Jio Launches JioAirFiber In 8 Cities To Expand Broadband Coverage

Telecom service provider Jio has launched its fixed wireless broadband service JioAirFiber in eight cities in the country – Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Chennai, Delhi, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Mumbai and Pune. 

The company has launched the services in two categories, starting from INR 599 per month. Besides broadband, JioAirFiber users will also get access to over 550 digital TV channels and over 16 over-the-top (OTT) platforms. 

A fixed wireless broadband offering does not need last-mile fibre connectivity. It essentially uses the 5G network of the telecom operator to provide high-speed broadband within a premises. 

Earlier, Reliance, during its annual general meeting (AGM) last month, said it would launch JioAirFiber on September 19. JioAirFiber will primarily compete with Bharti Airtel, which has a similar offering – Xstream AirFiber.

Jio said its optical fibre network is spread over 1.5 Mn Km across India, which puts the telecom giant in close proximity to over 200 Mn premises in the country. However, providing physical last-mile connectivity often becomes time consuming and this leaves many households with no access to home broadband. This is the gap that JioAirFiber aims to bridge with its services. 

Commenting on the launch, Akash Ambani, chairman of Jio, said, “With JioAirFiber, we are expanding our addressable market to rapidly cover every home in our country with similar quality of service. JioAirFiber will enable millions of homes with world-class digital entertainment, smart home services and broadband, through its solutions across education, health, surveillance and smart home.”

During Reliance’s AGM, chairman and managing director Mukesh Ambani said JioFiber had crossed the milestone of 10 Mn subscribers. The launch of JioAirFiber, he said, would lead to a 10X jump in the company’s daily broadband expansion rate and take daily addition to 1,50,000 from 15,000 earlier.

For the first quarter of FY24, the telecom giant reported a 12.5% increase in its consolidated net profit to INR 5,098 Cr from INR 4,530 Cr in the year-ago quarter. 

According to a study conducted by Nielsen India, the count of internet users in the country crossed 700 Mn as of December 2022. The number of users in rural areas saw a steep growth by 30% from 2021, while the urban user count grew by 10%.