Indian billionaire renews rural push with $12 4G phone
Reliance Jio said on Monday it would launch a 4G feature phone priced at 999 rupees ($12.19), the latest attempt by billionaire Mukesh Ambani's telecom arm to grab market share in India's massive and under-penetrated hinterlands.
Indian billionaire renews rural push with $12 4G phone
2T2C: Talent, Technology, Capital, Cognition

Indian billionaire renews rural push with $12 4G phone

Photo: AFP/NURPHOTO/INDRANIL ADITYA
Eurasia 06/07/2023 18:00

Reliance Jio said on Monday it would launch a 4G feature phone priced at 999 rupees ($12.19), the latest attempt by billionaire Mukesh Ambani's telecom arm to grab market share in India's massive and under-penetrated hinterlands, Reuters reported.

Jio, which famously disrupted the Indian telecom sector in the last decade by introducing cut-price tariffs, will roll out entry-level phones equipped with internet services like digital payment in its push to reach those who have not yet migrated to smartphones, according to Reuters.

"There are still 250 million mobile phone users in India who remain 'trapped' in the 2G era, ... at a time when the world stands at the cusp of a 5G revolution," Akash Ambani, chairman of Reliance Jio, said in a statement.

Currently, 4G feature phones account for less than 1% of the feature phone sales in India, per Counterpoint Research.

"Feature phone to smartphone transition has slowed down due to high learning curve for a lot of rural Indian users and Jio Bharat aims to bridge that gap," Tarun Pathak, analyst at Counterpoint Research told Reuters.

Feature phones are models that have higher functionalities than basic devices but falls short of the capabilities of a smartphone.

"4G is still a significant opportunity in India considering the 5G devices remain elusive from the sub-10,000 rupee segment ... and will also help Jio in giving consumers a taste if its services ecosystem," Pathak added.

The beta trial for the first 1 million so-called JioBharat phones will begin on July 7 and will take place across 6,500 tehsils or sub-districts in India, the company said.


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