Reliance at its 40th AGM on Friday, Chairman Mukesh Ambani announced the launch of the much talked 4G feature Jio Phone. The Jio phone will be available for free but buyers will have to deposit a fee of Rs 1500 which will be refundable after three years. Along with that, the telecom company has announced its cable TV.
Although Reliance Jio launched in India in September, the company’s offering has been restricted to smartphone users as it is a 4G only network, and to make calls, a phone has to support the VoLTE technology, which is usually not found on basic phones. The company aims to change with the Jio Phone, which comes with 4G VoLTE support. The JioPhone will include access to apps like JioCinema, JioTV, and JioMusic.
The Jio Phone will be available from August 15 and will come with a couple of different data packs. Users can either pay Rs. 153 per month, for which they will get free voice and SMS, and unlimited data, along with Jio apps, or they can pay Rs. 309 per month, to get all this, plus the support for mirroring your screen on a TV, via a cable that can even be plugged into CRT TVs. After three years, you can return the phone, and get a full refund on the deposit.
Jio phone comes with:
- Alpha numeric keypad
- 2.4-inch QVGA display
- FM radio
- Torch light
- Headphone jack
- SD card slot
- Four-way navigation system
- Phone Contact
- Call History
Aside from that, the company will also have two sachet packs, at Rs. 24 for two days, or Rs. 54 per week, for users who don’t want to commit to Rs. 153 as an upfront payment.
5 Points of Jio Phone
- The Jio Phone is free, but you must deposit Rs 1,500 (fully refundable after 3 years).
- Jio Phone users will get unlimited data at Rs 153 per month, entirely 4G, and all voice calls and SMS will be free.
- Testing starts August 15, pre-booking for the phone starts August 24, will be available in September on the first-come first serve basis. Jio says it aims to make 5 million.
- The Jio Phone, of course, comes with Internet connectivity, follows voice commands, and recognises 22 Indian languages.
- Access to Jio services like JioTV, JioMovies, and others will be included.
The phone was introduced by Akash and Isha Ambani, revealing the phone’s for support voice commands, along with standard feature phone functionality. Isha Ambani said that the phone looks familiar by design, to ensure that it is easy to use.
- At the AGM meeting, Mukesh Ambani said that voice calling will always be free for Jio customers. He said that Jio services will be integrated with all e-commerce players.
- The Jio feature phone users can avail the Jio Dhan Dhana Dhan offer at just Rs 153 per month. Under this, they will get free voice and SMS as well as unlimited data.
- Jio phone cable TV price at Rs 309 per month for bigger screen devices
- “Data is the oxygen of digital life, and no Indian should suffer because of unaffordability,” he added. “Sadly the vast majority of mobile users are starved of data. This unfairness must end, and Jio is committing to ending it today.”
“Our network continues to rapidly expand. Jio, in the next 12 months, will cover 99 percent of the population. India’s 4G coverage will be more than its 2G coverage,” he added. To meet the need for device affordability, the company realised it would have to release a 4G VoLTE feature phone, as even an entry level smartphone costs between Rs. 3,000 and Rs. 4,500, Ambani said.
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