2 of 10

One of the biggest and definitely the most disruptive player, which is expected to be in the Indian 4G market this year, is Reliance Jio. Though Jio was widely expected to start operation by the middle of last year, it officially made a soft-launch of its services for its employees and their families on December 27, 2015 . The company is widely expected to launch commercially around April this year. The Jio management though hasn't announced any specific date for launch of services and has said it would wait for staff feedback on the beta version to take a call on network capability before proceeding with full commercial rollout. In this age of perception, Jio has been planning to position itself as a digital content company to make it distinct from other mobile phone operators in an intensely competitive market, with content streaming packages a key element of this strategy. Reliance Jio 4G broadband services will offer not just data and voice services but also peripheral services like live TV, movies on demand, news, streaming music and digital payment platforms. With its multi-service operator (MSO) license, Jio will also serve as a TV channel distributor and will offer television-on-demand on its network. Although, Jio has had pan-India 4G airwaves in the 2300 MHz band since 2010, it hasn't launched commercial services to date mainly due to the technological limitations of the 2300 Mhz airwaves and an under-developed handset ecosystem. To enhance its pan -India 4G presence, Jio recently got into a spectrum sharing deal with his younger brother Anil Ambani-backed Reliance Communications. The deal ensured that Jio has got access to spectrum in the 800 MHz bands in 7 more circles on top of the 10 it ha s already won in auctions. Besides, it also has 1800 Mhz airwaves in 14 circles. Both 800 Mhz and 1800 Mhz bands can be used for 4G services as well. Once commercially rolled out, Jio's performance will be keenly observed by the industry as it could potentially re-define the telecom space of the Indian telecom market.