RJio set to rewrite the rules of 4G game with a rich digital services ecosystem in place

Faisal Kawoosa

Well.. as expected RJio has not been just working on building the 4G network and provisioning of services. Rather it is a holistic ecosystem. While it opens you up to the expected super high speeds, high quality network and service, the surprise it brings is more with the ecosystem it has built around the network. It not only gives you access to the service but also reasons about what you can do with the network. Now, that's a wise way of thinking.

If I look back at 3G days, despite overcoming issues like availability of handsets, availability at right prices, availability of networks, availability of coverage and availability of spectrum, I was not sure about what I could do more with it. It emerged out just a higher generation of network giving me more speed. The weakest link to my mind for 3G growth in the country has been availability of use cases. And this we can see is now affecting the entire ecosystem, including the smartphones where we don’t see them growing beyond a certain threshold as the next potential layer of feature phone or even enthusing 2G users towards 3G.

Before the commercial launch, RJio, at present, is testing waters through a invite-based 4G services trial. RJio is not offering you just speeds- it’s not the case of an X MBs file now downloadable in Y/2 minutes of time as compared to the earlier available networks. It is a plethora of services intelligently woven which have made me consume average 3GB of data a day. Yes, I am not joking! This is where I see the difference- in the way RJio has positioned itself in 4G game.

I may be a heavy user, but a typical profile like me will anyway pay anywhere between Rs 5,000-7,000 a month on 3G connectivity, home broadband, on-demand videos, HD TV, magazines, roaming and of course voice. Now, even if RJio charges me Rs 5,000 a month for all these, it would be still within acceptable limits. This becomes easy for me to manage all my needs with one single operator.

Though, nothing concrete has come up as yet about the pricing, but I am sure they will have some plans offering data and voice services and these OTTs will be offered as add-ons to the basic plans.

Within the MyJio services, I see only e-tailing and healthcare as a miss. Otherwise, there is all that could be topped over a 4G network. And the best part is that content is very much Indian, of course, it has a global balance too.

The only thing I haven’t liked about RJio services so far is its mandatory use over a LYF device. I believe, RJio cannot keep the services confined over LYF devices only and they don’t intend to that as well, as far as I have learnt.  In my opinion, removing the device restrictions during the preview period would have given them a lot of feedback and experiences specific to few brands and models of handsets, for instance, experiencing LeEco Membership services over RJio 4G.

Now that the preview phase nears end, RJio should start allowing each of the existing subscribers of RJio preview services to refer it to 5 more friends or family. I am sure all of the existing users will recommend and recommendations are the best feedback that any service provider could imagine.

I plan to do a thorough review of each of the services that RJio has to offer and will be sharing with you my feedback on all of those. For now, overall, I would rate it 4 on 5 on the parameters of quality, content and services.