Jio Updates: Jio Enters into Satellite Internet Biz

This update which came in February, 2022 is actually a big update, though Jio did it silently - Jio enters into satnet biz by founding Jio Space Technology Limited (JSTL) by creating a JV with Luxembourg based SES (Société Européenne des Satellites). 

Jio owns 51% of the JV, while SES holds the remaining 49%. SES is already an established player in satcom business and newly formed entity will use multi-orbit space networks that is a combination of geostationary (GEO) and medium earth orbit (MEO) satellite constellations capable of delivering multi-gigabit links (upto 100Gbps) and capacity to enterprises, mobile backhaul and retail customers across the length and breadth of India and neighbouring regions.

Jio Updates: Jio's Tower Arm Got New Branding under New Ownership

It is a late update #1 on Reliance Jio. 

Back in December 2019, Jio announced Canada-based Brookfield Infrastructure Partners LP and its institutional partners (including Singapore's sovereign wealth fund GIC) would bought Jio's telecom assets through some complex deal. The valuation was Rs 25,215 cr. In September 2020 DoT cleared the transaction.

Summit Digitel Infrastructure, which is the new name of the tower arm of Jio Infratel under new ownership, currently has 1,51,000+ operational telecom sites. 

Website of Summit Digitel: https://www.summitdigitel.com/

Facebook page of Summit Digitel: https://www.facebook.com/SummitDigitel/ 

In March 2022, BSNL has inked a pact to use Summit's passive infrastructure assests, while in April Airtel did similar agreement with it. 

In December 2020, Summit Digitel joins Tower and Infrastructure Providers Association (TAIPA). 

TAIPA has members like: Indus Towers Limited, ATC Group Companies, Tower Vision, Ascend Telecom Infrastructure, Sterlite Technologies, Space World, Coslight, Suyog Telematics, Applied Solar Technologies, iBus Networks and Summit Digitel Infrastructure.

TAIPA did a makeover in September 2021, as Digital Infrastructure Providers Association (DIPA) (https://dipa.co.in/). The rebranding came in the time to reposition itself as the representative body for digital communication industry players while aligning with future industry requirements.

List of India's telecom tower companies - here.

The article is a part of tracking Reliance Jio. 

Jio vs Airtel vs Vi - LTE/4G Speed Comparison !

After the amalgamation of Vodafone India and Idea Telecom, a new brand identity emerged in the Indian telecom scenario - Vi (pronounced as we). However analysts believe the new company, though incumbent in terms of operation is way far behind the top two - Jio and Airtel. 

But that does not mean Vi is not offering good services, they are changing their core strategy as per the market needs. Well the change is inevitable, and in the COVID situation it demands more innovation. Moreover globally big telecom players are repositioning them as a digital platform along with good digital services as backbone. 

Vi is not an exception. They are promoting their 4G services as GIGAnet, and many circles they are promoting their 4G services as 'India's fastest 4G'. Well that's not a completely wrong, as Vi 4G network is quite underutilized compared to Jio and Airtel, as Vi lost huge number of subscribers. 

Google Invests in Jio Platforms to Make Affordable 4G & 5G Phones

For Google, India is a great market for the company. Since 2015, when India born Sunchar Pichai became the CEO of Alphabet Inc, the holding company of  Google product family the company introduced several products/projects for India. Most important was Google backed WiFi hotspots in rail stations of the country under Google Station branding. Recently Google left the project as 4G based internet goes mainstream.

However Google has did its biggest move in India as the company is going to invest Rs 33,737 crore in Mukesh Ambani owned Reliance Industries' telecom and digital arm Jio Platforms announced during latest AGM meet of RIL. The investment translates into 7.7% stake sale of Jio Platforms to Google. The strategic investment by Google would be directed to making affordable, entry level 4G (and in future 5G) Android smartphones to support device ecosystem for Jio's indigenous 5G technology. 

