Market Disruption: Reliance Jio Launches 4G-Enabled "Jio Phone" at ₹1,500 in India

On the 40th annual general meeting of Reliance Industries - Mukesh Ambani - the company's Chairman has launched another big market disruption from Reliance Jio - its much awaited feature phone, ‘Jio Phone’ in the Indian market.

The affordable 4G enabled - Jio Phone is slated to hit the market on August 15 - India's Independence Day. The 4G feature phone will be available at a price of ₹1,500, which will be refundable after three years on returning the phone.

This quite literally means that this Jio phone will be available to all Indians for an effective price of ₹0. Company’s Chairman Mukesh Ambani also confirmed that voice calling on the ‘Jio Phone’ will be free while with the ‘Jio Dhan Dhana Dhan’ offer, people can avail free voice messages and unlimited data as well at just ₹153.

"JioPhone is a truly revolutionary phone that will transform the lives of 50 Cr feature phone users. On the JioPhone, voice will ALWAYS be free. Currently, the 50 Cr feature phone users are charged Re 1.2 to 1.5 per min for basic voice calling. They end up spending their entire month's telecom budget of 150 – 200 only to get 150 minutes of basic voice. With Jio's network coverage reaching 99% of India's population, and by making voice calls free, this potentially empowers each and every Indian to make FREE VOICE CALLS… to any operator… anywhere in India…" he explained during the company's AGM.

Additionally, this phone can also be connected to any TV and hence, the contact can be viewed seamlessly on TVs as well.

"There will be a fair usage policy of half a GB per day, to ensure that bandwidth is fairly apportioned for every user. Many JioPhone users might like to view their favorite content such as live TV, movies, education on the big screen of
their television sets. This is especially true in many remote parts of India where even cable TV and high speed internet have not reached. Our young Jio engineers have created an innovation to help them -- a special and affordable “JioPhone TV cable” that connects JioPhone with any TV, not just a smart TV, so that all JioPhone users can enjoy viewing on the big screen of their existing television sets. Along with this accessory, users can opt for the existing Jio Dhan Dhana Dhan ` 309 pack that would allow users to watch almost 3-4 hours of videos daily, of their choice, on a large screen." he added.