5G is coming to India. Will Jio be able to lead the market once again?
<img src="” title=”5G is coming to India. Will Jio be able to lead the market once again?” />
The telecom sector in India is one of the oldest ones in the world and it has witnessed several major milestones in nearly two centuries of its existence. But one development that stands out, at least in the past decade, is the launch of Jio in September 2016. Jio with its cheaper 4G plans and free voice calls (among other things) has changed consumer behaviour in India.
As per reports, within just six months of its launch, data consumption of subscribers in India went from 20 crore GB to 120 crore GB, cost of data decreased and voice calls became free. In the six years of its presence in the market, mobile users have increased from around 1.02 billion (in September 2016) to around 1.14 billion (in June 2022), telecom services in India have become some of the cheapest ones in the world and telecom companies in India have decreased from 12 in 2016 to four (Jio, Airtel, Vodafone Idea and BSNL-MTNL) in 2022.
Today, Jio is the largest wireless service provider in India capturing nearly 36 percent of the market share, as per TRAI data. It is also the largest wireline service provider capturing 27.29 percent of market share. If that is not enough, TRAI data also shows that Reliance Jio is the largest broadband service provider in the country capturing a whopping 52.33 percent of market share.
Needless to say that Jio has had a monumental impact on the Indian telecom sector in a short period of time. But the question remains if it will be able to pull off a similar feat once again or not? There are several factors, such as infrastructure, pricing, ecosystem building, and financial health among others, that will play an important here. But first, let’s talk about what Jio has promised to deliver.
What Jio has promised
Mukesh Ambani, at RIL’s annual general meeting (AGM) last month, revealed Jio’s roadmap for rolling out 5G services in India. At the event, the RIL chairman said that Jio will launch its 5G Services in India by Diwali 2022. At the time of launch, these services will be available in metro cities, which includes Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, and Chennai. After launch, Jio will expanded its 5G network to other cities and towns in phases with the aim “to cover entire India in 18 months by December 2023.”
At the event, the company also said that its 5G network will be stand-alone (SA) with zero dependency on 4G network. This will enable the company to unlock true 5G speeds. “With Stand-Alone 5G, Jio can deliver new and powerful services like low latency, massive machine-to-machine communication, 5G voice, Edge computing and network slicing, and metaverse,” the company said at the time.
What works in Jio’s favour
Plans aside, there are several factors that are working in Jio’s favour. First of all, Jio stepped into the 5G race with a clean slate. This means that unlike Airtel and Vodafone-Idea (Vi) Jio has cleared all its debt that it owed to the Indian government. This gives the company the flexibility to use its profits and other funds towards strengthening its services and expanding its infrastructure.
Secondly, the company has acquired a wide portfolio of 5G airwaves from the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) in the 5G spectrum that concludes in July this year. The company acquired the right to 5G airwaves in 700MHz, 800MHz, 1800MHz, 3300MHz and 26GHz bands for Rs 88,078 crore for a period of 20 years. It was the highest spender in the recently concluded 5G spectrum auction with the only company that purchased airwaves in the the 700MHz band. Acquiring airwaves in the 700MHz band will enable the company to deliver better indoor mobile network coverage using the sub-GHz spectrum band even in the densely populated areas.
Also, Jio has committed a total investment of Rs 2 lakh crore to build its pan-India stand-alone 5G network, which will help the company to expand and strengthen its network.
On the ecosystem front, 5G smartphone market in India is still at a nascent stage. Despite the democratisation by smartphone makers, there is still room for Jio to target budget smartphone users, especially in the sub-10K smartphone market that hasn’t been targeted by other smartphone makers yet. More on that later.
But it’s not so simple
All of this sure looks good but network and coverage aside, there are several other factors that will play a pivotal role in encouraging people to migrate from 4G to 5G network. First is the pricing and availability of 5G phones.
Smartphone makers have been offering 5G-enabled smartphones for quite sometime in India. Thanks to companies like Xiaomi and Realme, 5G-enabled smartphones are available at a starting price of Rs 15,000 in India. While these smartphone will promote mass migration from 4G to 5G in India, the real game-changer will the 5G phones under Rs 10,000 as they will target people in the rural parts of the company where smartphones up to Rs 20,000 are still considered a luxury.
