Jio Makes Another Set of Extremely Bold Announcements

Reliance Jio certainly knows how to stay in news, not just because of clever marketing but because of its extremely bold initiatives that is starting to make not just their competitors nervous but other industries like the cinemas, ISPs, cable companies, etc.

In the latest annual general meeting (AGM - video embedded below), their Chairman and Managing Director, Mukesh Ambani made some very interesting announcements. The complete statement is available here but here are the main points (from the report - note the CAPS is as shown in the report, not emphasized by me but the bold is by me):

• JIO's customer base has crossed 340 million users and they are signing up more than 10 million new customers EACH MONTH.
• The core and aggregation layers of our converged network have been 5G ready since day one
• Jio is now Ready to kickstart FOUR more engines of CONNECTIVITY REVENUE for Jio.

• INTERNET OF THINGS or IoT all over India.
• JIO has developed an innovative service on its pan-India 4G network called Narrowband Internet-of-Things or NBIoT, for short.
• Within another 2 years, it is estimated that there will be more than 2 Billion Connected IOT devices in India
• Jio aims to connect at least 1 BILLION of these on JIO's IoT platform
• This translates into a ₹20,000 CRORE PER YEAR revenue opportunity for JIO.
• Jio's IoT platform will be commercially available starting 1st January, 2020.
• HOME BROADBAND.
• Jio Fiber, currently in preview phase with 500,000 users but will launch commercially on September 5.
• The trial homes on average are consuming more than 100 GBs per month and this usage is increasing with each passing day.
• Jio has drawn up a plan to reach 20 million residences and 15 million business establishments in these 1,600 towns
• The company will offer plans from ₹700 ($10) to ₹10,000 ($140) with speeds up to 1Gbps.
• You get a landline phone connection, at no additional cost.
• And you get a DIGITALSET-TOP-BOX that opens up unparalleled digital experiences within your home
• ULTRAHIGH DEFINITION ENTERTAINMENT
• VIRTUAL REALITY content
• MULTI-PARTY VIDEO CONFERENCING
• VOICE-ENABLED VIRTUAL ASSISTANTS
• INTERACTIVE GAMING
• HOME SECURITY
• and many other SMART-HOME SOLUTIONS
• JIO SET-TOP-BOX to accept the broadcast cable TV signals from our LCO (Local Cable Operators) partners.
• BROADBAND for SMALL AND MEDIUM BUSINESSES.
• JIOFIBER enables a powerful combination of FIXED-LINE CONNECTIVITY and CLOUD APPLICATIONS leapfrogging them from NO TECHNOLOGY to having a complete line-up of cutting-edge, plug-and-play technology enabled tools.
• (Large) ENTERPRISE BROADBAND.
• Today cloud-based solutions provide out-of-the-box capabilities which are easier, faster and cheaper to adopt. JIOFIBER and JIO's cloud solutions level the playing field for Indian enterprises enabling them to accelerate their digital transformation and compete globally using the very same technologies that are used by global majors.
• JIOFIBER plan STARTS WITH 100 Mbps speed and we have plans all the way up to 1 Gbps or 1000 Mbps, plans will be priced between ₹700 to ₹10,000 per month to suit every budget and every need.
• Landline voice calls from home to any Indian operator - mobile or fixed - will be absolutely free forever.
• Bundled landline service will let them call any network in the country for free.
• Unlimited free calls to the US and Canada for ₹500 ($7) per month.
• JIOFIBER plans will come BUNDLED with subscriptions to most leading premium OTT applications.
• Premium JIOFIBER customers will be able to watch movies in their living rooms the same day these movies are released in theatres! This is called JIO FIRST-DAY-FIRST-SHOW. Jio plans to launch this service in the middle of 2020.
• A special mobility service for our JioFiber users called JIO POSTPAID PLUS, to deliver a platinum-grade service and product experience.
• India's first priority SIM-setup service at home, where your connection will be moved to Jio by visiting your home.
• Seamless Data and Voice Connectivity across all your devices, both at home and outside.
• Unprecedented Family plans – one data plan for better control on GBs and sharing within your family.
• International roaming at a fraction of a cost with superior service experience
• Phone upgrades at preferential rates
• All your home solutions on your phone.