The Google-Jio handsake is win-win for all - both companies, consumers and Indian government. It can usher 'Make in India' initiative of Govt of India. Reliance can create stronger ecosystem for its own digital platform and as 5G goes mainstream with cheap devices entry barrier will be demolished, Google backed Android ecosystem will be stronger. 

Intel and Qualcomm Infuse Strategic Investments in Jio

In the midst of pandemic, lockdown, and financial teardown, India's richest man, Mukesh Ambani owned Jio Platforms, a subsidiary of Reliance Industries becomes top tech company to invest. After the announcement of Facebook's investment in Jio in end of April '20, six American PE investors (SilverLake, Vista, General Atlantic, KKR, TPG and L Catterton), and three companies of Saudi Arabia and UAE would invest in Jio Platforms til middle of June '20.

Around a week back, on June 24th, Competition Commission of India (CCI) has approved Facebook’s proposed investment in Jio Platforms via its newly formed subsidiary Jaadhu Holdings LLC.

Is Jio Really Free from Any Chinese Components?

I would like to point out regarding Jio's stand on not using Chinese components. In February RIL chairman Mukesh Ambani told to US Prez D. Trump that Jio is the only operator in the world, which do not use a single Chinese component. Trump is found to be happy, and American companies invested in Jio heavily. 

What I want to say, Jio's core technology providers are not Chinese, but end-user devices like JioFi devices are coming from China. Jio is also probably using the SIM cards imported from China. 

Jio rolled out LTE with equipments solely from Samsung, which is a South Korean company. Inside their WiFi services, there is Rukus Wireless, Cisco and Mojos Network. 

Jio's WiFi Networks being Powered by Mojo

Jio since its begining is pushing its WiFi offering - the JioNet. Jio's public WiFi helps them to offload LTE data, and clutter off the network, also helps to serve into offices, educational institutes i.e. enterprise segment. 

Interestingly Jio expressed that the company is considering WiFi not as simple as an additional services (as during 2G period), rather it is a partner technology with Jio's pure play LTE based mobility strategy. Jio is now nearly having 2,00,000 hotspots running across the country. Jio and other Indian carriers have already launched Voice over LTE and VoWiFi technology - so offloading voice over WiFi is also in their strategy to overcome mobile signal coverage issues. WiFi calling is quite successful as Airtel and Jio saw the market response. However limited handsets support VoWiFi as of now. 


Also offering WiFi means better utilization of Jio's existing Fiber network. 

Reliance Jio Goes Debt-free, Plans to Bring Made-in-India 5G Solutions

Jio's stake sale is over, as the view expressed by investment firm JP Morgan. Starting from April 21st, Jio Platforms Ltd (JPL), the telecom and digital arm of Reliance Industries, owned by richest Indian Mukesh Ambani has started its stake sale. Ambani has set a target to make Reliance net debt free by March 31, 2021, and he achieved that target much before - 3 quarter early. Therefore it is expected that Jio, who already sold nearly one fourth of the company to foreign investors, will not go further. 

A tweet from Reliance Jio also hints to that, as the table summerizes all fund received into Jio. (table below)

Just like NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) made rockets, India's JPL or simply Jio has shown its growth like a rocket. It began from a scratch and developed as a greenfield pure 4G operator, backed by several app based ecosystem. 

Extended Stake Sale: Jio Got Five More Investments

Reliance Jio continues its stake selling spree. The sale extends from April to May, now to June of 2020. 

The June 2020 phase is full of investors from UAE and United States, the list includes Mubadala Investment Company (Abu Dhabi, UAE), Abu Dhabi Investment Fund (ADIF) and American PE firms, TPG (based at Greenwich, Connecticut) and L Catterton (Texas based). Already invested, Silver Lake is also investing more money in Jio Platforms Ltd in June.