Now, no company is offering 5G phones under 10K in India. This is where Jio — as mentioned before — might have an edge over other smartphone makers. Ambani, at the AGM last month, said that Jio is working with Google to develop its own 5G smartphone. While he didn’t share any details about the device in development, looking at Jio’s past trend, that is, the launch of JioPhone and JioPhone Next, it is safe to assume that the company 5G phone will be targeted at budget buyers and prove to be a key driver in terms of encouraging people to switch to 5G. It will also help in boosting Jio’s subscriber count.
Another factor that will play a defining role is price of 5G tariffs.
Telecom companies in India, which includes Jio, Airtel and Vi increased their tariffs around November-December last year. These companies are expected to announce a second round of tariff hike sometime later this year in a bid to increase their ARPU (average revenue per user) to around Rs 300 to Rs 350 in a bid to foster sustainability and scale up their services in the country.
As far as 5G tariffs are concerned, analysts have predicted that 5G services in India won’t come cheap. Furthermore, in an interview with Live Mint, Bharti Airtel Vice-Chairman Akhil Gupta said that the company was leaning towards offering 5G connectivity at higher priced tariff plans instead of opting for premium plans. While that may motivate a lot of people to migrate to 5G network, but not all and not everywhere. This, in turn, could slow down the adoption of 5G in India. In a price-sensitive market like India, 5G tariff plans could the key unlocking the next sub-set of subscribers.
Jio disrupted the telecom market in India with its cheap 4G data plans when it launched its services back in 2016. It remains to be seen if it will be able to offer similar tariff plans for its 5G services or not. Promises and possibilities aside, the company sure has all the ingredients it needs to drive India into the 5G era. Yet, the question remains.
The post 5G is coming to India. Will Jio be able to lead the market once again? appeared first on BGR India.
<img src="" title="5G is coming to India. Will Jio be able to lead the market once again?" />
The telecom sector in India is one of the oldest ones in the world and it has witnessed several major milestones in nearly two centuries of its existence. But one development that stands out, at least in the past decade, is the launch of Jio in September 2016. Jio with its cheaper 4G plans and free voice calls (among other things) has changed consumer behaviour in India.
As per reports, within just six months of its launch, data consumption of subscribers in India went from 20 crore GB to 120 crore GB, cost of data decreased and voice calls became free. In the six years of its presence in the market, mobile users have increased from around 1.02 billion (in September 2016) to around 1.14 billion (in June 2022), telecom services in India have become some of the cheapest ones in the world and telecom companies in India have decreased from 12 in 2016 to four (Jio, Airtel, Vodafone Idea and BSNL-MTNL) in 2022.
Today, Jio is the largest wireless service provider in India capturing nearly 36 percent of the market share, as per TRAI data. It is also the largest wireline service provider capturing 27.29 percent of market share. If that is not enough, TRAI data also shows that Reliance Jio is the largest broadband service provider in the country capturing a whopping 52.33 percent of market share.
Needless to say that Jio has had a monumental impact on the Indian telecom sector in a short period of time. But the question remains if it will be able to pull off a similar feat once again or not? There are several factors, such as infrastructure, pricing, ecosystem building, and financial health among others, that will play an important here. But first, let’s talk about what Jio has promised to deliver.
What Jio has promised
Mukesh Ambani, at RIL’s annual general meeting (AGM) last month, revealed Jio’s roadmap for rolling out 5G services in India. At the event, the RIL chairman said that Jio will launch its 5G Services in India by Diwali 2022. At the time of launch, these services will be available in metro cities, which includes Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, and Chennai. After launch, Jio will expanded its 5G network to other cities and towns in phases with the aim “to cover entire India in 18 months by December 2023.”
At the event, the company also said that its 5G network will be stand-alone (SA) with zero dependency on 4G network. This will enable the company to unlock true 5G speeds. “With Stand-Alone 5G, Jio can deliver new and powerful services like low latency, massive machine-to-machine communication, 5G voice, Edge computing and network slicing, and metaverse,” the company said at the time.
What works in Jio’s favour
Plans aside, there are several factors that are working in Jio’s favour. First of all, Jio stepped into the 5G race with a clean slate. This means that unlike Airtel and Vodafone-Idea (Vi) Jio has cleared all its debt that it owed to the Indian government. This gives the company the flexibility to use its profits and other funds towards strengthening its services and expanding its infrastructure.
Secondly, the company has acquired a wide portfolio of 5G airwaves from the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) in the 5G spectrum that concludes in July this year. The company acquired the right to 5G airwaves in 700MHz, 800MHz, 1800MHz, 3300MHz and 26GHz bands for Rs 88,078 crore for a period of 20 years. It was the highest spender in the recently concluded 5G spectrum auction with the only company that purchased airwaves in the the 700MHz band. Acquiring airwaves in the 700MHz band will enable the company to deliver better indoor mobile network coverage using the sub-GHz spectrum band even in the densely populated areas.
