With its Jio 4G telecom services officially up and running, Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries Limited is gearing up to launch its Fiber to the Home (FTTH) broadband service in India. The service is called Jio Fiber and it will rolled out as a Preview in the coming weeks.
The company is apparently looking to give its FTTH service -- to be called Reliance JioFiber -- the same treatment it gave to its 4G telecom services in the initial run. Which means, just the way Jio 4G was available via Preview in the beginning; Jio Fiber will be available via Preview as well. But while Jio 4G was available for free for one and all, subscribers who register for Jio Fiber broadband Preview will be required to pay a refundable security deposit of Rs 4,500.
While it's largely being said that Jio Fiber broadband, when up and running, would offer up to 1GBps of speeds, the company -- at least during Preview - will offer speeds of up to 100Mbps. While it's still not exactly clear whether Jio Fiber broadband Preview will have the same three-month usage window as Jio 4G Preview did back in the day when it was free, but, the service will come with an FUP of 100 GB after which the speeds will go down to 1 Mbps. Furthermore, Jio Fiber broadband Preview is expected to go live starting with Mumbai and hopefully other cities will follow in the days to come. It's not all that surprising when you consider reports that the company is already conducting trial runs in Mumbai and Pune.
Nothing of this is official for now, but, it will be soon enough. For now Jio Fiber's official website -- which hasn't gone live yet -- is India Today Tech's basis for this report. The website, as of the moment is hidden for the general public but India Today Tech has managed to get some screenshots. Since all the information is coming straight from the horse's mouth, we can expect Jio Fiber broadband Preview to commence shortly.
Although, if you recall India Today Tech had earlier reported about the trial that Jio had started for the Fiber service in Mumbai. That trial was dubbed beta and was kind of a precursor for the Preview that will come out soon. The beta was also selectively available, while the Preview is likely to be available in more areas, within Mumbai, as well as in several other cities.
Although India is now home to a large number internet users, majority of them connect to the web using wireless connections like 2G, 3G, and 4G that are neither as fast as a good broadband nor as reliable. However, the neglect of the broadband sector has resulted in a situation where the wireless networks are clogged and even the wired services are poor, with users getting low speeds. Of late though the situation has improved after the arrival of ISPs like ACT. Jio's entry into the fiber broadband is likely to help users even more.
The impact of Jio Fiber, even when it is in a very early stage, is already visible. Sensing tough competition from Jio Fiber, Airtel recently announced the launch of V-Fiber that offers consumers in select cities and areas speeds of up to 100mbps using the ADSL2 technology. At the same time Airtel has also started ramping up its Fiber To The Home services, trying to expand it to more areas in the country. Currently Airtel's FTTH service offers speed of up to 100mbps
Meanwhile, Jio is is also gearing up to launch its DTH service with in-house smart TV boxes, but, there's very little information about them at this point of time.