JioAirFiber launch to raise the stakes for competitors

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For the world’s most populous nation intent on ensuring that none of its citizens gets left behind in the process of growth and development, the launch of the JioAirFiber on Tuesday, September 19, brings with it the promise of contributing significantly to India's ambition of ensuring that its 1.4 billion people gain access to latest technologies at prices they can afford. The newest offering from the Jio stable holds the potential to greatly aid national efforts to eliminate the last-mile connectivity challenge that has often come in the way of providing more people with reliable fixed-wireless broadband services so that they could leverage high-speed internet connectivity in multiple ways to improve their quality of life. Be it in terms of the way they shop, bank, entertain themselves, obtain quality education, or conduct business.

Wide availability of the JioAirFiber — which, given Reliance's trademark distribution skills, is bound to take place soon — coupled with its attractive pricing plans and ease of use could lead to a substantial increase in broadband subscribers even in areas where internet penetration has traditionally been low and in the process lower the digital divide in the country. At the end of March 2023, while the number of internet subscribers per 100 population, for instance, was more than 200 in Delhi, it was less than 40 in Bihar.

The imminent increase in competition among telecom service providers pursuant to the launch of the JioAirFiber would also aid the ongoing national endeavour to promote digital inclusion on a larger scale with other players expected to speed up the introduction of their own offerings to counter Jio. This, in turn, would benefit average citizens, too, since they could look forward to potentially more advanced and innovative home broadband offerings at attractive price points being introduced in India in the days ahead.

Increasing digital inclusion

In its consultation Paper on ‘Digital Inclusion in the Era of Emerging Technologies’ released on September 14, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) had said, “Both universal and meaningful connectivity must be present for digital inclusion efforts to succeed, as neither universal connectivity with poor quality nor meaningful connectivity for the few will yield any significant benefits towards digital empowerment of the society.”

Signature national missions like ‘Digital India’ and ‘Aatmanirbhar Bharat’ would also stand to gain from the launch of the JioAirFiber. Jio’s ambitious expansion plans alone would fuel substantial investments in the creation of digital infrastructure nationwide that would strengthen each of the five pillars — vibrant demography, demand, infrastructure, technology-driven system, and economy — on which rests the aspiration of establishing a self-reliant India. The increased investments in digital infrastructure would have the added benefit of creating opportunities for more, new and better-quality jobs for the Indian workforce.

Seen from Reliance Jio’s point of view, the launch of the JioAirFiber would further strengthen its dominant position in the Indian telecoms arena and open a new avenue for revenue growth. This would also cheer the investor community that is eagerly awaiting Jio’s IPO announcement. The prospect that JioAirFiber holds from a business point of view was clearly brought out by Reliance Industries Chairman Mukesh Ambani while addressing shareholders during the company’s 46^th AGM held on August 28. At that meeting, Ambani had said, “Through optical fibre, we can currently connect around 15,000 premises daily. But with JioAirFiber, we can supercharge this expansion with up to 150,000 connections per day which is a 10-fold increase, expanding our addressable market over the next three years to over 200 million high-paying homes and premises”.

Disclaimer: Moneycontrol is a part of the Network18 group. Network18 is controlled by Independent Media Trust, of which Reliance Industries is the sole beneficiary.

Sumali Moitra is a current affairs commentator. Twitter: @sumalimoitra. Views are personal, and do not represent the stand of this publication.