After making huge inroads in the telecom market with extremely cheap 4G internet and free voice calls for smartphone users, Reliance Industries is looking to disrupt the feature phone market, with launch of the Jio Phone.
Announcing the plans at the company's annual general meeting on Friday, RIL Chairman Mukesh Ambani unveiled aggressive plans for feature phone users.
The Jio Phone looks like any other feature phone, but will be 4G LTE compatible and users will also be able to make calls, send messages and browse the internet via voice commands.
The phone will also come pre-installed with Jio apps like Jio Cinema and Jio Music.
The phone will be up for order from August 24 and deliveries begin on a first-come-first service basis from September.
The phone will be sold after making a security deposit of Rs 1,500, which will be refunded if a user returns the device after three years. This effectively makes it available at zero cost.
"Jio is reinventing the feature phone today with the Jio phone," announced Ambani, amid huge chants and whistles from shareholders.
Jio phone users can avail the Jio Phone with a Rs 153 per month Dhan Dhana Dhan plan, which will include free voice calls and data.
Smaller weekly and two day packs will also be offered at Rs 54 and Rs 24 respectively, Ambani informed.
Reliance Jio launched its 4G Volte telecom services from September 2016. The services were offered for free till March 2017, after which paid plans were launched.
Jio says, it has close to 125 million customers on its network now.
RIL continues to expand its 4G footprint across the country.
"In the next 12 months, Jio will reach 99 per cent of the population. The 4G network coverage in India is expected to more tha 2G network coverage, thanks to Jio," Ambani said.
Reliance Jio is also expanding physical distribution network to reach more pockets of India's hinterlands.
The free voice calls and cheap data prices has put a pressure on the incumbent operators like Bharti Airtel, Vodafone and Idea Cellular, who have also now offered cheap data and voice plans to compete with that of Jio.
The Jio Phone launch will also make incumbents go back to the drawing board and one can expect a renewed price war as companies look to hold on to their customers who are still using feature phones.
