Apple iPhone XS, iPhone XS Max: Airtel, Jio to offer eSIM option in India
Apple iPhone XS, iPhone XS Max will support eSIM in India and allow a dual SIM feature. Both Airtel and Jio will offer the facility to their customers
By: TECHENONIK |Published: September 25, 2018 9:44:04 am
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Apple iPhone XS and iPhone XS Max: Both Airtel and Jio will offer eSIM option in India.
Apple iPhone XS and iPhone XS Max are currently up for pre-orders in India. The latest iPhones will go on sale from September 28 for a starting price of Rs 99,900. The iPhone XS and iPhone XS Max however, offer dual-SIM features, but unlike other smartphones which have a dedicated second SIM slot, Apple is taking the eSIM route.
So will India users be able to experience the dual-SIM option on Apple iPhone XS? Yes, if they are on Airtel or Reliance Jio’s network, as both these network providers will have the eSIM option.
For starters, Airtel has confirmed that those who buy the iPhone XS or iPhone XS Max will have eSIM feature available on their network. However, for now this is only being offered to Airtel’s postpaid customers. The company has not confirmed if it will offer this facility to prepaid customers in the future. It has not given too many details on the kind of plans that eSIM on iPhone XS or iPhone XS Max will offer.
Coming to Reliance Jio, this will also offer the eSIM feature on Apple’s latest iPhones. Jio is extending this to both its prepaid and postpaid customers. The company claims it is only service provider in the country to offer eSIM activation for prepaid users. Once again details on the plans for those who opt for eSIM feature are not clear.
Keep in mind that both are offering eSIM on the Apple Watch Series 3 LTE as well. However, in that case, the eSIM is just mirroring the number from the iPhone. With another eSIM on the iPhone XS series, users have the option of picking up a different number.
Apple has noted on its website that the dual SIM support will be available via a free software update later this fall. The website also notes that use of Dual SIM requires two wireless service plans. It is unclear if these eSIM options in India will support international roaming for Apple customers.
The iPhone XR, which launches on October 26 will also support a dual SIM option via the eSIM feature. With the eSIM, Apple iPhone XS, iPhone XS Max users can switch between the eSIM and regular SIM connections in their phone, but can use only one at a time as Apple is using a dual standby option.
Users will be able to pick a default number from which they prefer to make calls, send SMS, rely for data, etc.
Mukesh Ambani-run Reliance Industries will raise between $3 billion and $4 billion to boost its digital and retail business as its talks with Chinese ecommerce giant Alibaba to raise capital haven’t progressed. This is in addition to $3 billion the conglomerate intends to add in the form of borrowings.
It was reported earlier this week by Mint that Alibaba and Reliance Retail are in talks to form a joint venture to counter the dominance of Amazon and Flipkart (now majority owned by Walmart) in Indian ecommerce. Alibaba, the financial daily said, would invest at least $5 billion in the venture in return for up to 50% stake.
An Alibaba source confirmed the discussions and that Ambani and Alibaba chairman Jack Ma had met. But the talks didn’t progress. If the deal had gone through, it would have been Alibaba’s largest investment in India – much larger than its interest in payments-to-ecommerce company Paytm.
Reliance’s capital-raising plans, including talks with Alibaba, are aimed at setting the price of Reliance Jio shares ahead of an initial public offer (IPO) planned in the next couple of years. “The investment will help Reliance not only to raise the money but also benchmark Jio’s valuation in the months to come,” another source told FactorDaily.
A Reliance spokesperson denied talks with Alibaba. “There have been no discussions with Alibaba or with anyone else on acquiring a stake in Reliance Retail Limited. This statement is completely speculative and highly irresponsible… There was no meeting between our Chairman and Mr Jack Ma in Mumbai in July-end as indicated in the story,” the spokesperson said on email, without commenting on the IPO or capital-raising plans.
An email sent to Alibaba with questions remained unanswered at the time of publishing this story.
Blue chip valuations
In November last year, investment bank Goldman Sachs called Reliance Jio “the next growth engine” for Reliance Industries and valued Jio at $43 billion enterprise value (the value of equity and debt minus cash) and $22 billion in equity terms — which is likely to have risen with the Ambani company’s plans for omni-channel retail and its Giga Fiberfibre-to-home project.
Bharti Airtel, the country’s largest telecom company, has a market capitalisation of $21.42 billion.
Goldman Sachs has also predicted that Jio would make operating income of $5 billion by 2025. Reliance Industries has raised over $37 billion debt for Jio.
Two of the three sources FactorDaily spoke to said Reliance has decided to focus its talks with other investors. “Reliance had approached Alibaba in the beginning because both of them want to build a digital ecosystem… but now it will talk to other investors,” said the second source.
