MUMBAI: After bringing about a massive change in the usage of wireless internet and market dynamics, Reliance Jio is looking at the broadband or wired internet sector. According to a media report, Jio is working at full steam to launch broadband in homes towards the end of this year.

Jio’s success in wireless internet with 168 million subscriber base is unquestionable. For the launch of the broadband service, the company has already started beta trials across some locations in country along with offering free broadband across regions in New Delhi and Mumbai. The trial service is offering unlimited internet at 100 mbps for a security deposit of Rs 4,500.

“The full-fledged commercial launch is likely to be announced on 28 December, which happens to be late Dhirubhai Ambani’s birthday,” a person familiar with the development was quoted by Livemint in its report.

A TRAI report earlier said that India had only 21.28 million wired internet subscribers compared with 424.67 million wireless internet subscribers in 2017. The major player in the segment is BSNL followed by Bharti Airtel. The low number of wired internet users leaves a big scope for Jio’s upcoming business. Airtel, Jio’s main competitor, provides high-speed wired broadband across 89 cities in India.

While big players are chasing metro cities, cable TV distribution company DEN Networks Ltd has shifted its focus to small towns.

“The tariff and stress of telcos is, as of now, focussed on the main metros. So we have made the game plan for tier 2 and tier 3 cities. We don’t want to be trapped in this (the war between telcos),” DEN Networks chief executive officer SN Sharma said.

Tags: Jio, Airtel, BSNL, DEN Networks, Wired internet connection

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