Reliance Jio launched its much-awaited 4G feature phone The device is priced at INR1500, collected as a fully refundable deposit, refundable at the end of three years. The phone has a 2.4" QVGA screen, bundled Jio apps and will not be compatible with non-Jio SIMs.
The company is targeting shipments of 5mn phones/week. The monthly plan for INR153 would offer unlimited voice/SMS and 0.5GB of data per day. There are two sachet plans for INR24 and INR54 with validity of two and seven days respectively. The phone can be connected to TV through a Jio Phone cable. However, this will require enrollment to the INR309/month plan (1GB/day allowance) which will allow 3-4 hours of daily video streaming.
In addition, it was also limited in addressing the lower ARPU customer who are feature phone users (installed based >500mn). We believe that the launch of 4G feature phone and investing in developing this ecosystem will increase the addressable market for R Jio significantly. The company is also planning to increase its network coverage to >95% by Mar-18 from >80% at present.
