Reliance Jio is all over the news again as the date much-awaited Annual General Meeting of Reliance Industries closing in. Last year, at the AGM 2018, Reliance Industries announced Jio GigaFiber high-speed broadband services, but only on a trial basis. However, at this year's AGM, Mukesh Ambani is expected to announce the commercial launch of Jio GigaFiber service and its tariff plans. The brokerage firm, Bank of America- Merrill Lynch, expects that Reliance Industries might introduce three offerings under the GigaFiber service providing standard broadband, broadband+TV services and full-fledged broadband+TV+IoT devices. At the same time, Reliance Jio is also expected to announce landline service, which will come bundled with all the three packs mentioned above. Right now, Jio did not confirm any details of Reliance Jio GigaFiber commercial launch, but the company did confirm that the trials are currently in final stages hinting at an imminent launch. In addition, the brokerage firm says Reliance Jio GigaFiber services may not be as cheap as consumers are expecting, but with bundled offerings, they will attract a lot of users.
Reliance Jio to Offer Broadband, TV and IoT Devices Under One Branch
Reliance Jio GigaFiber is all about changing the home broadband segment in India as the company did with its 4G services. However, it's not that easy for the company to achieve because of the human power it requires. According to Bank of America- Merrill Lynch brokerage firm, Reliance Jio has a lot in store for us on August 12.
“We expect a lot of new information on Jio’s pure fibre-based home broadband and enterprise business launches at RIL’s 42nd AGM, and see RIL looking to give visibility on a phased commercial launch timeline, and perhaps pricing as well of the fibre broadband services,” Bank of America- Merrill Lynch said in a note to clients, which was seen by ET Telecom.
Reliance Industries has been testing Jio GigaFiber in select cities even before the trial launch last year. According to the report, Jio GigaFiber will come in three packages- the first is a standard broadband connection with 100 Mbps speeds, the second one is broadband and TV bundled pack, while the third one offers broadband, TV and IoT devices which will allow users to control their lighting, kitchen appliances and locking system.
Reliance Jio GigaFiber Packs May Not Be Priced Aggressively
Bank of America- Merrill Lynch also expects that Reliance Jio GigaFiber packs may not be priced competitively compared to other Internet Service Providers in the country. However, Jio will be bringing all broadband, TV and home security solutions together, which will add value to the pricing. It will be interesting to see how Jio prices the standard broadband plans. Right now, the company is providing a single plan of 100 Mbps to all the customers. We haven't heard from any customers till now that Jio is providing a 1 Gbps plan to them, so the initial offerings from Jio might be limited to just 100 Mbps. That being said, we might see a single 100 Mbps plan with unlimited FUP in the company's broadband portfolio.
Reliance Jio Likely to Offer Landline Service as Well
Well, here's another news coming in. Bank of America- Merrill Lynch also expects that Jio might introduce its landline service alongside the Jio GigaFiber commercial launch. The Jio GigaFiber Preview offer did not include any landline offering to the customers, so it's a completely new service from the company.
With Jio GigaFiber, the company is aiming to provide high-speed services to 50 million homes in the next 18 months. However, Bank of America- Merrill Lynch says it's a tough milestone to achieve and it will take at least 3-5 years for the company to achieve the number.
