Big announcements from Reliance Jio – Jio GigaFiber Broadband Service to be launched in 1100 cities

Big announcements from Reliance Jio – Jio GigaFiber Broadband Service to be launched in 1100 cities

Reliance Jio has made big announcements about its future objectives during the Reliance Annual General Meeting (AGM 2018). After declaring the fast-escalating success of its Jio connectivity (having garnered more than 215 million Jio customers), as well as the JioPhone (more than 25 million users), the company is now poised to introduce new services across several verticals in the country. A significant part of this will come as the Jio GigaFiber, an optical fibre based broadband service for which Jio has already invested Rs 250,000 crore.

In his keynote speech, Mukesh D. Ambani illustrated why the entrepreneur has invested the huge amount towards a broadband network. In essence, the whole idea could very well be the next disruptor coming from the house of Jio. Here is a look at what propelled the idea and how Jio plans to make it work.

A paramount reason that was highlighted during the Reliance AGM 2018 for the upcoming Jio GigaFiber is that most of the countries with superior communication infrastructure in place utilise fixed-line connectivity for more than 80 percent of their data consumption. As mentioned in the statement by Mukesh D. Ambani, India is ranked at the 134th position globally in terms of fixed broadband connectivity. “Poor fixed-line infrastructure” has been mentioned as a prime reason for this.

In order to propel the digitally-driven growth of the country, a first-class fixed-line connectivity has to be put in place. Jio plans to do just that with the GigaFibre and not just on a subliminal level but to take India all the way to the top 5 in the list.

The Jio GigaFiber vision

Jio plans to bring the fixed-line connectivity with the GigaFiber to the homes of the Indian citizens alongside aiming for the SMBs and the medium and large enterprises. As mentioned, the company has already invested over Rs 250,000 crore towards the digital infrastructure required for this. The result that Jio is aspiring for is to establish the largest fiber footprint across the country. The connectivity would span across 1100 cities in India and will enable digital transformations like Ultra HD entertainment, multi-party video conferences and even the likes of voice-controlled virtual assistants like Amazon Alexa and Google Home. Other forms of digital experiences which will be powered by this include virtual reality, digital shopping and more.

One major transformation that Jio GigaFiber aims at bringing are smart home solutions, a concept that is still aloof to most of the homes in India.

Jio GigaFiber Promises

While Jio GigaFiber might not be the first one to bring the speeds of as much as Gigabits per second to the Indian homes through its fixed line connectivity, the mere scale of its implementation is the highlight here. If and when Jio is able to initiate its new venture, the probability is extremely high that it will be just as disruptive to the Indian market as the Jio mobile connectivity turned out to be.