Reliance Jio Claims Hugely Positive Response to GigaFiber, Faces Last Mile Connectivity Issues

Reliance Jio Infocomm has informed that it has received a positive response for its latest home broadband service GigaFiber from 900 odd cities after two weeks of registration. Even then Reliance Jio has also remarked that it is facing resistance in crucial last mile connectivity in select towns because of Local Cable Operators (LCOs). When LCOs were asked about this issue, the operators said that the problem erupted because of Reliance Jio’s direct strategies which pitched the idea of home broadband to the consumers via housing societies and resident welfare associations (RWAs). Further, the LCOs also showed fear about Reliance Jio’s aggressive pricing techniques which would lead to disruption in their industry, a similar scenario which has happened in the mobile service sector.

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However, Reliance Jio official said to ET that they are willing to take all stakeholders along. Further, a senior Reliance Jio official told ET, “We are taking proactive steps to resolve any last-mile connectivity challenges to prioritise and ensure timely roll-outs in markets where consumer registrations have been strong.” The official further added that the telco has got “got enthusiastic consumer response from nearly 900 cities across the country” out of the entire 1,100 cities in which Reliance Jio plans to roll out its broadband service.

AK Rastogi, president of Delhi-based All India Aavishkar Dish Antenna Sangh, also said that Jio’s step of taking the last mile connectivity issue in its own hands “has caused confusion at the ground level, creating differences between the company and the cable operators”. President of Maharashtra Cable Operators’ Federation, Arvind Prabhu also supported this opinion.