Reliance JioGigaFiber: All you need to know about Jio’s broadband service

Reliance Jio is expected to disrupt the broadband space with its new low-cost GigaFiber service. Here’s everything you need to know about Reliance Jio GigaFiber.

Jio GigaFiber registration opens on August 15: Here are the key details (REUTERS)

Reliance Jio on Thursday opened registration for its new broadband service, JioGigaFiber. The company claims that it will be offering ultra high-speed internet speeds up to 1Gbps. Jio is also expected to bundle the broadband service with GigaRouter and GigaTV set-top box while rolling out.

"Starting this Independence Day, August 15th you can start registering your interest for JioGigaFiber through both MyJio and Jio.com. We will prioritise our JioGigaFiber rollout to those localities from where we receive the highest number of registrations. JIOGIGAFIBER will be the largest greenfield fixed-line broadband rollout anywhere in the world, with rollout happening in 1,100 cities of India simultaneously," said Mukesh Ambani at the company's annual general meeting last month.

"At Jio, we are determined to take India to be among the top-5 in broadband connectivity, both for mobility as well as fiber based wireline connectivity. We have built future proof networks and will continue to deliver the most advanced technologies to our customers for decades to come," he added.

Reliance Jio GigaFiber: Booking, data plans, pricing
Reliance Jio on August 15 opened registration for its new broadband plan. Home and enterprise users can register themselves on the company's registration website. Customers can provide details on behalf of your society or township as well under the type of address.How to register for Reliance JioGigafiber

Reliance Jio hasn't announced the data plans for its new broadband service yet. According to reports, the company will be offering JioGigaFiber data plans starting at ₹500 and will be significantly cheaper than the current broadband plans offered by other operators. The plan will also include subscription to Jio's new set-top-box as well.

Currently, Jio is offering a GigaFiber preview in select cities wherein users are getting internet speeds up to 100Mbps for 90 days along with a monthly data quota of 100GB. This includes free access to Jio's premium applications. Those who have exhausted the 100GB quote also get a data top of 40GB via Jio.com and MyJjio.com.

For GigaFiber service, Reliance Jio isn't charging any installation fee. But there's a security deposit of ₹4,500 - similar to its schemes for JioPhone.

The preview offer is currently available only to pre-paid users. The company plans to roll out the scheme for postpaid users very soon.

Reliance Jio GigaFiber: Is it faster or better?
As the name implies, Jio's new broadband service is based on fiber-network. Fiber is considered to be better and faster than the traditional copper-based communication delivery lines. From the technology point of view, GigaFiber should be fast.

"Fiber networks are not required to be changed post installation as the companies upgrade them with latest technology that creates the electronic light pulses and not by replacing the fiber cables," Jio explains on its website.

"JioGigaFiber's ultra-fast download and upload speeds enable UHD, Video conferencing and variety of camera application usage and experience seamlessly," it adds.

But Reliance Jio isn't the only one to offer fiber-based broadband service in India. Rival Airtel introduced 'V-Fiber' technology in 2016 as part of its Project Leap programme. Airtel, however, is promising maximum internet speeds up to 100Mbps.

State-run BSNL also has its own FTTH (fiber-to-the-home) service under which it is offering speeds up to 100Mbps. The operator is offering speeds up to 50Mbps till 500GB for ₹777 and up to 100Mbps till 750GB for ₹1,277.

As far as Reliance Jio's 1Gbps speed claims go, smaller players like Spectra, earlier known as Spectranet, offer 1Gbps speeds in select cities. ACT had launched 1Gbps broadband services in 2017, becoming the country's first ISP to offer so. The company is currently offering a ₹2,999 data plan with 1Gbps speeds with a monthly data quota of 3000GB. JioGigaFiber: Reliance Jio looks to disrupt India's telecom landscape, again

"Broadband in India is a space still wide open, ripe for disruption. No operator has really done anything serious with it: the big telcos like Airtel focused on mobile, the pure broadband players have remained regional, or niche. No aggressive broadband plays by operator," senior industry analyst Prashanto Rai.

"...Jio will disrupt more than the broadband space, which was relatively tiny: it will disrupt entertainment, bundling TV and other video content. It may not be able to bundle zero-rated video because of TRAI Net Neutrality restrictions, but even without that a TV-broadband-landline bundle will be disruptive," he added.