2018 has been a huge year for Reliance Jio

2018 has been a huge year for Reliance Jio. From the launch of GigaFiber broadband to crossing 250 million subscribers mark, Jio remains an outlier in the financially stressed telecom sector in India. Even after achieving many firsts and scoring a number of wins, the telco is not slowing down. The company has already planned some big things for the next year, including an expansion of its much-touted fibre service and the launch of GigaTV. In this report, we are taking a look at what we can expect to see from the telecom operator in 2019.

Jio GigaFiber expansion
It has been over five months since Jio officially unveiled its GigaFiber broadband service at the company’s annual general meeting (AGM) with much fanfare, but the service is yet to see wider roll-out. The service is still in a soft launch phase with the company gauging user interest based on locations via registrations. Still, the company is quietly expanding the userbase with the new consumers being subscribed to the preview offer in several areas that have existing GigaFiber infrastructure.

It is expected that Jio will finally open the flood gates in March next year with the full launch. The company will reportedly announce the service plans at the same time. To remind you, GigaFiber is the company’s broadband service with up to 1Gbps speed and the company aims to connect up to 50 million homes in 1100 cities with GigaFiber over the coming years.

5G
Even though 5G is still years away from being a widely available service, Reliance Jio is already working to bring the next-generation network to its consumers. According to online reports, the company plans to launch 5G services as soon as six months after spectrum auction, which is likely to happen in mid-2019. An unnamed Jio official claimed that the company already has 5G-ready LTE networks and it is aggressively deploying optical fibre lines to enhance the backbone of this network. While we are unlikely to see an actual 5G launch from Jio in the next year, the company will very possibly start the network trials as soon the spectrum is allocated. The company is already performing localised live 5G trials. The government believes the transition from 4G to 5G will be quicker compared to transition from 3G to 4G.

Jio VoWi-Fi service
The voice over Wi-Fi (VoWi-Fi) is another service that Jio could be officially introduced next year. It has been in trials since July this year and the testing seems to have been recently expanded to multiple states, including Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, and Telangana. VoWi-Fi also known as Wi-Fi calling allows the telecom operators to keep the consumers connected even when the cellular signal is not available. It lets the consumers to continue or start voice calls over Wi-Fi in the absence of mobile network. Many of the existing smartphones already support VoWi-Fi and select others can get the support after a software update. It is unclear whether the service will be chargeable or free for the Jio users.

Jio Smart Home
Reliance Jio’s household ambitions aren’t limited to just GigaFiber or GigaTV services, the company plans to build a complete connected home platform on the back of its fibre network. This smart home play will include devices like smart speakers, Wi-Fi extenders, smart plugs, door sensors, TV cameras, audio/ video dongles, smart locks, thermostats, and various connected cameras. According to the details shared during the company’s AGM, the Jio Smart Home platform will enable the consumers to control nearly every aspect of their home from an application.

The company is expected to start offering smart home solutions soon after the GigaFiber commercial roll-out next year. Jio notes that the consumers won’t have to worry about setting up the smart home solution and the company will be responsible for everything. It claims that the while Jio Smart Home package can be installed in less than an hour by the company’s engineers.

Jio Enterprise Services
After disrupting the telecom sector in the country, Jio is now aiming to do the same with enterprise service market. The company’s enterprise offerings are reportedly already in a soft launch phase with the official launch expected in the next few quarters, making it possible for a 2019 debut. According to online reports, the company is looking to offer unified communications, cloud services, managed video conferencing, and more.