Date	Company	Investment	Stake acquired
April 21	Facebook	Rs 43, 574 Cr	9.9%
May 4	SilverLake	Rs 5,655.75 Cr	1.15%
May 8	Vista Equity	Rs 11,367 Cr	2.32%
May 17	General Altantic Partners	Rs 6598.38 Cr	1.34%
May 22	KKR & Co.	Rs 11,367 Cr	2.32%
June 4	Mubadala Investment Co	Rs 9,093.60 Cr	1.85%
June 7	Abu Dhabi Investment Fund (ADIF)	Rs 5683.50 Cr	1.16%
June 5	SilverLake	Rs 4,546.80 Cr	0.93%
June 13	TPG	Rs 4,546.80 Cr	0.93%
June 13	L Catterton	Rs1,894.50 Cr	0.39%

Jio in a Fundraising Mode, Gets investment 4th & 5th ones from GA & KKR

Mukesh Ambani is unstoppable to bring one after another investment for his dream project, Jio to 'further propel Jio's vision of enabling a digital society for India'. In a month Jio Platforms fetched a hopping total of 78,562 crore rupees of investment from different American companies including social giant Facebook. 

Investment from Facebook, SilverLake and Vista Equity has already been published on my earlier post. Recent investments in Jio would be coming from General Atlantic Partners and KKR ＆ Co. Both companies are headquartered in New York.

General Atlantic is one of the early investor in Uber and Airbnb. Definitely they are looking towards change in India's digital ecosystem. 

Jio is Getting More Investments from America

Amidst lockdown India's richest man and his son, Mukesh Ambani and Akash Ambani is busy with their video conferences as they are drawing investment from overseas one after another. 

On April 21, 2020 Facebook announced Rs 43,574 crore investment into Jio Platforms, and in two weeks Jio got two more investments from America. 

Facebook Invests in Jio Platforms - Market to be Rattled?

At the end of April, 2020 Facebook announced it will invest Rs 43,574 crore ($ 5.6 billion) in Jio Platforms Ltd for 9.9% stake. This transaction marks largest foreign direct investment for a minority investment in India. Check Facebook announcement on their official post. During Covid-19 pandemic and lockdown, Ambani backed RIL did a great job which could indirectly help India's economy. 

The deal indicates Mark Zuckerberg, the man behind Facebook wants a pie in the digital marketplace of India. Because on the official post, there is a picture saying about a 50 year old company who is using Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp to reach new customers. 

For Facebook, Jio could be their protector in India, as Fb has regulatory issues back in 2016 with its Free Basics programs. Also Zuckerberg wants to enter e-commerce space, but Jeff Bezos owned Amazon holds lion's share in its domestic market. China could not be an option for Facebook where investment is tricky, competition with similar local offerings would be fierce, and state regulations are so strict and unethical at point. India is best option for Mark, as Indians are already heavily using his products - Fb, Insta and WApp. Known customers could give him better applause. 

Jio to Charge for Offnet Calls, to Push TRAI to drop IUC?

Jio, the dream telecom and digital project by Mukesh Ambani was a pioneer in many things in Indian telecom, which I explained in earlier article. Most prominently Jio cut down the tariff drastically that none of the incumbents thought of. The unlimited data (per day 1.5 Gig of data, then FUP) and truly unlimited voice calls from Jio made the incumbents think differently and they were compelled to follow Jio's way of tariffs. However Jio stops unlimited calls w.e.f. 10th October 2019, onnet calls will be free and calls to other network will be charged at 10p/mi.

Back in 2008-09 Virgin Mobile was offering 10p/min of balance credited for incoming calls, yes they were getting paid from the call originating network at 20p/min as IUC (interconnect usage charge) and was generous enough to pay back to customers.

TRAI reduced IUC to 14p/mi in 2015, and then again IUC reduced to just 6p/mi from October 1st, 2017. TRAI wanted to make IUC zero from January, 2020.

Reliance Piramal Deal in Near Future?

As Times Now reported few hours back, Piramal and Reliance Industries will start a joint venture along with SoftBank.

