RCom completes sale of fibre assets to Reliance Jio for Rs 30 billion

Reliance Communications on Monday said it has completed sale of its fibre assets and related infrastructure assets, worth Rs 30 billion, to Mukesh Ambani-backed Reliance Jio Infocomm (RJIO).

"With successful completion of the fibre monetisation transaction, 1,78,000 kilometers fibre stand transferred to RJIO," Reliance Communications said in a BSE filing.

Last week, Reliance Communications had completed the planned sale of its media convergence nodes (MCNs) and related infrastructure assets, worth Rs 20 billion, Reliance Jio Infocomm.

Earlier this month, Reliance Communications had reinstated bank guarantees worth Rs 7.74 billion with the telecom department ahead of the timeline set by the telecom tribunal, and had said that its Rs 250 billion asset sale plans were "on track".

Last year, Anil Ambani-owned Reliance Communications signed a pact with Reliance Jio for sale of wireless spectrum, tower, fibre and MCN assets - the proceeds of which were to be used to reduce debt.

Reliance JioPhone 2 flash sale today at 12 noon: Know price, recharge plans

Reliance Jio, a Mukesh Ambani-owned telecommunication service provider, is hosting the flash sale of its JioPhone 2 today i.e. August 16 at 12 noon on Jio online portal. Successor of the JioPhone, the JioPhone 2 was announced at the Reliance Industries’ 41st Annual General Meeting, which was held in Mumbai on July 4. Priced at Rs 2,999, the JioPhone 2 is a 4G LTE-enabled feature phone that runs on KaiOS, which supports popular social media and instant messaging apps such as Facebook and WhatsApp. The phone also comes loaded with Google apps such as YouTube and Google Maps.

Reliance JioPhone 2: Features and specifications

The JioPhone 2 sport a 2.4-inch screen horizontal screen, which makes it convenient for watching multimedia content. It features a full QWERTY keyboard with 4-way navigation key and a dedicated key for voice commands. The phone boots KaiOS with support for apps such as Facebook, YouTube, Google Maps and WhatsApp. The 4G LTE-enable feature phone supports VoLTE call feature, which allows voice calls using data packets. The phone can be operated using voice commands. The voice command feature is not limited to calling and messages, but also to operate the phone's apps – music playback, YouTube and video playback, etc. The phone also comes equipped with the NFC chip, which would support digital payments service in future. With NFC technology, users would also be able to make digital transactions through their Jan Dhan account, bank accounts and Jio money app.

Why Mukesh Ambani's Reliance, not Walmart, is Amazon's real rival in India

It’s time the Amazon.com Inc. boss took notice of his real rival in India, the only billion-strong consumer market open to Western tech firms. While Walmart Inc.’s acquisition this year of Flipkart, a homegrown e-tailer, might have given the impression that the battle for India would be an all-American contest, a new national e-commerce policy doing the rounds in New Delhi should disabuse Bezos of that notion.

If the draft policy becomes a law, the oil-to-telecom tycoon who’s India’s richest man will emerge as the most formidable challenger to the wealthiest person on the planet.

The core contest comes down to warehouses. Foreign-funded firms aren’t allowed to hold e-commerce inventory in India. That’s a disadvantage for Amazon since it prevents the firm from fully capitalizing on the strengths of its vaunted logistics operation, seen as one of its most decisive edges in the US.

Amazon was hoping that those rules would be loosened but the proposed policy instead calls for harsh controls on even the phantom sellers that Amazon and Flipkart have been using to get around the no-inventory problem. If the new policy is strictly implemented, Amazon and its preferred resellers, won’t be able to offer deep discounts.

Reliance Jio GigaFiber with GigaTV may cost Rs 500 a month; launch in Nov

Jio Fibre to Home - Reliance Jio, the telecommunication service provider promoted by Mukesh Ambani, is gearing up to foray into the home broadband segment with the launch of Jio GigaFiber fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) internet service, which was announced at Reliance Industries' 41st Annual General Meeting. The pre-registrations for the service would begin from August 15 on Jio.com and My Jio app. However, the service is not expected to launch before the last quarter of this month.

At the RIL AGM, Ambani had announced that the Reliance Jio GigaFiber had already been under testing in several cities and it would launch simultaneously in around 1,100 cities for homes, small and medium businesses and big corporate houses. He had also announced that the pre-registration for Jio GigaFiber home broadband would open from August 15, and a location that receives most users’ interest would be among the first locations to get the service.

With the Reliance Jio GigaFiber service, the company is promising internet speed of up to 1Gbps. However, the company did not share some information like the preliminary connection cost, security deposit and details of monthly plans. But a recent news report in the Economic Times hints that the company would focus on volumes to drive demand. Therefore, it would offer broadband services bundled with DTH services at about Rs 500 a month, or effectively half the price of what other cable operators charge for similar services.

