- Thursday, April 24, 2025
The phones will be offered with unlimited voice calls and 14GB of data for Rs 123 monthly.
By: Shubham Ghosh
INDIAN billionaire Mukesh Ambani’s group on Monday (3) unveiled an internet-enabled phone at an entry price of Rs 999 (9.61) as the company aims to penetrate more into the country’s growing consumer market.
According to a report by Bloomberg, India’s top wireless carrier Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd. will begin beta trails for the first one million ‘Jio Bharat’ phones from July 7, a statement by Ambani’s Reliance Industries Limited’s telecommunications unit said.
The phones will be offered with unlimited voice calls and 14GB of data for Rs 123 (£1.18) monthly.
The report said that the launch of the cheap internet-enabled phone is another disruptive move by India’s richest man, who came up with a similar strategy after entering the retail business in 2006 and telecom in 2016, helping Reliance to emerge as the market leader in both areas.
Akash Ambani, son of Mukesh and chairman at Reliance Jio, said in a statement that there are 250 million mobile phone users in India who remain “trapped” in the times of 2G and are unable to use the basic features of the internet at a time when the world is marching ahead with 5G technology.
The newly announced phone is expected to boost Reliance’s plans to push into entertainment with the help of its streaming service.
Reliance Jio has planned to invest $25 billion (£19.7 billion) to roll out 5G across the country by the end of 2023.