Reliance’s fund-raising moves come at a time when the Indian retail market – not just ecommerce – is seeing big change. The Economic Timesreported earlier this week that Amazon, investment bank Goldman Sachs, and local private equity house Samara Capital was working together to buy More, the Aditya Birla food and grocery supermarket chain.
Bank versus telco
A third person, who is a Reliance insider, said that talks with Alibaba did not materialise because of “cultural differences” between the two companies. “Alibaba is more like a strategic investor, which wants to build a China-like ecosystem in India… something that mirrors Alibaba in China,” he said.
Paytm, increasingly a copy of the Alibaba model – with its payments and banking; digital services like movie and travel tickets; ecommerce; and cloud infrastructure businesses – is dependent on the “network effect”. The idea is to offer customers everything: whether it is buying air tickets, electronic appliances, or grocery or whether it is payments and banking services or for investments.
Ambani’s strategy, in contrast, has the data network as the core of its telecom-entertainment-commerce stack. “That’s a big difference considering Alibaba’s centrepiece is commerce,” said the second source. Reliance’s big push will always be the use of data by millions of Indians, who watch movies and serials, play games, buy goods, and make payments using the internet.
Alibaba would have wanted a significant say in the way Jio is managed if it invested money. Ambani will not be willing to share or cede management control, said the third source. “The digital and the retail businesses are Reliance Industries’ future and long-term growth drivers… It wouldn’t be controlled by any outsider,” the source said.
The policy moat
The company’s span of influence in the Indian ecosystem is evident in the role it played in formulation of the draft for India’s ecommerce policy that, among other things, recommends several conditions for online retail business in the country.
Mukesh Ambani (left) and Bharti Airtel’s Sunil MIttal
Companies with foreign investment, for instance, are not to be allowed to keep inventory – meaning Amazon and Flipkart, which squeeze efficiencies by leveraging their own inventories alongside third-party sellers on their platforms, will be on the back foot. Reliance Retail operates as an inventory-led offline retail chain that is India’s largest retail network with an annual turnover of Rs 70,000 crore.
A columnist recently argued that if the policy goes to become law, Reliance will emerge as the real competitor.
India’s internet economy is forecast to be worth $1 trillion by 2025. Everyone, including Ambani, wants to get a portion of the pie. If Reliance manages to corner 15% to 20% of that, he is looking at a business of at least $150 billion – compared to the some $66 billion the group reports as revenues now.
Jio GigaFiber preview offer: How to get free 100GB data for 3 months at 100Mbps speed
Updated Aug 23, 2018 | 07:00 IST | Rohan Jaitly
Jio GigaFiber preview offer will provide free 100GB data per month for the first three months at 100Mbps speed and all you'd need to do is apply for a new Jio GigaFiber connection. Jio GigaFiber plans & more.
Jio GigaFiber preview offer has been confirmed by Reliance Jio
Jio GigaFiber registrations are live now and while Reliance Jio hasn’t revealed any details on Jio GigaFiber price or plans, it has been confirmed that the Indian telco will launch the Jio GigaFiber preview offer for new customers, through which, users will be able to avail 100GB data per month for the first three months at 100Mbps speed.
On the other hand, earlier reports have suggested that the Jio GigaFiber broadband services will be free for users for the first three months and if the Jio GigaFiber preview offer is launched, it would mean that Jio GigaFiber users will get a complementary 100GB data per month for the first three months with speeds of up to 100Mbps, all you will need to do is apply for a new Jio GigaFiber connection.
Moreover, if you exhaust the 100GB quota within a month, there is also a data top-up of 40GB which can be availed via MyJio App or through Jio.com. For the unknown, for a new Jio GigaFiber connections, subscribers will have to pay a refundable security deposit of Rs.4,500 through Credit Card, Debit card, Jio Money or Pay TM.
The Jio GigaFiber Fiber to the Home (FTTH) broadband services were announced during RIL’s 41st AGM with a promise that it will provide high-speed broadband data at the most affordable price for consumers, along with services such as Jio GigaTV and Jio GigaTV video calling.
Coming to Jio GigaFiber registrations, you can head to Jio.com or the MyJio app for registering yourself for a new Jio GigaFiber connection, which will be installed on a priority basis based on the number of registrations from your locality. Jio GigaFiber broadband services will be rolled out in 1,100 cities initially.
Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Jio is 3rd most influential brand in India, and top 2 are not Indian companies
Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Jio, which became popular for its cheap data and calling plans, has emerged as the third most influential brand in India, a study has shown.
