Reliance Jio - The Success Story of the 1st Network to Provide 4G VoLTE Services in India!
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When do you think a revolution came in the telecommunication industry? Well, the most common answer is after the launch of Mukesh Ambani’s Jio. This company made an incredible entry into the Indian mobile telecom sector with the most exclusive cost leadership strategy that revolutionized the whole market of telecommunication. But how do you think did that happen?
Was it the investments in the company or the business model or Mukesh Ambani’s strategic plans?
To know more about How Jio Started, information about Jio company, the Success Story of Reliance Jio, and how Jio changed India, you go through this StartupTalky article.
Reliance Jio - Company Highlights
| Company Name | Jio (Joint Implementation Opportunities) |
|---|---|
| Headquarter | Mumbai, India |
| Sector | Telecommunications |
| Founder | Mukesh Ambani |
| Founded | 15th February 2007 |
| Revenue | Rs 18,952 crore (FY21,Q1) |
| Profit | Rs 3,651 crore (FY21, Q1) |
| Average Revenue per user (ARPU) | INR 138.4 (FY21, Q1) |
| Reliance Jio Slogan | ‘Digital Life’ |
| Reliance Jio Tagline | ‘Jio jee bharke’ (Live life to the fullest) |
| Parent Organization | Reliance Industries |
| Website | jio.com |
About Jio
Founders of Jio and team
Jio - Startup Story | How was Jio Started?
Jio - Name, Tagline, and Logo
Jio - Business Model and How it Works?
Jio - Growth
Jio - Competitors
Jio - Future Plans
About Jio
When Anil Ambani and Mukesh Ambani had a split in the year 2005, it was one of the biggest de-merger in the industry. The dream project of Mukesh Ambani that was Reliance Infocom, became a part of the Anil Ambani Group. Furthermore, Mukesh Ambani went on to acquire the company Infotel Broadband Services Limited, which was the only successful bidder across India for the 4G network.
This is when Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Limited started working on establishing a base for a high-speed optical fiber 4G network which is much more capable than 4G. The company was named Reliance Jio Infocom Ltd popularly known as Jio today. Jio was the first network to provide 4G LTE services and VoLTE services.
Jio launched these services on 5th September 2016 for all the users and also launched its smartphone series with the name LYF. Reliance Jio Infocom Ltd (RJIL) focused on high-speed data instead of voice and SMS. On its launch, the company announced data plans with 1GB 4G data per day in the market where mostly all popular telecom providers offered 1GB data per month.
This was a game-changer by RJIL in the price-sensitive market of India as the prices before that revolved around Rs 250-300 for 1 GB 4G data, which went down to Rs 5 per GB during the initial days. Along with these amazing plans, Jio also started offering free voice calling and free 100 SMS per day for all its Prime members.
JioPhone Next
The all-new ‘JioPhone Next’, is being jointly developed by Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance and tech giant, Google was scheduled for a Ganesh Chaturthi release, on September 10, 2021. However, Reliance Telecommunication's revolutionary product hit a roadblock due to an acute global shortage of semiconductors and had been postponed till Diwali at least, as per the reports dated September 10, 2021. The company then remarked that it had already started testing the device among a limited set of users to identify further scopes of refinement and make them easily available foolproof in November, during the festive season of Diwali. With this, Reliance Jio had also bought some more time to figure out efficient ways to mitigate the global shortage of semiconductors. This Reliance JioPhone Next was finally launched on November 4, 2021. These phones now comes at Rs 6,499, and is powered with the Android-powered Pragati OS, and a Qualcomm Snapdragon QM215 processor. The JioPhone Next can also be bought by paying Rs 1,999 only by the users who lack the options of paying for the phone upfront. However, they also need to pay the company for the full price of the phone later on by monthly installments.
The JioPhone Next can be summed up as a good option if you are looking for an entry-level budget phone, and if you don't have Rs 6000-7000 or more to buy new phones. However, these phones also have numerous drawbacks like:
- JioPhone Next is sluggish being deficient of adequate RAM
- You need to only use a Jio sim as the primary SIM to use it
- The phone can also be turned of by the financer if it is not properly paid for
- It comes in with an Android OS, but has its own JIO customisations
PV Vyshnavi
Founders of Jio and team
Mukesh Dhirubhai Ambani is one of the richest men in the world. He is the Founder of Jio.
