Jio Platforms, Reliance’s digital subsidiary, has just released a new mobile phone and price options in an ongoing drive to win over customers who are “trapped” on the country’s antiquated 2G networks.
Jio Platforms’ new smartphone, dubbed “Jio Bharat,” supports 4G speeds and comes loaded with cutting-edge features like the ability to make mobile payments through UPI and use Jio’s in-house video and music streaming services, JioCinema and JioSaavn. (Additional features include a 48 GB storage capacity, the ability to add more space with a microSD card, a 2-inch screen, and a 0.3 megapixel VGA camera.)
It has been announced that in addition to producing its own Jio Bharat, the business would work with other manufacturers that will use the Jio Bharat Platform to create smartphones. The company led by billionaire Mukesh Ambani announced that Delhi-based Karbonn had joined the platform.
According to Reliance, the Jio Bharat may be purchased for 999 Indian rupees ($12.2). The Indian juggernaut claims that the Jio Bharat is aimed at the country’s 250 million customers who have avoided the 4G network because of its high cost. The phone is one piece of the package, but the real deal is the new cheap tariff plan.
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Jio’s New Monthly Plan Offers 7 Times More Data than Rivals
Jio Platform has introduced a new monthly package that provides 14GB of data consumption for the month in addition to unlimited voice calls for just 123 Indian rupees, or around $1.5. The annual subscription fee is 1,234 Indian rupees, or about $15.
Reliance has announced that the Jio Bharat will be available to customers beginning July 7 in a “beta trial.” They said the study is being conducted to “ensure scalability” of the platform and processes for upgrading “millions of feature phone users.”
A further development in that area is the new Jio Bharat smartphone. Reliance Jio chairman Akash Ambani said in a statement, “It is at the heart of innovation, and it continues to demonstrate our focus on bringing disproportionate and true value for different segments of users with meaningful, real-world use cases.”
Ambani has previously released the Jio Atri and Jio Bharat, both of which are low-priced smartphones. The richest man in India has released a slew of budget phones throughout the years. The JioPhone Next, the company’s first smartphone, was released around the end of 2021. An “extremely optimized” version of Google’s Android mobile operating system was offered for the initiative, marking a significant engagement with Google.
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JioPhone Next: Affordable Smartphone Made in India to Bring Internet to All
In 2021, Sundar Pichai announced that the JioPhone Next would be an inexpensive smartphone made in India with the idea that “everyone in India should benefit from the opportunities the internet creates.”
The $80 price tag of the JioPhone Next, however, slowed its widespread adoption.
The Jio Bharat “could disrupt the 2G market and help Jio gain share post fading success of Jiophone devices,” JP Morgan said in a study published on Tuesday.
While Vi only implemented this increase in one market, Bharti did so nationwide, increasing 2G pricing from Rs99 to Rs155. This game-changing move has the potential to put a stop to further increases in 2G rates and give JIO an advantage in that market. Jio’s aggressive postpaid contracts and fiber pricing entered the premium market in March of this year.