It is still not sure about RIL's presence in the JV, but stakes are high that new in-laws will tie a business knot.

Now big question remains, what will the focus of this yet to be formed JV between Piramal, Ambani and SoftBank. SoftBank is eyeing for a re-entry into India's e-commerce market, while RIL is still playing softly with AJio. Piramal has no existence in that market, as far as I know.

Piramal is a big name in Indian pharma industry, and Reliance can think to tap that market of healthcare in a country with more than 130 cr people.

I am betting on Indian healthcare sector to get a new player. As of now I don't have idea what they are gonna target? e-health ? Wait, first be Reliance confirmed in it!

Update: All hints indicated to fintech JV and SoftBank is already there. No confirmation of Reliance Jio's inclusion in that JV as of now. It should be noted that Jio Money is already afloat from the time of inception of Jio. 

Mukesh Ambani to Get Investors in Jio and its Fiber and Tower Subsidiaries

Reliance Jio became second largest telecom operator in India by the end of April, 2019 beating Airtel, that's nearly 2.5 years after Jio have launched services. While Vodafone Idea achieved 300 million customers after the merger, Airtel crossed that mark in its 19th years of operations. 

Currently Jio has 30.6 crores of subscribers, while first boy Vodafone Idea stands at 40.9 cr and Airtel stands at 28.4 cr. It should be noted that Airtel was market leader for nearly 15 years until Vodafone and Idea merged their business in August 2018 to become new top. 

Back in August 2018, Jio surpassed Vodafone India to stand second as per Revenue Market Share (RMS), while Airtel remained first. Analysts expect Airtel's top spot may be snatched by Jio as early as within next 2 quarters. Jio may also topple Vodafone Idea's top position as largest customer base in less than a year. Reliance Jio is making a profit in its operations and boasts of highest adjusted gross revenue (AGR) in access services amongst all telecom companies 

There are few more advances inside Jio. 

Jio Brings Happy New Year Offer, Free Services til 31st March 2017

As Jio promised to extend its free offerings to the subscribers til 31st March 2017, we are now getting texts from Jio regarding that too.

MyJio app also started showing migration notice: 

5 Roadblocks for Jio to Win over Incumbents

Jio, the digital platform from the house of Reliance Industries has shaken the Indian telecom and digital scenario in a way which nobody can ignore. India’s business tycoon Mukesh Ambani’s ambitious greenfield telecom project Jio is being targeted as a digital platform over Jio’s own LTE network expanding over 2300MHz, 1800MHz and 850MHz.

However Jio’s datagiri sees roadblocks in many ways, so that the company has to extend its unlimited offerings for another 3 months til 31st of March, 2017.

Voice Network Yet to be Stable

Unlike existing players who depend on 2G/3G networks for voice calls Jio offers voice over LTE network. Though technically Jio’s VoLTE is better than traditional voice network there are many glitches which are experienced by subscribers of Jio. Jio did a great job to open up the interconnectivity between other operators after a fight but that’s not enough.

For example I often can’t make calls when data connectivity is on, I need to switch off data before making the call. Sometimes there is no sound during a call.

Being voice is the major applications on a telecom network, nobody would make Jio as their primary connection, rather use others who have stable voice network.

2020 September Update: Jio now has very stable IP based VoLTE services. 

Coverage Issues

Jio on its first go, have covered almost 70-80% of areas but in many places it has no network. During my travel to Harit, 30km away from Kolkata there is no Jio network. Similar to this Bakkhali, a popular beach in West Bengal has no Jio 4G coverage.

However this is the initial days of Jio and they will definitely iron out coverage issues.

2020 September Update: Jio now has widest 4G coverage. Thanks to Jio's LTE800 the indoor coverage is also best among 4G operators. 

Technical Help is Almost Nil

Apart from Reliance Digital Stores and toll free helplines Jio subscribers have nowhere to go to seek help. But I often faced the situation where Digital guys could not solve the problems.