Also, Jio has committed a total investment of Rs 2 lakh crore to build its pan-India stand-alone 5G network, which will help the company to expand and strengthen its network.
On the ecosystem front, 5G smartphone market in India is still at a nascent stage. Despite the democratisation by smartphone makers, there is still room for Jio to target budget smartphone users, especially in the sub-10K smartphone market that hasn’t been targeted by other smartphone makers yet. More on that later.
But it’s not so simple
All of this sure looks good but network and coverage aside, there are several other factors that will play a pivotal role in encouraging people to migrate from 4G to 5G network. First is the pricing and availability of 5G phones.
Smartphone makers have been offering 5G-enabled smartphones for quite sometime in India. Thanks to companies like Xiaomi and Realme, 5G-enabled smartphones are available at a starting price of Rs 15,000 in India. While these smartphone will promote mass migration from 4G to 5G in India, the real game-changer will the 5G phones under Rs 10,000 as they will target people in the rural parts of the company where smartphones up to Rs 20,000 are still considered a luxury.
Now, no company is offering 5G phones under 10K in India. This is where Jio — as mentioned before — might have an edge over other smartphone makers. Ambani, at the AGM last month, said that Jio is working with Google to develop its own 5G smartphone. While he didn’t share any details about the device in development, looking at Jio’s past trend, that is, the launch of JioPhone and JioPhone Next, it is safe to assume that the company 5G phone will be targeted at budget buyers and prove to be a key driver in terms of encouraging people to switch to 5G. It will also help in boosting Jio’s subscriber count.
Another factor that will play a defining role is price of 5G tariffs.
Telecom companies in India, which includes Jio, Airtel and Vi increased their tariffs around November-December last year. These companies are expected to announce a second round of tariff hike sometime later this year in a bid to increase their ARPU (average revenue per user) to around Rs 300 to Rs 350 in a bid to foster sustainability and scale up their services in the country.
As far as 5G tariffs are concerned, analysts have predicted that 5G services in India won’t come cheap. Furthermore, in an interview with Live Mint, Bharti Airtel Vice-Chairman Akhil Gupta said that the company was leaning towards offering 5G connectivity at higher priced tariff plans instead of opting for premium plans. While that may motivate a lot of people to migrate to 5G network, but not all and not everywhere. This, in turn, could slow down the adoption of 5G in India. In a price-sensitive market like India, 5G tariff plans could the key unlocking the next sub-set of subscribers.
Jio disrupted the telecom market in India with its cheap 4G data plans when it launched its services back in 2016. It remains to be seen if it will be able to offer similar tariff plans for its 5G services or not. Promises and possibilities aside, the company sure has all the ingredients it needs to drive India into the 5G era. Yet, the question remains.
The post 5G is coming to India. Will Jio be able to lead the market once again? appeared first on BGR India.
<img src="” title=”5G is coming to India. Will Jio be able to lead the market once again?” />
The telecom sector in India is one of the oldest ones in the world and it has witnessed several major milestones in nearly two centuries of its existence. But one development that stands out, at least in the past decade, is the launch of Jio in September 2016. Jio with its cheaper 4G plans and free voice calls (among other things) has changed consumer behaviour in India.
As per reports, within just six months of its launch, data consumption of subscribers in India went from 20 crore GB to 120 crore GB, cost of data decreased and voice calls became free. In the six years of its presence in the market, mobile users have increased from around 1.02 billion (in September 2016) to around 1.14 billion (in June 2022), telecom services in India have become some of the cheapest ones in the world and telecom companies in India have decreased from 12 in 2016 to four (Jio, Airtel, Vodafone Idea and BSNL-MTNL) in 2022.
Today, Jio is the largest wireless service provider in India capturing nearly 36 percent of the market share, as per TRAI data. It is also the largest wireline service provider capturing 27.29 percent of market share. If that is not enough, TRAI data also shows that Reliance Jio is the largest broadband service provider in the country capturing a whopping 52.33 percent of market share.
Needless to say that Jio has had a monumental impact on the Indian telecom sector in a short period of time. But the question remains if it will be able to pull off a similar feat once again or not? There are several factors, such as infrastructure, pricing, ecosystem building, and financial health among others, that will play an important here. But first, let’s talk about what Jio has promised to deliver.
