Jio Scanbox in Reliance Digital Store [Photo]

Jio Updates - Media Agency, AjioFashion, Lyf Devices

Back in June-July of 2015 McCann Worldgroup India (Prasoon Joshi is the chairman of its Asia Pacific business) was in the front to grab Jio's advertisement deal. McCann was in the same position for Aircel 4 years back. ​McCann earlier was in charge of ad campaign of Cheers Mobile (Etisalat-DB Group's joint venture), which was shut down in 2012 after Supreme Court's verdict. [link]

However there was no more update regarding that. We can assume that McCann did not get the contract. 

3 Mistakes of Reliance Jio

India's one of the largest conglomerate Reliance Industries had launched its 4G services under Jio brand among its employees in December last year. Since then Jio is working hard for commercial roll out and continuing their previous business strategy they keep all stuffs under wrap. Many speculated that Jio may be launched  after 90 days of soft launch, that is April is the time for Jio. But this did not happen yet.

If you see the media reports and analysis around you (including us) everyone is talking about how Jio can beat incumbents and how incumbents beat Jio or how Jio can disrupt Indian telecom. All stories are saying same thing more or less. I must say I am bored too to speculate Jio's launch and services. Let's talk about Jio's failed strategy.

Missed First Mover Advantages

Jio, being a greenfield telecom venture is taking more time to launch. Also under powered 4G ecosystem & VoLTE (which would be the voice platform for Jio) keeps them busy to make the commercial launch delayed.

Now entry of Jio was confimed back in 2010 when it bought out Infotel, pan India BWA winner. Every year Jio's launch is anticipated but does not happen.

2010-2016 - it has been a long time and Airtel began its 4G operations in 2012 and now present over 300+ markets. Though Jio missed the first mover advantage but initially Airtel's wait-n-watch policy to 4G gave Jio a second chance. But again Jio missed it. Thus incumbents (A-Vo-Id group) got their time to shuffle their 4G business. Idea and Airtel are expanding real fast while Vodafone is connecting its major markets with 4G/LTE.

Airtel, largest operator in the country also packed its bag with more spectrum acquiring Aircel and Videocon partially. With the upgraded spectrum bank Airtel is no longer at a position down to Jio, rather completely prepared for Jio's entry.

LYF smartphones can't be a part of lives of Young People:

As Jio preparing for 4G launch, Reliance Industries's digital retail arm, Reliance Digital has launched its own smmartphone brand - LYF.

In 2003 when Mukesh Ambani launched Reliance India Mobile, he came up with its own handsets at subsidized price with lots of free goodies. The strategy worked as RIM was a CDMA player. But LTE market is already like GSM in India, people are using their own handsets. Til now Airtel is offering reverse bundling with selected handsets like from Samsung.

LYF smartphones are made by Chinese OEMs like ZTE and some other little known companies like CK Telecom, packed with moderately good specs but priced not accordingly compared to what other handset makers are offering. LYF Earth 1 costs Rs 19500 approx. and Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 costs 9999/11999 but RN3 comes with way better specs. This is just an example. LeTV, Oppo, Vivo, Gionee - all have better speced and lowered priced devices which supports LTE on 800/1800 Mhz (FDD), on 2300 Mhz (TDD) as well as VoLTE and VoWiFi.

So why someone would buy LYF smartphones? Even if Jio packs amazing free goodies LYF smartphones will have few takers. Young geberation now don't buy phones for making calls, texting or internet surfing; smartphones are more than that.

And if Jio restricts the offer only with LYF smartphones, it will be a total disastrous plan for the company.

Update: In May Jio has started offering services to everyone via an invitation system. But there is a catch you need to buy a LYF phone from Reliance Digital. You will get unlimited everything for 90 days. But if you already bought a LYF phone, the offer is not applicable to you.

Flawed Media Strategy

From the very begining Jio started playing games with media. Atleast once in 2 weeks every newspaper talk about Jio. The whole media hype makes Jio like a upcoming god in Indian telecom. I believe that Jio intentionally did these to be in the limelight and to create a customer base who will jump into Jio once it is launched. However with this much of delay, and 4G options from other operators Jio fanboys are reducing in number.

Investors and shareholders of Reliance Industries are also made confident about Jio with these media reports.

Ultimately all are bullshit. Jio is yet to have proper media handler and as of now RIL mediapeople is handling it.

What they missed, Jio's digital services are actually tech thing and young people push these stuffs working. Many tech bloggers are frustrated as Jio doesn't offer a taste of Jio LTE/4G and other digital services.

Overall Jio is a mess, but as they are on beta mode of commercial launch they are now out of danger - DoT can't take steps to Jio. 

MTS India EVDO Rev A Speedtest Review (April 2016)

MTS India has one of the best 3rd generation data network in the country. They are using EVDO Rev A and Rev B technology for wireless broadband access.

