by admin | May 25, 2021 | Business, Large Enterprise
New Delhi : Reliance Jio on Wednesday said it is committed to implementing the most efficient telecommunications network in India and passing on the benefits of technology to Indian customers, adding that implementation of the Bill & Keep regime by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) will help in making services more affordable for Indian customers.
“It should have been implemented in 2014 as envisaged in the 2011 Report submitted by TRAI to the Hon’ble Supreme Court and will be six years too late,” the Jio statement said.
Jio offers free voice services to all its customers backed by a superior technology and has helped make India the world’s largest mobile data consuming country within one year of commencement of services.
The TRAI on Tuesday slashed mobile termination charges to 6 paise from 14 paise effective from October 1, 2017. The regulator will phase out IUC regime from January 1, 2020.
The TRAI said: “Further, the cost of termination of calls will drastically come down over a period of two years and very small residual value, if any, can be absorbed by the TSPs in their tariff offerings. As a result, the Authority prescribes a Bill and Keep regime for the wireless to wireless calls effective from January 1, 2020.”
Jio further said: “Jio has always offered free voice services to its customers. There is no question of any advantage from the new IUC regulation to Jio as it has already passed on all the benefits to customers. We deny any benefits to Jio. At a time when the world is moving towards IP-based technologies, cost of voice has come down to a fraction of a paisa and the customers should enjoy this advantage.”
Jio added: “The Delhi High Court earlier today dismissed the petition of one of the incumbent operators while pronouncing that the appeal fails to show any violation of Section 11 (4) of the TRAI Act, 1997 (principles of transparency).
“It is appalling that the incumbent operators have still gone ahead and made untrue and baseless allegations against the process for determination of IUC or the regulator. The incumbent operators have a history of opposing all the IUC regulations over the last eight years, but have not been successful in thwarting passing of the benefits of lower IUC to customers.”
Jio said the high cost IUC regime “thus far has caused financial stress for the smaller and new operators.”
Earlier in the day, Reliance Communications welcomed the Indian telecom regulator’s decision to slash interconnection usage charges (IUC) to 6 paise.
“We welcome the reduction in IUC to 6 paise by TRAI. We also welcome the Bill & Keep model, to be effective from January 2020. The IUC cut has already been delayed by three years. With voice calling becoming free, TRAI’s move will provide a level playing field,” Reliance Communications said in a statement.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Business
New Delhi, (IANS) The excessive delay in Reliance Jio’s commercial launch is frustrating investors, a Citi Group report said here on Friday.
“The ensuing delay could be testing investors’ patience. It raises concerns of Jio further eroding its first mover advantage. The capital expenditure targets also continue to go up,” the report said.
The delay is expected to be on the account of the company’s chase for “perfection”, it said.
“RIL (Reliance Industries Ltd) is leaving no stone unturned in ensuring Jio does not over-promise and under-deliver. The company now plans to fully integrate Reliance Communication’s 800 MHz spectrum before the Jio launch (making it the only player with sub-1GHz pan-India LTE spectrum,” the report said.
“It (RIL) also plans to increase the coverage to 90 percent (from 70 percent) before the Jio launch,” it added.
The report however stressed that a 3-6 month delay in the recently announced core projects does not impact estimate earnings of the company materially, since a meaningful contribution is assumed to come only by FY18.
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Corporate, Corporate Buzz
Mumbai : (IANS) Calling Jio the world’s largest start-up, Reliance Industries chairman Mukesh on Wednesday said the roll-out of its 4G services will lift India from a mobile Internet ranking of 150th to the top 10 slot. But he did not specify the actual date of commercial launch.
“As the world goes digital, India and Indians cannot afford to be left behind. Today, India is ranked around 150th in mobile Internet rankings out of 230 countries. We have a responsibility. To digitally empower India. To end this digital poverty,” Ambani said.
“It is this opportunity to transform the lives of our 1.3 billion Indians that motivated Reliance to enter and transform the entire digital ecosystem. I have no doubt that with the launch of Jio, India’s rank will go up from 150 to among the top 10 of mobile Internet rankings in the world.”
Speaking at the Ficci-Frames media and entertainment conclave here, Ambani said Relaince Jio has four strategies: Expand country’s coverage from 15-20 percent now to 70 percent, give broadband speed that is 40-80 times faster, increase data availability and make the services affordable.
“With these four interventions, India will leapfrog to being amongst the top ten of the Digital revolution sweeping across the world.”
Ambani, who is betting big on the latest venture of the refining-to-retail group with an initial investment of over Rs.150,000 crore, said Jio will not be a mere telecom network but bring to its customers an entire ecosystem to allow a “Digital Life” to the fullest.
This ecosystem will comprise devices, broadband network, powerful applications and offerings such as live music, sports, live and catchup TV, movies and events, he said. “Jio is not just about technical brute force. It is about doing things in a smart, simple and secure way.”
Ambani said five mega-trends were emerging in the digital world: Shift in communications from the oral to visual, transition from linear to exponential, true convergence of telecom, entertainment and media, abundance of choice in every sphere and demonstrated potential transform human lives.
“The true power of technology is its ability to make human life better. The future belongs to a creative empathisers, pattern recognisers, meaning makers. Because technology changes, but humanity evolves. And any transformation is eventually about humanity,” he said.
“If you are not digital, and if you don’t have globally competitive digital tools and skills, you will simply not survive. You’ll get disrupted. You will be out-competed. You will be left behind. You will become irrelevant.”