What Jio has promised
Mukesh Ambani, at RIL’s annual general meeting (AGM) last month, revealed Jio’s roadmap for rolling out 5G services in India. At the event, the RIL chairman said that Jio will launch its 5G Services in India by Diwali 2022. At the time of launch, these services will be available in metro cities, which includes Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, and Chennai. After launch, Jio will expanded its 5G network to other cities and towns in phases with the aim “to cover entire India in 18 months by December 2023.”
At the event, the company also said that its 5G network will be stand-alone (SA) with zero dependency on 4G network. This will enable the company to unlock true 5G speeds. “With Stand-Alone 5G, Jio can deliver new and powerful services like low latency, massive machine-to-machine communication, 5G voice, Edge computing and network slicing, and metaverse,” the company said at the time.
What works in Jio’s favour
Plans aside, there are several factors that are working in Jio’s favour. First of all, Jio stepped into the 5G race with a clean slate. This means that unlike Airtel and Vodafone-Idea (Vi) Jio has cleared all its debt that it owed to the Indian government. This gives the company the flexibility to use its profits and other funds towards strengthening its services and expanding its infrastructure.
Secondly, the company has acquired a wide portfolio of 5G airwaves from the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) in the 5G spectrum that concludes in July this year. The company acquired the right to 5G airwaves in 700MHz, 800MHz, 1800MHz, 3300MHz and 26GHz bands for Rs 88,078 crore for a period of 20 years. It was the highest spender in the recently concluded 5G spectrum auction with the only company that purchased airwaves in the the 700MHz band. Acquiring airwaves in the 700MHz band will enable the company to deliver better indoor mobile network coverage using the sub-GHz spectrum band even in the densely populated areas.
Also, Jio has committed a total investment of Rs 2 lakh crore to build its pan-India stand-alone 5G network, which will help the company to expand and strengthen its network.
On the ecosystem front, 5G smartphone market in India is still at a nascent stage. Despite the democratisation by smartphone makers, there is still room for Jio to target budget smartphone users, especially in the sub-10K smartphone market that hasn’t been targeted by other smartphone makers yet. More on that later.
But it’s not so simple
All of this sure looks good but network and coverage aside, there are several other factors that will play a pivotal role in encouraging people to migrate from 4G to 5G network. First is the pricing and availability of 5G phones.
Smartphone makers have been offering 5G-enabled smartphones for quite sometime in India. Thanks to companies like Xiaomi and Realme, 5G-enabled smartphones are available at a starting price of Rs 15,000 in India. While these smartphone will promote mass migration from 4G to 5G in India, the real game-changer will the 5G phones under Rs 10,000 as they will target people in the rural parts of the company where smartphones up to Rs 20,000 are still considered a luxury.
Now, no company is offering 5G phones under 10K in India. This is where Jio — as mentioned before — might have an edge over other smartphone makers. Ambani, at the AGM last month, said that Jio is working with Google to develop its own 5G smartphone. While he didn’t share any details about the device in development, looking at Jio’s past trend, that is, the launch of JioPhone and JioPhone Next, it is safe to assume that the company 5G phone will be targeted at budget buyers and prove to be a key driver in terms of encouraging people to switch to 5G. It will also help in boosting Jio’s subscriber count.
Another factor that will play a defining role is price of 5G tariffs.
Telecom companies in India, which includes Jio, Airtel and Vi increased their tariffs around November-December last year. These companies are expected to announce a second round of tariff hike sometime later this year in a bid to increase their ARPU (average revenue per user) to around Rs 300 to Rs 350 in a bid to foster sustainability and scale up their services in the country.
As far as 5G tariffs are concerned, analysts have predicted that 5G services in India won’t come cheap. Furthermore, in an interview with Live Mint, Bharti Airtel Vice-Chairman Akhil Gupta said that the company was leaning towards offering 5G connectivity at higher priced tariff plans instead of opting for premium plans. While that may motivate a lot of people to migrate to 5G network, but not all and not everywhere. This, in turn, could slow down the adoption of 5G in India. In a price-sensitive market like India, 5G tariff plans could the key unlocking the next sub-set of subscribers.
Jio disrupted the telecom market in India with its cheap 4G data plans when it launched its services back in 2016. It remains to be seen if it will be able to offer similar tariff plans for its 5G services or not. Promises and possibilities aside, the company sure has all the ingredients it needs to drive India into the 5G era. Yet, the question remains.
The post 5G is coming to India. Will Jio be able to lead the market once again? appeared first on BGR India.