• JIOFIBER customers who opt for our annual plans which we call JIO-FOREVER plans, will get an HD OR 4K LED TELEVISION and a 4K SET-TOP-BOX ABSOLUTELY FREE. We are calling this the JIOFIBER WELCOME OFFER.
• JIO is already a software company.
• JIO has over 6000 software engineers and we are continuing to attract technology talent from across India and the world.
• JIO is also investing in a growing ecosystem of technology startups.
• Blockchain technology all over India: Using Blockchain, we also have an opportunity to invent a brand-new model for data privacy where Indian data especially customer data is owned and controlled through technology by the Indian people and not by corporates, especially global corporations. Data is wealth and Indian wealth must remain in India
• Over the next 12 months, JIO will install across India one of the largest blockchain networks in the world with tens of thousands of nodes operational on day one.
• Edge computing and Virtual and Mixed Reality content: Delivering immersive content to hundreds of millions of users requires a well-integrated solution spanning connectivity, data storage and real-time computing. And we need to deploy such solutions at the edge of the network or in other words, closer to where our users are.
• JIO is setting up a pan-India Edge Computing and Content Distribution network again starting with tens of thousands of nodes.
• This means that your favourite content and applications will be even nearer to you. So even faster downloads and faster response times.
• CLOUD INFRASTRUCTURE across India: To leapfrog the world, it is a national imperative to develop a nation-wide cloud computing infrastructure that is both cutting-edge and affordable. Jio and Microsoft have entered into a globally unique long-term alliance to accelerate the digital transformation of our country. 
• As part of this alliance, while Jio sets up a network of large world-class datacenters across India, Microsoft will bring its Azure cloud platform into Jio's datacenters. 
• When we put these two pieces together, we now have the capability to develop truly India-native solutions including Speech Recognition and Natural language understanding for all major Indian languages and dialects.

As a result of the announcements, Reliance shares went up 12% in biggest intraday rise in decade; Airtel and Vodafone shares dipped. Some cinemas have been unnerved by Reliance Jio offer, leading multiplex companies hit back saying that they will not screen films that are released on OTT simultaneously.

A fact that was announced during the demo was that the amount of fiber already laid by Jio can circle the earth 11 times.

Here is the complete AGM video



Related Posts:

• Reliance Jio Announces Progress, Amid Decreasing ARPU
• The Rise of Reliance Jio Continues as it Acquires Over 250 Million Subscribers

MegaFon: The Russian Giant Focusing on 5G and Blockchain

In the 2017 Annual report released by Megafon, there is a lot of valuable information on what is it up to and what are its priorities.

Russia prides itself with by leading the mobile penetration table of the top ten most populated countries in 2017 by GSMA.

Russian telecoms is a rapidly growing market according to GSMA. According to AC&M Consulting, at the end of 2017, mobile connections totalled 255.4 million, with SIM card penetration at 179 %. Major Russian telecoms operators include MegaFon, MTS, VEON, and Tele2.

Operators derive most of their revenue from mobile services, but, with the market approaching saturation, new growth areas become increasingly important, including above all digital services such as mobile TV, Internet of Things, system integration, and e-commerce.

Mobile services remain the principal source of revenue for the Russian telecoms industry and account for more than half of the market. TMT Consulting estimates this segment’s share at 55 % in the total revenue for 2017.

In 2017, the Russian mobile market recovered after a two-year decline. According to TMT Consulting, the aggregate revenue from this segment grew by 1.5 % to RUB 891bn as compared to a 0.3 % decline in 2016.

This recovery of the mobile market is mainly due to weaker price competition among Russian major telecoms operators, operators phasing out unlimited plans, and strong performance of value added services in the B2B segment.

Despite a steady decline in the recent years, traditional mobile services (voice and texting) still generate the bulk of the segment’s revenue. Voice traffic volumes, however, have remained almost flat. According to the Russian Ministry of Telecom and Mass Communications, the aggregate voice traffic of Russian mobile operators was 455.8 billion minutes in 2017, just a 1 % increase over the last’s year 452.1 billion minutes.

The traffic growth was mainly due to the increasing demand for such mobile services as WhatsApp, Telegram, and Facebook Messenger. It was also driven by an increase in the share of stream video content viewed via YouTube and social networks. Own digital TV offerings from major telecoms operators and streaming music services are fast gaining popularity. For example, in 2017, MegaFon.TV’s subscriber base almost doubled, growing from 1.7 to 3.2 million users.