Mukesh is reportedly the richest man in India and his family is popularly known as the richest family in Asia, according to Forbes. Mukesh Dhirubhai Ambani was the Chief Managing Director (CMD) of Reliance Industries Ltd, which is one of the biggest conglomerates in India.
Mukesh was born in Aden but he grew up in Mumbai. Being one of the most influential and powerful personalities of the country he has provided his business acumens to the whole world. Mukesh Ambani is the owner of the world’s largest refinery. He has achieved tons of notable accomplishments and is a part of many renowned institutes as well. Ambani was the Director and Chairman of Reliance JIO Infocomm Ltd. too before he stepped down with effect from June 27, 2022, and his son, Akash Ambani, who was a Non-Executive Director, has been appointed as the Chairman of the company, as per reports dated June 29, 2022. The Jio board has also revealed the appointments of Raminder Singh Gujral and K.V. Chowdary as additional directors of the company, who will serve as independent directors for the next 5 years, commencing from June 27, 2022. Furthermore, Pankaj Mohan Pawar has been appointed as the Managing Director of the Jio business also for 5 years.
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Jio - Startup Story | How was Jio Started?
Some time back, Mukesh Ambani the founder of Jio was asked about how he thought of coming up with such an amazing idea to which he said that this idea was seeded by his daughter Isha Ambani. In 2011, Isha Ambani was a student at Yale in the US and was home for the holidays.
She told her dad how bad the internet connectivity was at their house because she couldn’t submit her coursework. At that time, Mukesh Ambani realized that how India is suffering from bad and poor connectivity of the internet.
The data was severely scarce and overpriced, which was unaffordable to a majority of Indians. Since then, Mukesh Ambani started working on Jio to make the data services abundant and affordable in every part of the country, which gave birth to Reliance Telecommunication's Jio business line.
PV Vyshnavi
Jio - Name, Tagline, and Logo
JIO stands for Joint Implementation Opportunities and the full name of the company is Reliance Jio Infocom Ltd.
The logo of Reliance Jio has a hidden meaning. When we flip the logo and look at its mirror image it is read as ‘oil’ which represents the past and future of Reliance. The company Reliance appeared as a business giant in the 20th century because of its Oil business and in the 21st century probably the flipped version, Jio has successfully ushered in another revolution.
The slogan of Reliance Jio is ‘Digital Life’ while a popular tagline of Jio has been ‘Jio jee bharke’ which means live life to the fullest.
Jio - Business Model and How it Works?
Reliance Jio had really smart strategies and most of them belonged to the founder Mukesh Ambani. For its initial year, Jio gave unlimited data services and high-quality Volte calling services at surprisingly low charges. The complete change in the market made other telecom operators change their business models.
These offers created a lot of radical and unexpected changes in the consumer’s behavior as well. Also, it led to many mergers and acquisitions in Indian mobile network providers. Jio, in turn, made people use more and more services so that they spend more.
Jio eventually started charging 6 paise per minute on its calling services. The company has now launched numerous value packs consisting of both internet and calling benefits along with other on-demand subscriptions at competitive rates, which are even lower for Jio phone users.
Well, in the initial phase Reliance took a big risk to enter into the telecom industry but it has proved to be one of the best companies in the current market.
Lakshya Singh
Jio - Growth
Jio has already proven to be a rising force being a revolutionary company and the torchbearer of the Indian 4G VoLTE services. The Mukesh Ambani-led company is currently the leading telecommunication service provider in India. The Jio company is now working to empower the Indian users with the 5G and 6G services as well. Jio is the 3rd largest mobile network operator in the world with over 179.93 million users.
Jio has added 1.6 mn+ wireless subscribers to its network in April 2022. In the broadband segment, Jio leads the path, which currently boasts of 52.15% of the total Indian userbase, followed by Bharti Airtel, which now enjoys 31.61% of the market share. Reliance Industries' shares reportedly closed 1.5% higher at Rs 2,529 on the BSE on June 28, 2022.
