Dinesh Kamath's Editorial 'Milestone in Indian mobile history?' that was published in Newsband

Milestone in Indian mobile history?

Mukesh Ambani’s fourth-generation telecommunication services through Reliance Jio shook up the telecom market. From making voice calls and domestic roaming completely free to offering 4G data connectivity at a fraction of the average market tariff. This has altered pricing dynamics.

With more than 90 per cent of almost 350 million Indians currently accessing the Internet on mobile devices, the availability, affordability and quality, in terms of browsing speeds, of the data service will be tested. Now everything will depend on the reliability of the service that Reliance ends up providing. This move by Ambani will take a short-term knock on some operating parameters such as average revenue per user, average margin per user, subscriber churn, and data revenue growth. But the long-term health of the industry is unlikely to be seriously impaired as the size of the market in India is large enough to absorb one more player. It does show promise of bringing the drastic change in Information and technology and this is indeed the finest way to reach the nation’s goal.  

The fact that making voice call and domestic roaming is completely free in reliance jio 4G has surprised each citizen. If such ambitious project of reliance group will be successfully activated then, the dream of digitalization of India will also be fulfilled. Then, it will also prove helpful in making our country eco-friendly and many more.

But, consumers must pay caution in any case because something seems doubtful in this liberality. Both Reliance and the Indian customers are taking risk. The success depends on the speed, quality of service, profit and benefit to both Reliance and its customers. Hope it will not be another spectrum business. It is a matter of competition and challenge.

For the time being Reliance’s risk is appreciable. Surely we need change in our information technology when we produce more goods and services. This is a milestone in Indian mobile history, this may affect other telecom companies providing 4G facility. Providing such a speed network at a very low cost is really awesome.

Our country needs more services like this. If they are successful they may cross their target of 100 million customers. But how can Reliance make profits if they are offering these facilities at a very low cost is an unanswered question for which we have to wait and see.