Telecom Daily estimates that at the end of 2017 over half of all mobile data traffic in Russia was attributable to 4G/LTE networks and generated by about 25 % of all mobile subscribers. According to TMT Consulting, LTE network users count 33 million subscribers, or 28 % of the total mobile subscriber base in Russia. According to GSMA, 55 % of all subscribers use 3G and 4G networks.

Apart from 4G expansion and new tariff promotions, the increase in mobile data traffic is also driven by growing numbers of subscribers with LTE-enabled and widescreen smartphones. These factors prompt users to view and send more HD images and videos, boosting the traffic considerably. The traffic growth was also facilitated by new tariff lines, such as ‘Vklyuchaisya!’ (‘Connect!’).

The company description according to MegaFon press releases is as follows:

MegaFon is a leading mobile operator active in all segments of the telecommunications market in Russia, as well as in Abkhazia, South Ossetia and Tajikistan. The company is a technology pioneer, having been the first to cover all regions in Russia and to roll out commercial 3G, LTE and LTE Advanced networks. MegaFon is currently supporting 5G development, promoting big data and IoT solutions.

Together with major Russian internet company Mail.ru Group, MegaFon is developing new digital solutions for individual and corporate clients.

MegaFon is an expert at setting up mobile services for events of national and international significance, including the Kazan Universiade, Sochi Olympics and Paralympics, and as a partner of the St Petersburg International Economic Forum. In 2017 MegaFon was appointed the supplier of infrastructure and additional services for the 2017 Confederations Cup and the 2018 World Cup.

MegaFon was the first company to complete blockchain bond placement in Russia in October 2017, and one of the first to do so globally, with Raiffeisenbank purchasing the entire RUB 500m issue.

In November 2017, MegaFon, AlfaBank and Sberbank made the Russian market’s first ever blockchain payment transaction, with MegaFon transferring RUB 1m to MegaLabs under the existing revolving credit facility agreement.

According to Gevork Vermishyan, MegaFon CFO, "We were the first in Russia to make a blockchain bond placement and a blockchain payment transaction in 2017. These transactions support our drive to be a champion of digital economy in Russia. We believe that blockchain technology offers significant opportunities and has potential to become a new standard in transaction data sharing. We are excited to spearhead the digital transformation of the financial market. I would like to thank the joint project teams that made this breakthrough possible."

More information on this is available here.

As all other large mobile operators, MegaFon is working on 5G. Last year, a press release mentioned that MegaFon and Huawei set an all-time mobile internet speed record for Russia, demonstrating the operation of a 5G network at speeds of 35 GB/s.

Another project in conjunction with Huawei is the Autonomous Electro Bus with 45 km per hour in Kazan 5G Pilot Project in 3400 – 3800 MHz spectrum band. This is using the 5G core with Huawei CPE amd uses the aggregation of two carriers, 100 MHz bandwidth each, complying to 5G NR 3GPP R15.

Another 5G vendor is Nokia. At SPIEF’18 pre-commercial terminal equipment was demonstrated within the fragment of 5G network. High speed video streaming was successfully presented. Nokia AirScale 5G New Radio Base Station in 26 GHz was used with 400 MHz channel and active massive MIMO. For the Terminal equipment, precommercial smartphone equipped with 5G Qualcomm® Snapdragon™ X50 chipset was used.

One of these Virtual Reality Penalty 5G Demo by Nokia is in the video below:

Recently, the Moscow Government and Megafon have signed an agreement to develop services and new digital technologies across the city. The five-year cooperation agreement, signed by the mayor, Sergei Sobyanin, during the St Petersburg International Economic Forum, includes projects in the spheres of virtual and augmented reality, IoT, smart city technology and 5G. 5G is a key component of Moscow’s Smart City 2030 strategy, which is due to be approved by the mayor by the end of the year.

We are looking forward to bringing more information on MegaFon when available.

Further Reading:

• Video: MegaFon - Pilot Zone 5G (In Russian)
• MegaFon Infrastructure Photos
• MegaFon 5G presentation (In Russian)
• ITU Presentation: "Findings and follow-up from 5G pilot projects in Russia" by Mr. Pavel Mamchenkov, Megafon
• MegaFon Annual Report 2017
• The Yin and the Yang of AI & Blockchain