Reliance Jio, Micromax consortium bags smartphones deal in Chhattisgarh

A consortium led by Reliance Jio and Micromax plans to supply the smartphones for the Chhattisgarh government’s ambitious scheme aimed to bridge the digital divide.

Under the Sanchar Kranti Yojana (SKY) scheme that was launched last week, the state government would distribute smartphones to 5 million eligible beneficiaries. Besides college students, women staying in the rural areas and families living below the poverty line (BPL) in the urban areas would also get the smartphones.

Reliance Jio Micromax and Lava Airtel consortium participated in the tender floated by Chhattisgarh Infotech Promotion Society (CHIPS) thrice when first two attempts failed. “The consortium led by Reliance Jio and Micromax emerged as the lowest bidder and had been awarded the contract to supply smartphones for the scheme,” CHIPS officials said.

The company would provide handset for Rs 2,509.92 that was cheapest when compared to the price of same features model available in the market, they said. The state government had set a target to distribute the smartphones in the next four months.

Reliance Jio Phone 2, Jio GigaFibre pre-bookings start on Aug 15: Know more

Reliance Jio Infocomm, a Mukesh Ambani-owned telecommunication operator, announced the Jio Phone 2 and Jio Fibre to home broadband services at the Reliance Industries 41st Annual General Meeting, which was held in Mumbai on July 5. While Reliance Jio confirmed the price of the Jio Phone 2, it did not reveal the GigaFibre connection cost or plans detail. However, the company announced that the pre-registrations for both the feature phone and broadband connections would start on Jio.com and Jio mobile app from August 15.

Here are things to know about the JioPhone 2 and Jio Fibre home broadband service:

Jio Fibre to Home

Jio GigaFibre The Reliance Jio GigaFibre is a fixed-line broadband service, which would be launched in 1,100 cities simultaneously for homes, merchants and small and medium enterprises and large enterprises. According to the company’s claim, the Jio GigaFibre would offer internet speed of up to one gigabyte per second (Gbps). The company did not announce the launch date or plans, but interested users can register their interest for Jio GigaFibre services on Jio web portal starting August 15. The locality that shows major interest would be among the first locations to get Jio’s 

Jio bowls another googly with international calling rates at 50 p/min

Reliance Jio Infocomm announced a new unlimited postpaid plan on Thursday with national roaming, international calling and international roaming plans among others.

The 'zero touch' plan, starting at Rs 199, comes with auto payment and add-on services like access to the Jio app universe similar to what Vodafone Red, Airtel Infinity and Idea Nirvana plans have in place.

The new ISD calling activated plan comes with international calling rates starting at Rs 50p/minute and roaming charges at Rs 2/ min and Rs 2/ MB for countries like US and Canada.

International roaming plans are split across Rs 575 to Rs 5,751 price range. While international calling rates are distributed across six price slabs ranging from 50 p/ min to Rs 6 /min, international roaming charges are split across two slabs of Rs 2/min and Rs 10/min.

This plan is likely to deal a heavy blow to incumbent telcos who so far still had a strong presence in the international calling arena due to their presence or collaborations across international networks.

Reliance Jio's Republic Day offer: Now get 50% more data, pay Rs 50 less

Stepping up the tariff war, Reliance Jio has decided to offer 500 MB extra data to its subscribers using 1GB and 1.5GB per day data packs with effect from January 26, according to company sources.
Besides, the telco as part of its 'Republic Day offer' will double the validity of Rs 98 pack to 28 days from the current 14 days from January 26 onwards, they said.
"Jio will always offer more value to its customers, and offer Rs 50 lower price than competition and 50 per cent more data on its plans.

As part of Republic Day offer, all existing 1 GB per day packs enhanced to 1.5 GB per day, 1.5 GB per day packs enhanced to 2 GB per day," sources said.
Bharti Airtel had recently introduced Rs 399 plan offering unlimited calls and 1GB 4G data daily with 84 days validity.
With this new offer, Jio's flagship Rs 399 plan will provide free voice, unlimited 4G data with 1.5 GB daily, unlimited SMS and premium subscription to Jio Apps for 84 days.
The Rs 98 pack at present offers 2.1 GB data at 4G speed and thereafter speed drops to 64 kilobits per second with 14 days validity.
According to Bharti Airtel MD and CEO, India & South Asia, Gopal Vittal, the battle among telecom operators is now for market share and the pressure on tariff will continue for some time even though it is at an unsustainable level at present.
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Jio effect: Govt panel to give views on telcos' financial woes in 3 months

An inter-ministerial panel being constituted to suggest a policy prescription for the failing financial health of the telecom sector will consult banks and operators before finalising its views in three months.

The committee is expected to have representation from the Departments of Economic Affairs, Revenue and Financial Services, besides the Telecom Department, an official familiar with the matter told PTI.

The panel is expected to finalise its recommendations in the next three months.

Some of the recommendations could be placed before the Telecom Commission — the highest policy-making body in the Telecom Department — for an approval. For the other proposals mooted by the panel, a Cabinet go-ahead may be necessary.

