After successfully disrupting the status quo in India’s telecom industry with its dirt cheap data and calling plans, Reliance Jio is now eying to bring a similar revolution in the realm of home broadband by introducing an upgraded FTTH (fiber-to-the-home) service called Reliance Jio GigaFiber.
Following the initial reports of the company testing the new FTTH service in select few telecom circles including Delhi and Mumbai, it seems Jio GigaFiber is now preparing to expand its reach in a phase-by-phase manner.
It goes without saying that RJio’s primary objective here is to bring the fastest broadband Internet service India has seen at such an affordable cost that would put rivals in a truly awkward position, possibly stealing huge chunks of their market share in the process. If the company indeed makes this service available for free for three months like we have been hearing across the length and breadth of India, we don’t see any reason why the company wouldn’t be able to develop a massive user base in the metaphorical blink of an eye.
An affordable, high-speed internet service like GigaFiber will also play a key role in giving the much needed to jolt to India’s shaky broadband infrastructure that has been lagging way behind that of many developed and developing nations.
FTTH services promise a speed of up to 1Gbps which is roughly equivalent to 125Mbps of “actual usable speed” at the end user’s end. Although, according to IBTimes, existing GigaFiber users are getting speeds somewhere between 70Mbps and 100Mbps (which, by the way, happens to be pretty impressive too).
Once the three-month free trial ends, and if the company doesn’t extend it like it did with Reliance Jio 4G free data offer, users will require paying a monthly or annual subscription fee. The official rate-card is not out yet, but there are reports that Jio GigaFiber plans will start at Rs 500 for 600GB (which is less than Rs. 1 per 1 GB) with a validity of up to 30 days and it could go all the way up to Rs 5,500 for 3000GB.