Reliance Jio Commercial Launch in August. Will Offer Free Voice Calls with 4G Data

After much delay due to one reason or the other, Reliance Jio’s commercial launch of its high-speed 4G services is upon us. Jio has been called as the world’s biggest startup with an investment of Rs. 1,50,000 crore.

It is being rumoured that the commercial launch of Jio would take the incumbent telecom operators by storm. Please note that Jio already has over 7 lakh subscribers making it the 6^th largest telecom operator in India, and also has more towers than BSNL well before its public launch.

Earlier Jio connection was given only to the friends and family members of Jio’s employees via an invite system, but as soon as the network opened up to early testers for a beta launch, it achieved this feat.

Jio’s subscribers on an average used 18.5 GB per month which is much more than the industry average of 0.72 GB per user per month. Jio has been promoting its network strength openly by offering free WiFi (Jionet) during IPL T20 cricket matches.

Reliance Jio is also promoting its own smartphone brand- LYF massively and has also introduced price drops in various LYF phones. Please note that Reliance Jio is not just another 4G network. It will offer VoLTE services as well for offeringhigh quality voice over its data network.

Reliance Jio Commercial Launch Is Finally Here

It was earlier believed that Jio’s commercial launch would happen in the latter half of 2016 hinting towards a December launch. Then we reported that Jio might launch its 4G services as early as September 2016.

However, according to a report on ET, Jio’s commercial launch will happen in next month, i.e. August 2016. The report also mentions that Jio 4G would offer only one tariff plan named ‘Freedom’ to all its subscribers. The plan name hints towards the launch on Indian Independence Day on August 15^th. ‘Freedom’ will offer bundled data and voice at least 25% cheaper than the top telecom operators.

Jio Plans Free Voice Calls & Cheaper Data Packs

Jio is planning to offer free voice calls to all its subscribers who buy data packs. It is also planning to offer 1 GB data @ Rs. 80.

Major telecom operators in India still draw about 80% of their revenue from voice calls, and if Jio offers free voice calling then it will hit the major telcos (including Airtel, Vodafone, Idea, and BSNL) very hard.

Leading telecom operators are already worried about Jio’s commercial launch as it would eat into their profits. HSBC expects Jio to have a market share of over 15% by the next 4 years. It is also expected the data tariffs will reduce significantly in the next few months thanks to Jio’s commercial launch.

We are very excited about Jio’s commercial launch in India. You should be too. In case, you are out in the market looking forward to buying a new smartphone then you must invest in a 4G VoLTE-enabled smartphone to enjoy HD voice calling on Jio 4G.