Jio, also known as Reliance Jio and officially as Reliance Jio Infocomm Limited (RJIL), is an upcoming provider of mobile telephony, broadband services, and digital services in India. Formerly known as Infotel Broadband Services Limited, Jio will provide 4G services on a pan-India level using LTE technology. The telecom leg of Reliance Industries Limited, it was incorporated in 2007 and is based in Mumbai, India. The services were beta launched to Jio's partners and employees on December 27, 2015 on the eve of 83rd birth anniversary of late Dhirubhai Ambani, founder of Reliance Industries. It will commercially launch its services in March 2016. In June 2010, Reliance Industries (RIL) bought a 95% stake in Infotel Broadband Services Limited (IBSL) for Rs 4,800 crore. Although unlisted, IBBL was the only firm to win broadband spectrum in all 22 zones in India in the 4G auction that took place earlier that year. Later continuing as RIL's telecom subsidiary, Infotel Broadband Services Limited was renamed as Reliance Jio Infocomm Limited (RJIL) in January 2013. In June 2015, Jio announced that it will start its operations all over the country by the end of 2015.However, four months later in October 2015, the company's spokesmen sent out a press release stating that the launch was postponed to the first quarter of the financial year 2016-2017. Later in July, a PIL filed in the Supreme Court by an NGO called the Centre for Public Interest Litigation, through Prashant Bhushan, challenged the grant of pan-India licence to Jio by the Government of India. The PIL also alleged that Jio was allowed to provide voice telephony along with its 4G data service, by paying an additional fees of just ?165.8 crore (US$25 million) which was arbitrary and unreasonable, and contributed to a loss of ?2284.2 crore (US$340 million) to the exchequer. The Indian Department of Telecom (DoT), however, refuted all of CAG's claims. In its statement, DoT explained that the rules for 3G and BWA spectrum didn't restrict BWA winners from providing voice telephony. As a result, the PIL was revoked, and the accusations were dismissed. The 4G services were launched internally to Jio's partners, its staff and their families on December 27, 2015. Bollywood actor Shah Rukh Khan, who is also the brand ambassador of Jio, kickstarted the launch event which took place in Reliance Corporate Park in Navi Mumbai, along with celebrities like musician A R Rahman, actors Ranbir Kapoor and Javed Jaffrey, and filmmaker Rajkumar Hirani. The closed event was witnessed by more than 35000 RIL employees some of whom were virtually connected from around 1000 locations including Dallas in the US. The company will commercially launch its services in March 2016 The company will launch its 4G broadband services throughout India in the first quarter of 2016-2017 financial year. It was slated to release in December 2015 after some reports said that the company was waiting to receive final permits from the government. Mukesh Ambani, owner of Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) whose Reliance Jio is the telecom subsidiary, had unveiled details of Jio's fourth-generation (4G) services on 12 June 2015 at RIL's 41st annual general meeting. It will offer data and voice services with peripheral services like instant messaging, live TV, movies on demand, news, streaming music, and a digital payments platform. The company has a network of more than 250,000 km of fiber optic cables in the country, over which it will be partnering with local cable operators to get broader connectivity for its broadband services. With its multi-service operator (MSO) licence, Jio will also serve as a TV channel distributor and will offer television-on-demand on its network. Jio owns spectrum in 800 MHz and 1,800 MHz bands in 10 and 6 circles, respectively, of the total 22 circles in the country, and also owns pan-India licensed 2,300 MHz spectrum. The spectrum is valid till 2035.Ahead of its digital services launch, Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Jio entered into a spectrum sharing deal with younger brother Anil Ambani-backed Reliance Communications. The sharing deal is for 800 MHz band across seven circles other than the 10 circles for which Jio already owns. Jio has tied up with domestic handset maker Intex to supply 4G handsets enabled with voice over LTE (VoLTE) feature. Through this, it plans to offer 4G voice calling besides rolling out high-speed Internet services using a fiber network, in addition to the 4G wireless network Prior to its pan-India launch of 4G data and telephony services, Jio has started providing free Wi-Fi hotspot services in cities throughout India including Ahmedabad and Surat in Gujarat, Indore in Madhya Pradesh, select locations of Mumbai in Maharashtra, Kolkata in West Bengal, Lucknow in Uttar Pradesh, Bhubaneswar in Odisha,Mussoorie in Uttarakhand, and Collectorate's Office in Meerut among others.

• published: 09 Mar 2016
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