    Jio’s infrastructure and CDN extends beyond geographical boundaries of India into Singapore, France, London, New York, Los Angeles, Amsterdam, and Frankfurt. With this Jio has direct interconnect with global carriers and content providers enabling low-latency and high-quality experience for users in India.
    “We at Jio have been able to fundamentally impact how people leverage technology in their everyday lives by delivering inclusive and affordable broadband across India,” said Reliance Jio president Mathew Oommen.

    “As part of our journey in fulfilling the aspirations of the nation to be a key transformational agent in Digital Adoption and Leadership, Cisco has been a great partner for in building this highly scalable cloud centric All-IP Digital Services Network Platform meeting unprecedented data growth.”

    “We share the vision with Reliance Jio for an open, programmable infrastructure to simplify, automate and virtualize core network functions in order to digitize faster,” said Cisco senior vice president & general manager – service provider business Yvette Kanouff. “This network marks a milestone, transforming the mobility business in India by delivering a broad range of mobile apps and services from one common platform.”

    Cisco is building the simplified, automated and virtualized network platform of the future based on industry-leading software, systems, silicon and services. This enables service providers, media and web companies worldwide to reduce costs, speed time-to-market, secure their networks and sustain profitable growth.

    Also Read :

    http://www.indiantelevision.com/iworld/enews/convergence-17-planetcast-plans-virtualised-broadcast-cyient-lauds-jam-170210

    http://www.indiantelevision.com/dth/dth-operator/videocon-d2h-enhances-video-expereince-with-cisco-virtual-dcm-160902

  • Jio data offer unsustainable, acknowledges Airtel

    MUMBAI: Bharti Airtel, India’s largest mobile operator, has opined that the new tariff announced by Reliance Jio was very aggressive and unsustainable, and the industry would respond to it with additional data offerings and more competitive plans.

    Yesterday Airtel anounced waiving of roaming charges to compete with free roaming and voice calls offered by Jio. The Mukesh Ambani-led Jio has not only promised to match the best mobile data usage plan in the market but add 20 per cent to it.

    Tariffs that they (Jio) announced were still very aggressive, which meant they got to respond. They all got to do more packages… they had to throw in more data. All those things need to be done, PTI reported Bharti Airtel chairman Sunil Mittal telling the press.

    Jio, which has invested USD 25 billion on its 4G wireless data network, will terminate free data plans from 1 April, but has offered consumers the option of signing up for a Jio Prime membership for Rs 99 to continue using unlimited services for a year by paying Rs 303 every month.

    Acknowledging that Jio’s plan to start charging customers was “good news” for operators, he said it however, would not signal the end to tariff war. Good news was that eventually they announced that they would. But yes, it was the pricing which was unsustainable.

    Mittal, who is also the chairman of global industry body GSMA, recommended consolidation for the Indian telecom industry to “get the economic case back”, pitched for affordability in spectrum pricing that has gone “out of control” in the last few years, and said the spectrum surplus industry would not need an airwave auction, at least in 2017-18.

  • Plea against Jio’s free offer coming up in HC

    MUMBAI: The Delhi High Court will be hearing a plea filed by Vodafone India alleging that the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India had failed to stop Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd’s (RJio)’s what it called “blatant violation” of tariff orders, directions and regulations by allowing it to go on with its free offers.

    On 30 January, Vodafone had moved the court alleging that TRAI failed to implement the telecom department’s (DoT) circulars.

    Earlier, Idea Cellular and Bharti Airtel had moved TDSAT (Telecom Disputes Settlement Appellate Tribunal) alleging that TRAI had been a mute spectator to the violations committed by Jio.

    Race in the telecom industry meanwhile is getting intense. Airtel may now let customers enjoy free domestic roaming.The new offer seems to be in response to Jio’s introduction of new pricing plan. Airtel has reportedly decided to do away with national roaming charges on its network for both, internet services and calls. A formal announcement is yet to be made. The decision would benefit Airtel’s about 268 million customers.

    Meantime, a PwC report said the road ahead for Indian M&A seemed to be brightly illuminated. As per the report, PTI reported, the recent deals indicated an imminent need for consolidation in various sectors, sale of distressed assets by debt-laden companies and simplification of widely dispersed group companies. The report stated several sectors in India are in consolidation mode. For instance, it said, the telecom sector (Reliance Communications announced the acquisition of MTS India from Sistema).

    Also Read :

    Jio crosses 10-cr subs mark, offers prime membership for Rs 99

    TRAI violations query: Reliance Jio mum on ‘response’

    Jio HNY: TDSAT raps TRAI as contest deepens

  • Jio & Uber partner to enhance digital experience

    MUMBAI: Reliance Jio and Uber have announced a strategic partnership aimed at bringing the benefits of Jio Digital Life ecosystem to their users.