Jio need to take care of it, very seriously. They should use the social media to tackle issues of subscribers like Airtel, Vodafone and others as they use Twitter to reach customers and solve their problems.

2020 September Update: Jio ironed out most technical glitches in a way, that you don't need the help 95% of times. 

Competition from Others

Thankfully launch of Jio brings super affordable data & voice services from almost all operators. Airtel, Vodafone & Idea has responded accordingly and the game is not won by Jio. Price game is yet to work for Jio and Jio remains to be the second SIM on our daily usage.

If you follow Airtel’s latest traffic revision, they are offering unlimited calls & 1GB data at Rs 350 approx. and 4GB data at Rs 250. So in total for Rs 600 you are getting offers similar to Jio on a stable (if not superior) network.

2020 September Update: Competition is there, market is consolidated heavily - the active operators are now Jio, Airtel, Vi and BSNL-MTNL. Tariff revision happened, and Jio is no more cheapest operator. More or less every operator offer the same. Phone calls are virtually free thanks to unlimited calling + calling over apps, if you spend Rs 5-6 per day. 

Slow Data Network

Lastly we must talk about Jio’s slower data services on its legacy LTE network. As Jio’s services are free, nobody is nagging regarding it. But it’s an important issue that Jio must resolve before subscribers start paying for it. Right now on my personal experience Airtel & Vodafone’s 3G & 4G services are better in terms of speed and stability.

2020 September Update: In my experience Airtel still offers most robust 4G network, but inside a house Jio is better - based in Barrackpore. But whenever I go to Kolkata metropolitan area, the signals of all operators seem to be same. 


Many may think that I am too much negative and getting harsh on this new baby of Indian telecom, for them I had something to say: this new boy has country's richest dad, so don't spoil him.

The article was first published on Telecomtalk.info on 21st Dec, 2016.

JIO Kolkata : Band 3 Gets Total 10MHz, Better Speed Sparked

In most of the parts of Kolkata, Jio begins operations with 20MHz x 2300MHz (Band 40), 5MHz x 1800MHz (Band 3) and 5MHz x 850MHz (Band 5, from RCom) to cover up indoor and outdoor. 

As I found yesterday Jio now adds another 5MHz in 1800MHz (Band 3) in Kolkata - making use of 2 x 5MHz channels on this band. It improves both downlink and uplink immediately as I experienced in Barrackpore, Northern suburb of Kolkata. 

Apart from Rajasthan and Kolkata, Jio does not have its own 10MHz spectrum in 1800MHz band. So in other circles Jio will create 2 channels of 5MHz on 1800MHz by sharing spectrum from RCom, but I guess it will take some time. 

Jio Sets to Change Indian Telecom Landscape : My Take

It has been nearly a month after India's richest man Mukesh Ambani has announced his ambitious telecom project - digital services of Reliance Jio. Jio is different from all existing mobile operators of the country by many ways.

Jio is completely green field operator which has only 4G-LTE network without any fall back 2G/3G network. And since its network went online it continues to offer services free of cost to its customers and will be free til 31st December 2016.

Let's see how Jio changes the market.

Huge Footfall in Reliance Digital Stores

Reliance Digital stores are yet to make a spot as a cheap store for gadget lovers. We at Kolkata still depends on Chandni market or more recently on online stores. Reliance Digital stores had few visitors, however after Jio announced free SIM at Digital stores, people are now visiting these stores. And it becomes a crowd.

JIO Data Speed Fell Drastically within 3 Weeks of Launch Announcement

I am bit hurry while typing down this story. Let's cut it short, for last 3 days I found that JIO's downlink is quite slow, and very much slow whenever I go indoor and Jio LTE moves to LTE1800 or LTE850.

Using the Jio's Netvelocity app, I checked out all three LTE frequencies - Band 40/Band 3/Band 5

Location : Barrackpore
Time : 00:00 to 01:00 am, 2016-09-24