Jio launched the fiber to the home service in 2019, which now offers home broadband, telephone, and television services. When the coronavirus made things scary for businesses and professionals, Mukesh Ambani made his company Reliance Jio net debt-free 9 months before the deadline. The conglomerate has raised Rs 53,124.0 crore by offering shares to its existing shareholders and another Rs 118,318.45 crore by selling stakes in the Jio platform through 12 deals.
Reliance Jio has become the country’s largest-ever right issue and series of stake sales deals in its arm Jio Platforms, delivering on a promise given to its shareholders in last year’s August.
"I have fulfilled my promise to the shareholders by making Reliance net debt-free much before our original schedule of 31st March 2021," Mukesh Ambani said in a statement released early on Friday.
Reliance Industries is in its ‘Golden Decade’ and Mr. Mukesh Ambani has assured his shareholders that in this decade RIL will set even more ambitious growth goals and achieve them. Back in 2017, Mr. Ambani said that the energy-to-telecom conglomerate was on the verge of a golden decade where it would yield the returns of its largest-ever capacity expansion in its petrochemical business and its investment in Jio. With these investments, the company’s net debt was Rs 161,035 crore, as of March 31, 2020, and the funds raised in the last 8 weeks exceeded it. Along with the stake sale to BP in the petro-retail joint venture, the total fundraising is in excess of Rs 1.75 lakh crore.
In twelve weeks thirteen different companies have invested in Jio platform, from leading Global investors which included Facebook, Silver Lake(Twice), Vista Equity Partner, General Atlantic, KKR. & Co.Inc., Mubadala Investment Company, Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, TPG Capital, L Catterton, Saudi Arabia PIF, and Qualcomm.
Companies Investing In Jio In A Nutshell
| Name of the Company | Stakes | Total Investments |
|---|---|---|
| 9.99% | INR 43,574 cr | |
| Vista Equity Partner | 2.32% | INR 11, 367 cr |
| Silver Lake Partner | 1.15% | INR 5,655.75 cr |
| General Atlantic | 1.34% | INR 6,598.38 cr |
| KKR & Co. Inc. | 2.32% | INR 11,367 cr |
| Mubadala Investment Company | 1.85% | INR 9,093.60 cr |
| Silver Lake Partner | 0.93% | INR 4,546.80 cr |
| Abu Dhabi Investment Authority | 1.16% | INR 5,683.5 cr |
| TPG Capital | 0.93% | INR 4.546.80 cr |
| L Catterton | 0.39% | INR 1,894.50 cr |
| Saudi Arabia's Wealth Fund PIF | 2.32% | INR 11,367 cr |
| Qualcomm | 0.15% | INR 730 cr |
Jio Platforms has diluted 25.24% of its equity. That’s the maximum they have in view to dilute to financial investors, which includes Mark Zukerberg’s Facebook. Any new investors coming on board in the future will have to be “strategic investors, a tech giant, for instance,” said a source who was part of the deal-making process. The RIL-FB partnership could emerge as the core platform for India's digital economy and as more consumers and small businesses shift online, it could unlock a digital market worth $2 trillion.
The secret behind Jio’s success is that it is customer-centric and has a webscale mentality. Reliance Jio made it look easy when it successfully swooped into the jam-packed and super competitive mobile market with free 4G voice and data service. So, in a nutshell, Reliance Jio, aims at harnessing the full potential of the internet to create a digital revolution through their technologies. Innovative services and long-term planning will radically bring the world at one’s fingertips much faster and also transform the way Indians think, work, live, and are entertained.
Reliance Jio announced plans for integrated fibre connectivity and digital solutions to transform over 50 Million small and medium businesses in India on March 9, 2021. A statement released by Reliance Jio said - "Under this plan, Indian MSMEs will get Jio connectivity at one-tenth (1/10th) of the existing price in the market. They will also be able to collaborate with Jio partners to get easy-to-use solutions"
Reliance Jio also announced to launch of its new product JioBook, as per the reports dated March 8, 2021. After years of speculation, it is believed that the product is in the Engineering Validation test stage. JioBook is a laptop, that is said to be affordable and would attract a lot of customers. As per the speculations, the price of the laptop would start from INR 10,000 onwards.
