Jio moves...

Jio is planning to leverage technology to resolve some of the problems of FTTH. For instance, it’s likely to use power-line communicators - a small plug-and-play device that extends the strong WiFi signal to rooms far away from the router. While FTTH can get problematic in large homes and offices, Jio’s working on a strategy to use existing electric wiring to transmit data and TV signals across the house.

However, competitors such as MSOs and direct-to-home (DTH) operators argue the jury is still out on whether this gamble will work and if Jio can actually replicate the success in mobility once again.

Representatives of conventional TV industry cite numbers to back their claim that this is a tough game. While there are 180 million TV households in the country, subscribers fork out an average of only ~300- 400 a month for as many as 400 to 500 channels currently, they say. “Subscribers using cable or DTH do not have to pay the cost of broadband as well as indirectly that of spectrum. Anyone looking at an average three hours of TV will need to pay anything between ~1,000 and ~1,500; it includes broadband costs in the case of Jio.” The question is how many users will pay three to five times more, even if it is for a better service, a prominent MSO asked.

Competitors also say that currently only three million subscribers cough up over ~1,000 for high-speed broadband internet and only two million rustle up a similar amount per month for DTH or cable. So, the market that Jio is looking to address is currently niche and a small one.

“Deploying FTTH is expensive business and obviously Jio is making large investments. So, they have to get adequate return on their investments. They might offer broadband free like they are doing currently and they did earlier in the mobile space,” said a top executive in the business. But they will have to increase tariffs to make money and that might not translate into mass adoption.

“But at least someone is trying,” the executive said. And, if the experiment succeeds, the number of households with TV and broadband, currently growing very slowly, could just explode, he said.