    As part of the partnership, Jio and Uber will work together and explore various opportunities to progressively enrich and enhance the digital life experience of their users through complementary programmes.

    Today JioMoney, the PPI wallet offered by Reliance Payment Solutions Ltd, and Uber announced an agreement that will enable Uber riders to pay for their rides using JioMoney and thereby enhance the digital transaction ecosystem in India. Similarly, JioMoney users will soon be able to request and pay for Uber rides from within the JioMoney app. The partnership will give a major boost to cash-free payments in India and provide mobility options to millions of Jio users.

    Starting today, Uber will gradually rollout the JioMoney payment option for its users across the country. This integration provides a hassle-free payment experience to Uber riders and will be an added avenue for digital transactions for JioMoney’s rapidly growing user-base across India.

    JioMoney business head Anirban S Mukherjee said, “Jio aims to bring the benefits of evolving digital technologies to every Indian through an entire ecosystem that will allow Indians to live Digital Life to the fullest. JioMoney is an integral part of the Jio ecosystem and is fast emerging as a preferred option for digital transactions due to its ease of use, intuitive interface and growing acceptability. JioMoney’s integration with Uber will power the rapid migration of many more Uber transactions to the digital platform.”

    Uber India and emerging markets chief business officer Madhu Kannan said that “We are delighted to partner with Reliance Jio to unlock synergies across two of the largest user bases in India. Digital payments have become part of our everyday lives and by integrating JioMoney as a payment option, our riders will have the ability to use a familiar and consistent payment experience. Through this strategic partnership we are looking to fast forward to digital solutions at scale for the Indian users.”

    To celebrate the association, JioMoney and Uber will offer exclusive incentives to every user paying for Uber rides through JioMoney. The users of JioMoney will enjoy the hassle free payment experience of JioMoney at multiple avenues along with attractive offers and coupons available through JioMoney app.

  • TRAI to review telecoms tariff structure

    NEW DELHI: Changing telecom landscape and increasing convergence happening between telecoms and broadcast services have made Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) initiate a fresh consultation process regarding telecoms tariff structures.

    The consultation paper put out by TRAI late last week, while highlighting dealing with “emergent issues and challenges”, said the re-assessment becomes necessary to take care of regulatory principles of tariff issues like “transparency, promotional offers, disclosures and non discrimination, adherence to the principle of non-predatory pricing, meaning of predatory pricing, relevant market (and) assessment of dominant position.”

    “The consultation process aims to bring about greater clarity in interpretation of various regulatory principles set out in the TTO (Telecommunication Tariff Order, 1999) in consonance with the best global practices,” the TRAI paper said.

    Of late various telcos have been opposing and criticising TRAI’s inaction in dealing effectively with predatory pricing and offers, especially a comparative newcomer, Reliance Jio. An extension till March 31, 2017 to Jio’s free data offer to its consumers and targets has been the cause of heartburn in the telecom industry.

    According to a news report in Mint newspaper, Market leader Bharti Airtel Ltd has moved the Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT), raising questions about the validity of the extension of Reliance Jio free offers till March 2017 and accusing TRAI of inaction against Jio.

    While the regulator in the past has justified its actions on the Jio free offer fracas, in its latest consultation paper it explained the need to go in for a fresh assessment of the tariff structures of telecoms service providers: “Despite the amendments made to the TTO and other regulations issued to factor in various market developments, a need has been felt to undertake a comprehensive review of the TTO framework, albeit in a phased manner, starting with a discussion on the core regulatory principles enshrined in the TTO…The consultation is in line with the decision taken in the meeting held with the CEOs of the TSPs (telecoms service providers) on 6 January 2017 to discuss the annual calendar of activities of TRAI for the year 2017, which, inter-a/ia, included developing a new framework for tariffs in evolving telecommunication sector and on which there was a consensus.”

  • ‘New oil’ provider Jio open to partnerships

    MUMBAI: Reliance Jio, which has crossed 100-million customer milestone after its launch in September 2016, has an open mind for partnerships at this stage. Jio hopes to put India among the top 10 countries in terms of broadband access, from the 155th position in 2015.

    Reliance Industries chairman Mukesh Ambani, speaking at the Nasscom leadership forum in Mumbai, is betting big on data-driven telecom, emphasising that data was the “new oil”. Crediting the success of Jio to the Aadhaar-based verification, Ambani, who spent over Rs 1.2 trillion on Jio, said that the foundation of the fourth industrial revolution was connectivity and data, which was the new natural resource.

    Predicting that India would be a key player in this revolution, PTI reported Ambani as stating that India’s large talent base would have had a competitive advantage.

