One year ago, Mukesh Ambani launched his campaign of strengthening PM Modi’s dream of Digital India with the following words “Jio is dedicated to realizing our Prime Minister’s vision for 1.2 billion Indians. Jio will give the “power of data” to each Indian to fulfil every dream and to collectively take India to Global Digital.”
The idea of providing such a generous service of free and unlimited access to data, voice calls, SMS, struck him when her daughter was facing internet connectivity glitches way back in 2010. And within nearly 6 years, to make the life of Indians easier, he started his venture with initial investment of Rs 1.5 trillion.
One year down the line, it can be seen that Jio is marching in the right direction and at a breakneck pace.
It was speculated that India will hugely improve its poor rank of 155 in providing mobile internet access. The statistics and response approve this argument. After the entry of Jio in market, Mobile data consumption saw a hefty growth of about 650 % from 20 crore GB per month to over 150 crore GB per month.
Earlier big players like Airtel, Idea, Vodafone etc. used to hit hard on customers’ pocket by charging around Rs 300 for 1 GB 3G/4G data for 1 month. But when Jio made its grand debut, it posed a double shot for such companies as they lost their customer base and revenues heavily in the competitive conditions where Jio proved to be the best while alluring customers through its plans like 1GB 4G data per day for 84 days, along with unlimited calling at a cost as low as Rs 399 .
According to TRAI data from June 2017 to August 2017 and Internet Speed test Analysis, Jio’s more than 90 % rate of signal availability and and an exceptional speed of 18.3 MBps drives to the front seat in telecom sector where as others are lagging behind with an average of less than 65 % signal availability and 10-12 mbps internet speed.
The company has around 130 million subscribers currently and approximately 11 % share in the market making it 4th largest after Airtel, Vodafone and Idea. Keeping in mind the dynamism and requirements of the market, Jio is planning to introduce a feature phone on a refundable security deposit of Rs 1500. It will amplify the subscribers base and subsequently be crossing 200 million mark by March 2018. Talking about Jobs creation, in September 2016, Jio had 60,000 employees and as of now it has crossed the figure of 1 lakh with an average age 30-32 of each employee.
It’s rightly said, “No Risk, No Business” which implies in order to garner the advantage of best market situations, a businessman should take calculated risks. In the era of Globalization where businesses are only motivated by profitability, Reliance Group, opposite to this, has completely realized its corporate social responsibility by contributing to the modernization of Indian Economy through its spectacular and free telecom services. Some alleged that Jio breached the competitive market spirit by deliberately keeping lowest prices but thinking rationally, it has promoted the ‘fair play’ strategy by hijacking the unscrupulous means (for instance deliberately deducting balance when consumer did not subscribe to any caller tune, videos etc) used by ”others”. In this game of thrones, the consumer proves to be the real winner. As for Jio’s competitors, it is nothing short of a nightmare. They are truly scared of Reliance Jio.