So, in today’s article we will find out about What is JIO? When did it start? and how did it start? Plans of Jio in the future like Jio University, 5G, and more.
Reliance was smart enough to understand that Data is the New Oil. And the demand for actual oil will reduce in the future due to the electric and CNG vehicles. And Yes, CNG vehicles will roll out first, then the electric vehicles in India at least till 2030.
JIO
Jio started in the year 2007 as Reliance Jio Infocomm Limited, 13 years ago. Yes, 2007 not 2016, and disrupted the whole telecom sector with its free internet and voice call.
Jio was planned a lot earlier than we think. However, Mukesh Ambani could not enter the telecom sector earlier; because after the division of business between Mukesh Ambani and Anil Ambani in 2005, they could not enter each other’s business sectors due to a non-compete agreement between them. But in 2010, the agreement was withdrawn. So, after withdraw of the Non-compete Agreement Mukesh Ambani entered the market and to those people who say Modi made it possible; I know for sure that Modi was not the Prime Minister in 2007. So, it’s not that Modi asked him or helped him to start it.
One senior Indian businessman said, “Telecoms has always been Mukesh’s baby – it was tough for him to give it up and if they get in they will want to be the dominant player. In the long term they don’t get into businesses where they don’t dominate.”
HOW IT ALL STARTED
In 2010, the government auctioned an all-India BWA (Broadband Wireless Access) Spectrum, and a company called Infotel Broadband Services Ltd bought it. Then Reliance acquired a 95% stake in Infotel. That’s how Jio rises.
Jio entered the market in 2016 and it disrupted the whole telecom industry. Just the name Jio gave nightmares to the telecom operators. Few companies even went almost bankrupt. Few companies had to merge like Vodafone-Idea. It’s even quite possible that you are reading this article using Jio’s 4G network.
Vodafone CEO Nick Read said “India has been a tough market of late and declared that the Company’s book value in India was probably going to zero”.
So, how did Jio make this impossible possible? Jio first offered both internet and voice call at zero price. It gradually increased its customer base then started charging at throwaway prices, which no one could refuse. On top of that it offered 4G only. Unlike others, for each step you take it changed from 2G, 3G, and maybe 4G. This made Jio possible to gain the highest subscriber base than any operator at present.
Jio even sponsored IPL teams, the iconic KBC, and many more by investing hundreds of crores to grow its business.
UNDER JIO’s UMBRELLA
Jio launched Jio Chat, Jio Cinema, Jio Cloud, Jio Magazines, Jio Money Wallet, Jio Saavn, Jio Security, Jio 4G Voice, and my Jio at free of cost under its umbrella.
Then Jio started its JioFi – Wi-Fi routers, where you can carry it anywhere and use it for any device.
LYF smartphones which was not a much of a hit. But, JioPhone was launched where it took the market by storm by providing services like messaging, streaming movies and music.
Even Augmented Reality (AR) based game Pokemon Go was launched in India in collaboration with Jio and guess what the Pokestops were Reliance Trends, Reliance Digital, and more.
JioFiber is a fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) internet broadband service, offering high-speed internet with speed up to 1 Gbps.
JIO’s FUTURE PLAN
JIO UNIVERSITY
Jio’s future plan includes building a University that aims to develop an internationally acclaimed center for learning at the outskirts of Mumbai. The campus will be spread over 800 acres. It also aims to develop a green campus that includes open space gardens, natural surroundings like Cambridge University. It is planning its first academic session in the year 2021.
Programs offered at Jio University are Artificial Intelligence, Data Science, Integrated Marketing, Digital Media, Sports Sciences, Humanities, Law, and many other programs. Students will be provided state of the art technology in labs and other practical aspects.
It plans to recruit national and international faculty and build a world-class campus to attract foreign students. It has a global advisory board from Caltech, Stanford, Nanyang, and many more.
JIOMART
JioMart is an online-to-offline (O2O) business platform with its tagline ‘Desh Ki Nayi Dukaan’ (country’s new shopping store) that makes the local Kirana stores nearby your home go digital. Here, the customers can place an order online, but pick-up the order offline (nearest Kirana store); similar to takeaway or deliver to doorstep. Jio plans to create a super-app called JioMart similar to WeChat, which includes online purchase (e-commerce), digital payments, messaging, and various other features (may include social media in the future). To know more about this click here.
5G
Jio said that it aims to play a key role in 5G development with its 5G ready network would play a key role in the development of the 5G ecosystem in India.
Jio made several deals with Facebook, Saudi-Aramco, Silver Lake, Vista Equity, KKR to reduce its debt and expand its business. To know more about this click here.
In the next five years, Reliance is planning to list Jio and Reliance Retail as separate entities from Reliance in the Indian stock exchange as a publicly listed company. At present Market Capitalization, Jio is already on the top five of India’s largest public companies by market capitalization.
With the new digital India, Jio will play a key role and has a long way to go and discover and build new platforms like data centers, 6G, and more. A recent study says that Mukesh Ambani is estimated to become a trillionaire in 13 years by the year 2033.
Thank you for reading and hope to see you in the next one.