Jio GigaFiber Plan: GigaFiber users will get free fixed landline calls and free 4K HD set-top boxes
Reliance Industries held its 42nd Annual General Meeting today, with Chairman Mukesh Ambani announcing details of the much-awaited Jio Fiber service. He also praised the state of the Indian economy and declared that "no power on Earth can stop India from rising higher". Mr Ambani also highlighted Prime Minister Narendra Modi's goal of making India a $5 trillion economy by 2024 and said he "fully endorse(d) this ambitious goal". "Indeed, I can clearly see India becoming a 10 trillion dollar economy by 2030, with every Indian as a beneficiary," he added. Mukesh Ambani's AGM speech focused on the three major growth engines driving Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) - oils-to-chemicals, Jio and Reliance Retail.
Here are 10 points from the AGM you should know:
Jio GigaFiber, an all-in-one broadband, media, communications and entertainment service will be available from September 5. Base plans will start at Rs 700 per month and offer speeds of 100 megabytes per second, and premium plans will cost Rs 10,000 per month with speeds of up to 1 gigabyte per second.
GigaFiber users will get free fixed landline calls - with a low-cost pack for US/Canada calls at Rs 500 per month. They will also be provided with free 4K HD set-top boxes (customers opting for the premium plan will also get a free 4K HD television) that can double up as gaming and video-streaming devices.
They will also be able to access a First Day, First Show feature that allows them to watch the latest Bollywood and Hollywood movies from the comfort of their homes - on the same day they are released in theatres. The service is likely to be launched in mid-2020.
Reliance Jio, described by Mukesh Ambani as the "digital gateway of India", is the country's largest telecom enterprise in terms of subscribers, revenues and profits, has crossed the 340 million-subscriber mark and remains the world's fastest growing digital services company, adding 10 million more each month.
Reliance Jio, which celebrates its third birthday on September 5, has transformed India, Mr Ambani claimed. "In a manner of speaking, before Jio, India was data dark. And now with Jio, India is data shining bright!" he declared.
Reliance Industries Limited will sell a 20 per cent stake in its oil-to-chemicals business, which has revenues in excess of Rs 5 lakh crores, to Saudi Aramco in a Rs 1.06 lakh crore deal described as signifying "perfect synergy between the world's largest oil producer and the world's largest integrated refinery and petrochemicals complex".
RIL will also sell nearly half its fuel retail business to British Petroleum for Rs 7,000 crore. These deals, Mr Ambani said, would make the company a zero-net debt firm in just 18 months.
Reliance Jio and Microsoft will join forces to launch cloud-based date centres powered by Azure, the American IT giant's cloud platform. With plans to set up the "world's largest blockchain network", Jio has invested in 14 tech start-ups and plans to connect a billion homes and empower 2.4 million small- and medium-scale enterprises.
Reliance Retail crossed Rs 1,30,000 crore turnover in the last year, achieving the mark faster than any other retail company in the world. "We serve more than 1 lakh customers every hour and over two-thirds of our 10,415 stores are in Tier II, Tier III and Tier IV towns," Mr AMbani said, adding the division had registered a seven-fold increase in revenue and 14-fold increase in profit over the last six years.
During his speech, Mr Ambani also highlighted Reliance's contribution to the Indian economy, declaring it had exported products and services worth Rs 2,24,391 crore to 107 countries and was both the highest private sector payer of customs and excise duty (Rs 26,379 crore) and highest payer of GST amongst all public and private sector firms (Rs 67,320 crore).
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