Reliance Jio Infocomm, a subsidiary of Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) already said that it plans to launch commercial 4G around December. Now a new report from Bank of America Merrill Lynch says that it expects a small scale launch of Reliance Jio Infocomm’s 4G services by the end of December in select areas, especially in Mumbai, according to ET. It also said that pan-India commercial start could be delayed till Q2 2016.
In a note to clients dated December 15, Bank of America Merrill Lynch (BoFA-ML), said:
In a scenario Jio launches by December 28, we remain unsure 1) if it will be a commercial launch with the company disclosing price-points or 2) if it will be an extension of services which are currently being offered to employees to select user group/Jio partners (i.e. few months of free data with no price-points being shared).
BoFA-ML that has checked during the beta-testing done by Jio revealed that the Voice over LTE (VoLTE) calls were working well in Mumbai, even while travelling and inside buildings, and that data speeds ranged from 18-30 Mbps while travelling/inside buildings to as high as 60-70 Mbps when outside.
After Airtel, Vodafone launched its 4G services in the country starting from Kerala, and will expand it to other important metros – Mumbai, Delhi, Bengaluru and Kolkata in the first phase next year.