Reliance Jio, the latest telecom company to enter the market, has started its fiber to home operations in Chennai — making the southern city only the third telecom zone to experience the service, after Mumbai and Gujarat.
Though the tariff details are not available, a Facebook user has shared the photos of Jio’s invitation letter to a Chennai-based housing society.
The rollout follows a promise made by Reliance chairman Mukesh Ambani earlier this month that the company is in the process of rolling out the fiber service in select cities.
“We will progressively roll this out to top 100 cities,” he had said at RIL’s annual general meeting in Mumbai.
The letter invites the society to become “one of the first housing societies in India to get JioFiber.”
“This is an opportunity for the residents of your society to experience services like top end homes and societies do around the world and explore the possibilities of high speed internet that India has not experienced before,” the company promised.
The address of JioFiber has been given as 2nd Floor, Prestige Palladium Bayan, Greems Road, Chennai 2.
The offer promises a speed of 100 Mbps, and states that a 5 GB true-HD movie will download in less than seven minutes on the connection.
Interestingly, the company is also promising that the connection will come bundled with tailor-made with next-generation 4G offerings.
“We will offer next generation wireless 4G services offering unparalleled data speed and superior coverage especially designed and deployed for your society and the residents,” the letter promised.
The JioFiber connection will be delivered through the basement of the building, which will be wired up using “existing ducts, shafts, cable trays.”
To ensure that connectivity is not lost in case of a cable fault, a second cable — this time through the aerial route — will be provided for redundancy.
JIOFIBER TARIFF
Like in case of the company’s 4g service before launch, there have been several leaks and speculations about the charges that the provider is going to apply for the high-speed service.
According to the most credible leak, the cheapest plan from the telco will start at Rs 1,000 per month (which would come to about Rs 1,150 per month including taxes.)
This would entail the user to 5 GB of data usage per day at 100 Mbps. Once you exhaust 5 GB for a day, you have to wait for the next day to get access to super fast internet under the plan.
Though the plan can be used to enjoy 150 GB of data per month, the actual usage is likely to be around 70 to 80 GB as most people won’t be using all 5 GB per day.
The second cheapest plan is Rs 1,500 per month (around Rs 1,725 including taxes.) This would give 2,000 GB per month at 50 Mbps without any daily quota limit, and is likely to be the most popular plan.
The third cheapest plan is Rs 2,000 (2,300) per month for either 10 GB per day or 1,000 GB per month at 100 Mbps.
In addition, the company is likely to offer certain discounts and freebies in the initial phase.
CHEAPER THAN OTHERS
The rumored charges are cheaper than those of its competitors like Hathway and You Broadband.
Hathway, for example, charges Rs 3,000 per month for 175 GB at 50 Mbps, which is several times costlier than the rumored tariff of Jio Fiber.
Another competitor, You Broadband, however, has a more competitive offering.
The company gives unlimited 10 Mbps connectivity for Rs 1,800 in a city like Bangalore. An unlimited 10 Mbps connection translates to about 3,000 GB per month, implying a cost of just 60 paise per GB.
In a smaller city like Vishakapattanam, You Broadband offers 100 GB for Rs 1,256 per month (or around Rs 1,450 including tax) at a speed of 6 Mbps. Once the quota is over, it still offers unlimited usage at 1 Mbps.
Another competitor, Railwire, which is available even in small towns unlike Jio, offers 110 GB at 10 Mbps in Tamil Nadufor Rs 1,250 (1,450). Once the quota is over, the user can continue at a speed of 1 Mbps. It also offers a true unlimited plan of 4 Mbps at Rs 2,499 in the state.
In other words, Jio’s tariffs are likely to be the cheapest option for users in most of the 100 cities where the fiber service will be rolled out in the first phase. However, at the same time, in some places, it is likely that players like You Broadband could offer similar or more cost effective plans.
The Reliance subsidiary’s target, however, is not to dominate a small area or zone, but to build a big broadband empire in the country, and the firm is unlikely to be worried about losing market share to a niche player in a suburb or city zone.
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