SRK to launch Reliance Jio’s 4G service


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Rebecca Hawkes

| 28 December 2015




Indian screen idol Shah Rukh Khan (SRK) has become a brand ambassador for Mukesh Ambani’s 4K Network operated by Reliance Jio, which is being unveiled for a ‘soft’ launch this week.



Reliance Jio is setting up next-generation legacy-free digital services over an end-to-end all-IP network and holds 2300MHz spectrum across India and 1800MHz in 14 designated circles.

According to field trials by brokerage firm Credit Suisse, the download speed on Reliance Jio’s 4G network during a beta-test peaked at 70Mb/s – enabling users to download a movie in about 30 seconds.

Jio has reportedly invested over INR100,000 to acquire 800MHz spectrum in ten circles and 1800MHz spectrum in six circles. The company has laid more than 250,000km of fibre-optic cables, covering 18,000 cities and over 100,000 villages.

Khan made an appearance at Reliance Jio’s launch for employees on 27 December, along with AR Rahman. Around 35,000 people attended the event at Reliance Corporate Park in Navi Mumbai, which was also beamed live to Reliance Industries’ employees on the Jio network across over 1,000 locations, including Dallas, USA.

The commercial roll-out of the Reliance Jio 4G service is expected in March or April 2016, to take on incumbent telcos such as Bharti Airtel, Vodafone and Idea Cellular.

India’s mobile subscriber base recorded 6.71% year-on-year growth to reach 980.81 million users in Q2 2015, according to the Telecommunications Regulatory Authority of India. The populous South Asian country has now overtaken Japan to become the world’s third largest smartphone market.