    The salient feature of this revolution is “convergence of the physical biological and digital sciences”, and “we are on the threshold of an exponential change,” he said. India’s 1.3 billion propulation, Ambani said, lends it a huge advantage and the data thus generated could be converted into intelligence.

    Ambani recommended looking at the larger picture of helping millions to resolve their problems with the adoption of digital technologies. Digitalisation would continue to face challenges in terms of security, privacy and data theft, but that they could find solutions to problems.

    Ambani advised adopting of next generation technologies. India would have to become the capital of real implementation of blockchain, he said, adding that they had the opportunity to adopt artificial intelligence and natural language processing, adopt drones in India’s own logistics as India could become one of the largest software markets.

    Ambani advised the industry to focus on the home market while describing the protectionist statements of the new US president Donald Trump as “a blessing in disguise” for the Indian IT sector. The US$ 155-billion Indian IT industry earns over 65 per cent of its revenues from the US.

    The IT industry meantime awaits clarity on Trump’s plans to double the salary for H1-B visa-holders and significantly curb visa issuance to techies.

    Also Read :

    http://www.indiantelevision.com/iworld/telecom/jio-may-use-us44bn-to-lay-ofc-expand-network-to-stifle-competition-170118

    http://www.indiantelevision.com/iworld/telecom/jio-becomes-top-isp-wireline-growthretards-overall-broadband-internet-subs-fall-in-nov-16-170202

    http://www.indiantelevision.com/iworld/telecom/q3-17-jio-affects-airtel-revenue-digital-tv-segment-numbers-up-170124

  • Analysis: Ortel Q3 numbers take a hit

    BENGALURU: Despite a 6.5 percent year-over-year (y-o-y) increase in Total Income from Operations (TIO), the Bibhu Prasad Rath led regional cable television and broadband internet player Ortel Communications Limited (Ortel) reported a net loss for the quarter ended 31 December 2016 (Q3-17, current quarter) as compared to a profit after tax (PAT) reported for the corresponding quarter of the previous year (Q3-16). The company reported a net loss of Rs 2.78 crore in Q3-17 as compared to a profit after tax (PAT) Rs 3.89 crore in Q3-16 and a PAT of Rs 2.54 crore in the immediate trailing quarter Q2-17.

    The company has been hit by various factors, two of the four being demonitisation and increased competition in broadband internet services. Though Rath did not name the competition during a telecom with www.indiantelevision.com, the first moniker that comes to mind when one speaks of competition in broadband in India is Reliance Jio. The company’s Q3-17 numbers indicate that it has lost 8.4 percent or 6,679 broadband subscribers and its broadband ARPU had declined quarter-over-quarter (q-o-q) to Rs 394 from Rs 406 in the immediate trailing quarter. Ortel closed Q3-17 with 72,503 subscribers as compared to 79,182 in Q2-17 and 67,709 subscribers at the end ofQ3-16.

    The third reason was the steep decline in Ortel’s infrastructure and leasing business. Another reason for the loss was a higher provision for bad debts (an expense head) in Q3-17 – this was Rs 8.33 crore in Q3-17 as compared to Rs 3.76 crore for the year ago quarter and Rs 6.61 crore in the immediate trailing quarter.

    However, Rath informed that his company’s broadband subscriber base has already shown positive growth in January 2017 and that the improved broadband results for the final quarter should improve. Rath also revealed data consumption per user has gone up in Q3-17 by about 1 GB as compared to the previous quarter because of more packages being made available and lowering of data prices.

    Since it went public, Ortel has generally been reporting profits, more so over the past six-seven quarters, and TRath said that he expected the situation to normalise and the return of net profits within a couple of quarters.

    Company speak

    In the company’s earnings release, Rath said, “Our performance during the quarter was impacted due to a combination of factors which weakened some of our key operating parameters. In spite of this, we have demonstrated a healthy growth in revenues from both Cable TV and Broadband Business on a y-o-y basis both for Q3 and 9M-17. I am also happy to inform that our Business outside Odisha which turned
    EBIDTA positive last quarter has remained so during this quarter.

    Overall, we have demonstrated that a strong B2C focused last mile business model in our core market can be profitable and remain confident of replicating the same across newer markets. We continue to believe that this is a sustainable model as we can capture the entire revenue stream across the value chain.”

    Cable Subscription numbers (revenue generating units – RGUs’), ARPU

    During the current quarter, the total subscribers (both cable and television) stood at 738,963 subscribers. Net addition in Q3-17 stood at 13,256.

    Analog and Digital TV ARPU stood as Rs. 150 per month and Rs. 152 per month for Q3-17 and Q3-16 respectively. For the immediate trailing quarter, ARPU was Rs 153.

    Broadband numbers have been mentioned above.