"The internal plan is that the views of banks, telecom operators and also the large investors in the sector will be sought," the official said.

The Department of Telecom is attaching top priority to the issue, the official said adding that the first meeting of the panel members is likely to be held this month itself.

The extent of financial stress in the telecom sector can well be gauged from the fact that the industry has a debt of Rs 4.6 lakh crore.

The sector has been under severe pressure since the entry of newcomer Reliance Jio, last year.

In September 2016, billionaire Mukesh Ambani's venture Jio stormed into the Indian telecom market (incidentally, the second largest market globally with 1.2 billion subscribers) with free voice and data services, forcing established operators to slash rates to protect their turf.

This put revenue and profitability of all telcos under severe pressure, although subscribers benefited from attractive data and voice packs.

Even after launching its paid services post-March 2017, Jio continues to be aggressive, offering data at rock-bottom prices while voice calls are free.
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Jio stands for affordability in a world where data is new oil: Mukesh

Latest News - Reliance Industries Ltd chairman and managing director Mukesh Ambani on Wednesday said the company's newly launched telecom venture Reliance Jio stands for affordability and data is the new oil in the industry.

"Jio stands for affordability. Jio is conceived at a time when the world was in the phase of digitising. Data is the new oil," Ambani said.

He was speaking at an interactive session in Nasscom India Leadership Forum 2017 here.

Reliance Jio has disrupted the (Read More)

Jio to roll out mobile numbers beginning with '6' and '7' in select circles

Latest News - Customers planning to get new Jio SIMs will have their numbers begin with 6 as the Department of Telecom (DoT) has reportedly issued the company the permission to issue 6-series mobile switching code(MSC), a media report said on Monday.

The new 6-series numbers will be issued in select circles including Assam, Rajasthan and Tamil Nadu. In Madhya Pradesh, Jio will roll out numbers with 7-series MSC codes, while in Kolkata nad Maharashtra Jio (Read More)

Jio, Airtel spar over interconnect issue

Latest News - A fresh round of war of words broke out between Reliance Jio and Bharti Airtel on Monday, with the former alleging that its service continues to face congestion issues with some of the large operators, including Airtel, not providing adequate points of interconnection (PoI) — a charge the incumbent operator refuted.

Reliance Industries (RIL) in a statement said its telecom subsidiary Jio has garnered 72.4 million subscribers within four months of commencement of services but continues to face congestion issues as interconnect capacity provided by some large operators is "still way below requirement".

"The POI capacity provided by these operators is still way below requirement and is falling short of the customer addition pace of Jio, resulting in quality of service issues for Indian customers. The resultant call failure rates continue to be of the order of 175 calls failing out of every 1,000 calls from Jio to Airtel network when the QoS regulations mandate that no more than five calls out of every 1,000 calls can fail. Indian customers are still being denied the benefits of superior voice technology on Jio's state-of-the-art network," said the company in a post-result statement.

Replying to the allegation Airtel said, “About 60 million customers of Jio are making calls into the Airtel network. To meet this requirement, we have provided 21,557 PoIs to them which is much higher than their demand of 14,164 E1s for catering to 100 million customers. Approximately 17,000 PoIs of the total POIs provided are dedicated to the outgoing traffic of Jio. Jio has yet to activate all the E1s we have provided to them."(Read More)

Digital war: Airtel, Voda, Idea woo merchants to use payments apps

Latest News:Amid revenue losses on account of the government's demonetisation move, and competitive pressures intensified by extension of free services by Reliance Jio, older telecocompanies seem to have been forced to provide incentives to get merchants to opt for digital payment applications.

According to sectoral data, around 12 million more Indians have started using digital wallets. The reach of mobile payments rose six per cent in the week following the demonetisation announcement, while usage frequency surged 15 per cent, says Rajan Mathews, director-general at the Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI).

Here’s what is in store:

1. Bharti Airtel, Vodafone, Idea Cellular, and the new entrant into the space, Reliance Jio, are offering(Read More)

RIL plans to invest another Rs. 30,000 crore into Jio Infocomm

Reliance Industries is planning to invest a sum of Rs. 30,000 crore into Reliance Jio Infocomm to further its development and improve its signal strength.

The company in its board meeting held earlier on Friday decided to invest another Rs. 30,000 crore into its telecom unit and sell 600 crore preference shares to raise the amount. These preference shares will be sold through a rights issue and will be nine percent non-cumulative optionally convertible (OCPS) available at Rs. 50 each including a premium of Rs. 40.

RIL had already invested Rs. 1.71 lakh crore while setting up its telecom venture Jio Infocomm. Ever since its launch on September 5, 2016, Jio has amassed more than 70 million users, owing to its free voice calls and data plans. The subscriber addition rate is said to be one of the highest, thereby, raising Rs. 30,000 crore last year and rights issue in two tranches in January and September.

The telecom major, however, has been suffering from lack of network coverage and call drop, which it now looks to overcome with the new investment.(Read More)