Reliance Industries Chairman Mukesh Ambani with wife Nita Ambani arrives for the 41st Annual General Meeting o... Read More

MUMBAI: Reliance Jio plans to launch fixed-line broadband services in the country as the two-year-old telecom company steps up its push on digital services, boosting its revenues and subscriber base. The company is running beta trials of the service—to be called Jio Gigafiber—in "tens of thousands of homes" and will launch it on August 15.

Jio Gigafiber 's simultaneous introduction in 1,100 cities will make it the largest greenfield fixed-line broadband rollout anywhere in the world, said Mukesh Ambani , chairman of Reliance Industries (RIL), Jio's parent. Ambani's aggressive intent led to a fall in the shares of cable TV operators. Hathway Cable, Den Networks, GTPL Hathway and Siti Networks declined 15.4 per cent,10.7 per cent, 7.5 per cent and 2.8 per cent, respectively. Dish TV closed with a marginal 0.6 per cent gain. However, RIL investors were not enthused. The company's stock closed 2.5 per cent lower at Rs 965 in Thursday's flat market.

Jio's stormy entry into the mobile telephony and data market — where it has mopped up 215 million subscribers in less than two years — has already roiled the telecom sector, driving rivals into desperate consolidation moves.

"While India has pole-vaulted into global leadership in the mobile broadband space, the country lags behind significantly in the fixed-line broadband," Ambani said. "Poor fixed-line infrastructure has been a key reason for this. We (Jio) want to take India to be among the top five in fixed-line broadband connectivity," Ambani added. Currently, India is placed 134th in the global ranking for fixed broadband.

"In countries with better developed communication infrastructure, more than 80 per cent of data consumption happens indoors through fixed-line connectivity in home, offices and other premises," said Ambani, addressing RIL's annual general shareholders meet.

Jio's broadband service will include a router, a set top box and a landline phone, among other things. Though Ambani didn't reveal the tariff for Jio Gigafiber , he said that the service will enhance home entertainment experience, allow multi-party video conferencing, voice-activated virtual assistant and home surveillance solutions.

His elder two children, Akash and Isha, also directors at Jio, demonstrated the wireline broadband service to the packed auditorium of shareholders, journalists, RIL executives and Ambani family members. Akash's fianceé Shloka Mehta too was present among the audience, her first appearance at the oils-to-telecoms enterprise's shareholder meet.

"The launch of Jio Gigafiber will open new revenue stream for RIL's digital services business although we await a price plan for the broadband services," said Abhijeet Bora, analyst at Sharekhan by BNP Paribas.

