Jio
Reliance Jio Infocomm Limited is an Indian telecommunications company and a subsidiary of Jio Platforms, headquartered in Navi Mumbai. It operates a national LTE network with coverage across all 22 telecom circles. Jio offers 4G, 4G+ and 5G NR services all over India. Its 6G service is in the works.
Jio was soft launched on 27 December 2015 with a beta for partners and employees, and became publicly available on 5 September 2016. It is the largest mobile network operator in India and the third largest mobile network operator in the world with over 50.6 crore subscribers.
History
The company was registered in Ambawadi, Ahmedabad, Gujarat, on 15 February 2007 as Infotel Broadband Services Limited. In June 2010, Reliance Industries bought a 95% stake in IBSL for. Although unlisted, IBSL was the only company that won broadband spectrum in all 22 circles in India in the 4G auction that took place earlier that year. Later continuing as RIL's telecom subsidiary, Infotel Broadband Services Limited was renamed as Reliance Jio Infocomm Limited in January 2013.In June 2015, Jio announced that it would start its operations throughout the country by the end of 2015. However, four months later in October, the company postponed the launch to the first quarter of the financial year 2016–2017.
Later, in July 2015, a PIL filed in the Supreme Court by an NGO called the Centre for Public Interest Litigation, through Prashant Bhushan, challenged the grant of a pan-India license to Jio by the Government of India. The PIL also alleged that the firm was being allowed to provide voice telephony along with its 4G data service, by paying an additional fee of just which was arbitrary and unreasonable, and contributed to a loss of to the exchequer. The Indian Department of Telecommunications, however, explained that the rules for 3G and BWA spectrum didn't restrict BWA winners from providing voice telephony. As a result, the PIL was revoked, and the accusations were dismissed.
The 4G services were launched internally on 27 December 2015. The company commercially launched its 4G services on 5 September 2016, offering free data and voice services until 31 December, which was later extended until 31 March 2017. Within the first month, Jio announced that it had acquired 1.6 crore subscribers and has crossed 5 crore subscriber mark in 83 days since its launch, subsequently crossing 100 million subscribers on 22 February 2017., it had about 13 crore subscribers.
On 5 October 2022, it has launched 5G services to Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai. As of March 2023, Jio 5G service was available in 365 cities across India. As of April 2023, 5G service was available across 2,500+ cities in India. In August 2023, it was announced that Jio had completed its rollout of 5G services nationwide, ahead of schedule.
Network
Spectrum frequency holding summary
Jio owns spectrum in 850 MHz and 1,800 MHz bands in India's 22 circles, and also owns pan-India licensed 2,300 MHz spectrum. The spectrum is valid until 2035. Jio also picked up pan-India licenses in the 700 MHz, 3,500 MHz and 26 GHz spectrum bands in the DoT's 2022 5G auction.| Telecom circle coverage | FD-NR 700MHz Band n28 | FD-LTE 850MHz Band 5 | FD-LTE 1800MHz Band 3 | TD-LTE 2300MHz Band 40 | TD-NR 3500MHz Band n78 | TD-NR 26GHz Band n258 |
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Partnerships
Jio shares spectrum with Reliance Communications. The sharing deal is for 800 MHz band across seven circles other than the 10 circles for which Jio already owns.Sep 2014 – Acquired undisclosed stake in Airspan Networks for US$5 mn. Deploys Airspan's small cells throughout the network roll out phase.
Sep 2016 – Jio signed a pact with BSNL for intra-circle roaming which would enable users of the operators to use each other's 4G and 2G spectrum in national roaming mode.
Feb 2017 – Jio announced a partnership with Samsung to work on LTE – Advanced Pro and 5G.
Feb 2017 – Partnered with Ciena to deploy transport SDN architecture.
Reliance Jio also partnered with several OSS & BSS companies for the deployment of services, like: SAP, HP, IBM, Ericsson, Rancore, Estel Technologies, Subex and Intec Telecom Systems. However, the finalized OSS firms were Ericsson, HP and Friendly Technologies.
Sep 2020 – Partners with Cisco Systems for 5G deployment.
Sep 2020 – Announces partnership with HFCL to deploy Fiber-optic communication to support the rollout of FTTx services.
Oct 2022 – Contracts with Nokia & Ericsson for supplying standalone 5G network equipment.
Summit Digitel Infrastructure
Summit Digitel Infrastructure operates 136,000 telecom sites. This division has been divested to Tower Infrastructure Trust, which is owned by Brookfield Asset Management, for a consideration of.Products and services
Mobile broadband
The company launched its 4G broadband services throughout India in September 2016. It was slated to be released in December 2015 after some reports said that the company was waiting to receive final permits from the government. Jio offers fourth-generation data and voice services, along with peripheral services like instant messaging and streaming movies and music. On 5 October 2022, it launched 5G services to Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Varanasi, Siliguri, Bangalore, Hyderabad and Nagpur.JioFiber
In August 2018, Jio began to test a new triple play fiber to the home service known tentatively as Jio GigaFiber, including broadband internet with speeds ranging from 100 to 1000 Mbit/s, as well as television and landline telephone services.In August 2019, it was announced that the service would officially launch on 5 September 2019 as JioFiber, in honour of the company's third anniversary. Jio also announced plans to offer streaming of films still in theatres to eligible JioFiber subscribers.
In the year 2015, the company has a network of more than of fiber optic cables in the country, over which it will be partnering with local cable operators to get broader connectivity for its broadband services.
JioBusiness
In March 2021, the company launched connectivity solutions for businesses bundled with services provided by Jio Platforms, Reliance Retail, and Office 365.JioAirFiber
In August 2023, in the Reliance AGM, the chairman of Reliance announced that the JioAirFiber eliminates the need for the last mile fiber cable connectivity by making use of the Jio 5G wireless network, and the product was made available for purchase from 19 September 2023.The company has started installing JioAirFiber devices from 1 October 2023.
Jio SpaceFiber
On 27 October 2023, Jio launched its satellite-based GigaFiber internet service in India.Jio Branded Devices
LYF smartphones
In June 2015, Jio entered into an agreement with domestic handset maker Intex to supply 4G handsets capable of voice over LTE. However, in October 2015, Jio announced that it would be launching its own mobile handset brand named LYF.On 25 January 2016, the company launched its LYF smartphone series starting with Water 1, through its chain of electronic retail outlets, Reliance Retail. Three more handset models have been released so far, namely Water 2, Earth 1, and Flame 1.
Jio Phone
is a line of feature phones marketed by Jio. The first model, released in August 2017, was positioned as an "affordable" LTE-compatible feature phone. It runs on the KaiOS platform, and includes a 2.4-inch display, a dual-core processor, 4 GB of internal storage, near-field communication support, a suite of Jio-branded apps, and a Jio-branded application store. It also supports a "TV cable" accessory for output to an external display.In July 2018, the company unveiled the JioPhone 2, an updated model in a keyboard bar form factor with a QWERTY keyboard and horizontal display. Jio also announced that Facebook, WhatsApp, and YouTube apps would become available for the two phones.