    Let us look at the other numbers reported by Ortel

    Cable TV revenue in Q3-17 increased 25 percent y-o-y to Rs 40 crore from Rs 32 crore in Q3-16, but declined 4.8 percent q-o-q from Rs 42 crore.

    Cable TV Activation fees or connection fees in Q3-17 were more than 2.6 times at Rs 2.5 crore as compared to Rs 1 crore in Q3-16, but declined 40.8 percent q-o-q from Rs 4.2 crore.

    Cable TV subscription revenue in Q3-17 increased 41.1 percent y-o-y to Rs 30 crore from Rs 21.2 crore in Q3-16 and increased 1 percent q-o-q from Rs 29.7 crore. Channel carriage fees in the current quarter declined 23.2 percent y-o-y to Rs 7.5 crore from Rs 9.8 crore and declined 7.4 percent q-o-q from Rs 8.1 crore.

    Broadband services revenue in Q3-17 increased 5.7 percent to Rs 8.7 crore from Rs 8.3 crore in Q3-16 but declined 12.6 percent q-o-q from Rs 10 crore. Internet connection fees in Q3-17 declined 60.5 percent y-o-y to Rs 0.2 crore from Rs 0.6 crore and declined 50.8 percent q-o-q from Rs 0.5 crore. Internet subscription fees in Q3-17 increased 10.5 percent y-o-y to Rs 8.5 crore from Rs 7.7 crore but declined 10.6 percent q-o-q from Rs 9.5 crore.

    Total expenses (TE) in Q3-17 increased 19.4 percent y-o-y to Rs 47.48 crore as compared to Rs 39.78 crore, and increased 7.3 percent q-o-q from Rs 44.37 crore.

    Programming cost in Q3-17 were almost flat (increased 0.6) percent y-o-y at Rs. 9.18 crore as compared to Rs 9.13 crore and increased 6.3 percent from Rs 8.64 crore. Employee expenses during the current quarter stood 9.7 percent higher y-o-y at Rs. 6.32 crore as compared to Rs 5.76 crore, and increased 4.9 percent q-o-q from Rs 6.03 crore.

    Note: The unit of currency in this report is the Indian rupee – Rs (also conventionally represented by INR). The Indian numbering system or the Vedic numbering system has been used to denote money values. The basic conversion to the international norm would be:
    (a) 100,00,000 = 100 lakh = 10,000,000 = 10 million = 1 crore.
    (b) 10,000 lakh = 100 crore = 1 arab = 1 billion.

  • BSNL violating TRAI’s IUC norms, complains COAI

    BSNL violating TRAI’s IUC norms, complains COAI

    NEW DELHI: The Cellular Operator Association of India (COAI) has approached the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India against the state-owned Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd’s (BSNL) new limited fixed mobile telephony app-based calling service that virtually turns mobiles into a cordless phone.

    The new service works in sync with landlines to make and receive calls within home premises.

    Claiming it was like the “in-principle same version of their fixed mobile telephony (FMT) services” launched last year and subsequently withdrawn, COAI members want TRAI to direct BSNL to withdraw the new service. BSNL has so far marketed its service as “distinct”.

    Interestingly, Reliance Jio has not joined in as it claims to have divergent views.

    While launching the new service in mid-January, BSNL had stated that the latest limited Fixed Mobile Telephony (FMT) service is “different” from the contentious Fixed Mobile Telephony service it had announced last year. The PSU was subsequently forced to put on hold the service following opposition from cellular operators.

    The operators say the new service is disguised as a Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) service and violation of numbering plan and breach of licence conditions.

    In its letter to TRAI, COAI has also alleged that BSNL’s service represents evasion and bypass of Interconnect Usage Charges (IUC) in the form of termination charges. “We understand that the new service will use fixed line Caller Line Identification for making calls from mobiles and currently no termination charges are applicable for calls to and from fixed line in terms of TRAI’s prevailing IUC regulation,” COAI said.

    If the service is allowed, other operators with landline number series may also start using the methodology for saving on IUC leading to major revenue implications, COAI has argued.

    “In light of the serious concerns … we request your kind intervention in issuing an immediate direction to BSNL for withdrawing this app-based calling service,” COAI has said.

    While putting its service on hold, BSNL chairman Anupam Shrivastava had said the earlier service allowed customers on roaming in India and overseas to connect their landlines through mobile and make calls through them, but the new service is restricted within the home premises.

    “Landline subscribers find it inconvenient to fetch the contact details from mobiles and then dial the number on fixed line … This service will turn mobile handset into a cordless device within the home premises, which means that customers can still avail the attractive landline tariffs of BSNL,” Shrivastava had said.

    Also Read:

    BSNL launches FMT & Ditto TV; 4G planned this year

    Fazed by expensive 4G spectrum, BSNL gifting Kerala 1k hotspots