Location: Kolkata/Barrackpore
Device: HTC Desire 510's Hotspot --- connected to Gionee D1
Time: April. 2016

Reliance Communications (RCOM) to Launch 4G in India, to Shut Down CDMA by End of 2016

More than 1 year back, I posted a story that will Reliance Communications shut down its CDMA business? The reason behind earlier forcast was Jio might buy out RCom's CDMA assets incl. spectrum and all.

However after nearly 16 months, now the situation is like this: 

1. Jio has 800 MHz spectrum in 10 circles.
2. Jio and RCom will share 800MHz band
3. RCom will merge with MTS - more 800MHz spectrum for LTE deployment by RCom as well as Jio as both share the spectrum.
4. RCom will merge with Aircel - RCom will have 10MHz 3G spectrum in several circles, as well as RCom will have more spectrum on 1800MHz band in all circles, which will eventually used for 4G.

In April this year DoT has approved 800MHz spectrum sharing between Jio and RCom (+ RTL) in 9 circles - Mumbai, Uttar Pradesh (East), Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Orrisa, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Assam and North East.

While merging with MTS India will give Rcom more spectrum on 800MHz band, and that will be sufficient for RCom to roll out LTE800. So in the mean while, RCOM starts 4G on 800MHz trials and keeps its CDMA users informed about its own upcoming 4G launch and will migrate its approx 5 million CDMA customers to 4G in due time (probably started from May, date is yet to be fixed). 

JioMoney - A look into Jio's Mobile Wallet System

Digital Wallet services are booming in India, and Reliance Jio can't take away their hands on this digital services and has launched JioMoney. Though it's not yet to be released for all customers, and mainly being used by RIL employees, you can still download the iron before polishing for here: https://appstore.jiomoney.com/

There are already several digital wallet services in the market - PayTM, Momoe, PayUMoney, Mobikwik, Citrus Pay, State Bank Buddy, Citi MasterPass, ICICI Pockets, HDFC Chillr, Axis Bank's LIME, Oxigen, mRupee, FreeCharge ... may be more will be added in the list.

The popularity of these digital wallet services are increasing day by day, thanks to India's young population who are experiencing through internet revolution.

Once you downloaded the apk of JioMoney, you can install it without any hassle. Now after it's installed let's roll it.

All LYF Smartphones in Comparison

Reliance Industries (RIL) is all way out for its commercial launch of 4G services under Jio brand name. On the devices part, RIL's subsidiary Reliance Digital has launched its own LYF smartphones with LTE, VoLTE and VoWiFi support.

Lyf smartphones website: https://www.mylyf.com/

Jionet App Review (for Jionet WiFi Users)

Jionet, an app from Jio Digital is for Jionet WiFi users. It's similar to Ozone Connect app.

However it requires logging in too. But you can log in with out Jio Id, as like accessing Jionet needs your mobile no, Jionet app can be used with your mobile no. As soon as you feed it your mobile no, Jio will send you a OTP for log in. The best part I feel, under the hood of Jionet app, OTP is sent your mobile no. as a sms very fast compared to manually web log in to Jionet WiFi.

Reliance CDMA EVDO RevA Review (Speedtest & NetVelocity app)

April, 2016: Reliance Communications (RCOM) is its way to roll out 4G, probably on 800MHz liberalized spectrum (in some circles it will share Jio's network and vice versa) and CDMA users of RCOM will have the option to upgrade to 4G from CDMA.

After a long time I checked Reliance CDMA EVDO Rev A speed. And it's pretty mediocre - downlink is around 1Mbps and uplink is around 500-800kbps.

I used RECRUCXXXXXXXXX series Reliance CDMA RUIM on HTC Desire 510 and connected my Gionee Dream D1 to R-CDMA-RevA over Hotspot.

Idea 3G Speedtest via Jio's NetVelocity App

Time - April 2016
Location: Kolkata

Tested twice - on Idea's own 3G network and on Vodafone's 3G network (via ICRA)

On Idea's own 3G Network (2100MHz)

Idea 3G on Vodafone's Network (404-30)

Speedtest.net Results

on Idea 3G : http://www.speedtest.net/my-result/a/1845781522

http://www.speedtest.net/my-result/a/1708529166 

On Vodafone 3G : http://www.speedtest.net/my-result/a/1846676396

List of Jio Apps (with Short Analysis)

In my earlier article, I shared the Jio Appstore link and how to get the apps to install on your mobile/tablet.

Bharti Airtel's 4G Spectrum Details (April 2016)

After acquisition of Aircel's asset of 20MHz 2.3GHz spectrum in 8 circles, Airtel has its share of 4G/LTE (LTE-TDD and LTE-FDD) in all of 22 telecom circles of the country. Please see the map and the chart to understand Airtel's liberalized spectrum bank on 2300MHz and 1800MHz band which will be used for 4G roll out.

JioApp - NetVelocity Speedtest App : First Glimpse

NetVelocity is an Android app from Reliance Jio Digital, which is similar to popular Speedtest.net. Unlike Speedtest.net app, you can not choose the servers as you wish. All downlink or uplink data are coming from or to Reliance Jio Infocomm servers.

