Jio moves from mobile to fixed

After its success in mobile telephony, Reliance Jio is preparing to disrupt the market once again. This time in the fixed broadband and television (TV) space. The Mukesh Ambani-led company will launch high-speed fibre to the home (FTTH) broadband in more than 30 cities early next year, to offer TV as well as internet to subscribers, it is learnt. Jio has mapped out a plan to address over 100 million TV households across these cities, including tier II and III, by ensuring a dense fibre presence for lastmile connectivity to homes. In the first phase itself, at least 50 million households will be offered the service, according to sources in the know. Jio has already spread out over 300,000 kilometres of optic fibre (half of which is through a long-term contract with Anil Ambani’s Reliance Communications). In fact, Reliance Industries Chairman Mukesh Ambani, in his annual general meeting speech this year, indicated that Jio was on track to offer high-speed broadband services. The infrastructure was in place and it would be the next big monetisation opportunity for the company, he had said. J io is expected to woo customers with premium offers such as ultra-high speed of up to one gig a bit per second. Theset-topbox, aspartofthe package, will be a home entertainment hub —offering TV channels, high-end gaming, videoondemand, amongothers.

Jio is eyeing an average revenue per user of ~1,000 to ~1,500 per month from subscribers (which includes internet and TV), as their usage of data goes up, a source said.

A Jio spokesperson declined to comment on the FTTH plan.

Currently, Jio is learnt to be running a trial offer in limited markets in Mumbai and Delhi, with only internet services at speeds of 100 megabits per second and 100 gigabytes of data free of cost. It is providing a special router, which connects multiple devices at a refundable deposit of ~4,500. With a multi-service operator (MSO) licence in place, it will also offer TV services.

Jio has mapped out a plan to address 100 mn TV households in 30 cities by ensuring dense fibre presence for last-mile connectivity to homes