Reliance Jio emerged as the top bidder in India’s $11 billion airwaves auction, said the reports on March 2, 2021. Reliance Jio bought airwaves worth Rs 571.23 billion ($7.8 billion) of the total Rs 778.2 billion raised in the latest spectrum auction. Jio's competitors - Bharti Airtel Ltd., spent $2.6 billion and Vodafone Plc’s India unit bought spectrum worth Rs 19.9 billion.
Some of the popular Jio Apps that the customers can now find are:
- Jio Pages – A Jio launched web browser for Android mobiles
- Jio Chat – JioChat is an instant messaging and video calling app for Jio users.
- Jio Cinema – An online HD video library by Jio, designed to provide the users with movies, tv shows, and music videos online
- Jio Cloud – A safe and secure cloud storage service from Jio
- Jio Health – A health services app from Jio
- JioNews – A news app or e-reader for news by Jio
- JioMeet – A video-conferencing platform from Jio
- JioMoney – A mobile wallet for the Jio customers
- JioSaavn – Provides online and offline music streaming in English and Indian languages
- JioSecurity – A mobile security and antivirus app
- JioTV – A streaming service brought by Jio
- JioCall (Jio4GVoice) – A videocalling feature for the fixed-line number customers
- MyJio – A Jio account using which the Jio users can manage their Jio account and digital services
Jio also has a list of other products and services. Here are some important ones to know about:
- Mobile broadband service
- JioFiber
- JioBusiness
- JioNet Wi-fi
- JioPhone Next
Alan Joseph
Jio - Competitors
There are many telecommunication brands that have thrived for long years in the telecommunication space of India. Popular brands like Airtel, Idea, Vodafone, etc. had achieved the customer's trust for years and are still among the Reliance Jio competitors. However, with the disruptive entry of Jio, they had to hurry things up and make significant changes in their business models, strategies, and workings to match up with Jio's radical approach.
Small network operators like Aircel, Tata Teleservices, and Telenor had to shut down their functions in India because of the revolution brought by Jio into the market. The profits of other Telecom operators have also drastically decreased since Jio’s inception. Idea also had to merge with Vodafone eventually to make the company Vodafone Idea or Vi.
Ansh Mehrey
Jio - Future Plans
Mukesh Ambani, recently in an interview, stated that Reliance Jio is now focusing on growing the teledensity in the rural and remote areas. The company is continuing to grow in demand for telecom services and provides digital services with greater services.
Reliance Jio planned to build a data center in UP with approximately $950 million as an investment on February 23, 2021. This center will be powered by its own renewable energy plant.
The company may also expand from being a digital telecom service provider to a digital services player which also offers services related to agriculture, healthcare, and education. Jio also aims to be an influencer and initiator in bringing and developing 5G services in India. The future Reliance Jio projects also include the launching of the 5G and 6G services, and the launch of the JioPhone Next, which was done in November 2021.
FAQs
What is Reliance Jio Tagline/Slogan?
The slogan of Reliance Jio is ‘Digital Life’ while a popular tagline of Jio has been ‘Jio jee bharke’, which means live life to the fullest.
Who is Reliance Jio Founder?
Mukesh Dhirubhai Ambani is the founder of Reliance Jio.
How much is Reliance Jio Revenue?
In the second quarter of FY2021, it reported a revenue of INR 17,481 Cr with a profit of INR 2,844 Cr. In Q1, the company reported INR 16,557 Cr in revenue. Reliance Jio's average revenue per user (ARPU) has gone up to INR 140, during Q1 of FY2021.
Who are Reliance Jio's top competitors?
Airtel, and Vi are the prominent competitors of Reliance Jio.
How much is Mukesh Ambani's net worth?
Mukesh Ambani's net worth is $90.7 bn, as of April 2022.
Does Reliance Jio have any subsidiaries?
Yes. Reliance Jio's subsidiaries are LYF and Reliance Jio Infocomm Pte. Ltd.
How much is Reliance Jio's customer base?
As of April 2022, Reliance Jio recorded 179.93 million users.
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