The App is terrificly good looking !!!

[PR] European and Asian operators look to emulate T-Mobile’s Binge On success

European and Asian operators look to emulate T-Mobile’s Binge On success

-- Mobile operators are turning to Openwave Mobility to monetize their video offerings --

REDWOOD CITY, Calif – April 7, 2016 – A growing number of European and Asian mobile operators have engaged Openwave Mobility, a software innovator enabling operators to manage and monetize encrypted mobile data, to explore how they can utilize optimization technologies to introduce highly competitive video packages. This trend follows the recent launch of T-Mobile USA’s Binge On plan. A number of carriers are now looking for solutions that can go beyond simply streaming video.

To help mobile operators realize the benefits of launching plans such as this and which could include services such as video, music and gaming, Openwave Mobility has developed a data-monetization calculator which can take into account different factors and market conditions to demonstrate the business case for deploying optimization technology for a range of services to boost revenues and reduce network loads.

Simultaneously Openwave Mobility has streamlined the onboarding and integration process for operators launching new video services. Its NFV-enabled solutions provide full coverage straight-out-of-the-box with Quality of Experience (QoE) automatically maintained. This empowers mobile operators to forge partnerships with Over The Top (OTT) providers and quickly launch new innovative services and secure new revenue streams. 

Openwave Mobility was the first in the industry to launch HTTPS video detection heuristics to maximize video QoE for subscribers and the company’s mobile data management solutions can lower bitrates by as much as 40% for streaming services. Carriers can also manage network utilization via an enhanced real-time video MOS (Mean Opinion Score) system to maintain consistent video QoE.

“There are strategies mobile operators can adopt to go beyond what Binge On has achieved so far” said John Giere, President& CEO of Openwave Mobility. “They can increase ARPU by 10% and attract new subscribers with innovative plans. Best of all, they can deliver outstanding quality and still lessen the load on their network.”

John Giere continued: “Our technology empowers operators to call the shots. They can agree with OTT providers what content can be zero-rated and under what conditions. It is your network – take control.” 

About Openwave Mobility

Openwave Mobility empowers mobile operators to manage and monetize encrypted traffic. Based on the industry’s most scalable NFV platform our solutions alleviate RAN congestion, create new revenue opportunities and unify subscriber data. The company provides solutions for mobile data optimization, targeted promotions and subscriber data management.

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Jio Security - Jio Digital App Review

Jio Security is probably an antivirus or anti-malware app from Jio Digital Services. It's locked i.e. can be used with Jio ID. Powered by Norton, Jio Security is definitely to look into your devices' security. But I don't now why we need Jio ID to use this app. May be Jio paid hefty to Norton to use their engine on Jio Security.

switch N walk - Jio App Review

This is Jio's take on SuperBeam or Lenovo's ShareIt. Simple app works well. You DO NOT need a JIO Id to use this app.

My Jio - Jio App Review

Note that the MyJio is probably previously known as JioWorld and you can't unlock all of its features unless you have a Jio Id.

XNET WIFI - Barrackpore (Free 30mi Daily)

In January 2016 I found an advertisement in my native place, Barrackpore. A new broadband company - Xtra Broadband aims to offer free WiFi (for first 30 minutes everyday) in my place. The concept is similar to Tata Docomo WiFi or Ozone WiFi.

Xtra Communication is powered by DiGiNET WiFi, which offers wireless broadband in my locality over WiFi (similar to Tikona).

I called that no, 9330006006 and they informed me it's still under trial and official launch could be by January 26, 2016.

Try Jio Apps Now on Your Mobile

Are you waiting for Jio to come? Well the wait is partially over, as you can enjoy some of their app on your android smartphone withour any hassle.

Open this link   https://jioappstore.jio.ril.com/cms/ on your mobile, tap on any app, you can be a beta tester with your Google account. (in some apps give your direct download link of the APKs)

Beta Tester FAQ is here

[Press Release] UCWeb, Flipkart join hands to launch mobile-site on UC Browser

UCWeb, Flipkart join hands to launch mobile-site on UC Browser

-Mobile web continues to play a significant role in India’s ecommerce space-

New Delhi, April 06, 2016 – UCWeb, the maker behind UC Browser, India’s No. 1 mobile browser with over 55% market share (according to StatCounter) and a business within Alibaba mobile business group, has partnered with ecommerce major Flipkart in an effort to offer its users shopping on the go. Flipkart site, now available on the home screen of UC Browser, will offer a seamless and enhanced shopping experience to users on web, even under low network availability.

The newly launched mobile-site aims to provide a top-notch experience to shoppers with core features such as search, offers and cart. Flipkart will gradually integrate advanced features in the subsequent releases. The mobile site is an endeavour to provide the users with a smoother, faster and more interactive flow than other mobile sites.