By: TECHENONIK | Updated: August 1, 2018 6:25 PM
Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Jio, which became popular for its cheap data and calling plans, has emerged as the third most influential brand in India. (Image: Reuters)
Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Jio, which became popular for its cheap data and calling plans, has emerged as the third most influential brand in India, a study has shown. The top two companies are not Indian. Google has emerged as the Most Influential Brand (MIB) in 2017, followed by Jeff Bezos’ Amazon, the study by Ipsos showed.
The MIB study, which ranks 100 brands across categories, evaluated companies on three parameters — trustworthy engagement, leading edge, and corporate citizenship and presence. In the top ten list, nine are technology and telecom brands, while Baba Ramdev’s Patanjali is the only FMCG company marking its presence at the 7th rank.
According to the study, Jio has turned out to be more influential in India than Facebook, which is at the 4th rank. Mukesh Ambani launched Jio in September 2016, and it has since then gained a significant position in the telecom market. In fact, Jio is the only company to post a profit in the first quarter of the fiscal year 2018-19.
Meanwhile, Ramdev’s Patanjali has also made a space for itself in the FMCG segment and is planning to expand its presence by joining hands with e-commerce websites as well. Flipkart is in the process of being acquired by American giant Walmart.
“Google has emerged as the Most Influential Brand (MIB) of circa 2017. And technology and e-tailing brands have taken up other places in the top five positions,” the study said. Barring one FMCG player, the rest are all technology and telecom brands, it added. Ipsos is an independent market research company.
Jio Effect: Airtel Rs. 499 Postpaid Plan Now Offering 75GB of Data
Techenonik , 10 July 2018
The Airtel Rs. 499 plan used to provide 40GB of data to subscribers before this revision
HIGHLIGHTS
Airtel's Rs. 499 plan now offers 75GB of 3G/ 4G data
The plan also offers unlimited local and STD calls
It appears to be available to select users in some regions
Airtel has reportedly revamped its Rs. 499 postpaid plan to offer 87.5 percent more data to its subscribers. The Airtel Rs. 499 plan falls under the 'Best Selling Postpaid Plans' under MyPlan Infinity that also has other offerings worth Rs. 399, Rs. 649, Rs. 799, and Rs. 1,199. To recall, the telco had recently revamped its plan worth Rs. 649 to offer 90GB of data. While the other plans remain unchanged, the refreshed Rs. 499 plan is said to now offer 75GB of data to postpaid subscribers. Previously, the same Airtel plan offered 40GB of 3G/ 4G data to its customers. For comparison, Jio only has one postpaid plan worth Rs. 199 that offers 25GB data to its subscribers.
Under the new Airtel Rs. 499 plan, apart from the 75GB of data per month, the revamped offer is said to include 100 SMS messages, unlimited voice calls, even on outgoing while roaming, and without any FUP limit, reportsTelecomTalk. This postpaid plan is said to provide 3G/ 4G data with rollover facility up to 500GB, meaning the unused data of one month gets added on to the next one.
Additionally, the Rs. 499 pack reportedly also comes with a few other benefits that remain the same as before. Airtel subscribers can avail a one-year subscription to Amazon Prime. The Rs. 499 unlimited plan is said to also come with Wynk TV subscription, access to its library of Live TV and Movies, and Handset Damage Protection.
Notably, the revamped Rs. 499 plan appears to be available to select users in some regions. We can expect a wider rollout in the coming days. Meanwhile, as mentioned, the other postpaid plans remain unchanged, but we can expect Airtel to refresh the lineup with additional data benefits.
In terms of offers from competitors, Vodafone recently revamped its Red postpaid planspriced between Rs. 399 and Rs. 2,999, to provide unlimited calls and more data to its subscribers. Under the new plans, users will get up to 300GB of data, Netflix and Amazon subscriptions, and more. The telco also announced a new Rs. 299 Red Basic postpaid plan that comes with 20GB of data.
For comparison, Jio's Rs. 199 postpaid plangives the user a total of 25GB 4G data, free unlimited voice calls, 100 SMS messages, and complimentary access to Jio's entire suite of apps for a standard bill cycle. Users can avail additional data at Rs. 20 per GB for the next 500GB. This plan entails a security deposit of Rs. 250 which is 100 percent refundable, and Jio Prime membership worth Rs. 99.
Jio Download Speed Rises 30 Percent in May 2018, TRAI Data Shows
Techenonik , 02 July 2018
HIGHLIGHTS
Jio 4G download speed rose after declining for 2 successive months
Idea continues to lead in 4G upload speed
Jio, Airtel and Vodafone also saw increase in 4G upload speeds
The Jio download speed rose roughly 30 percent in May 2018 over the preceding month, putting a stop to the two-month decline in download speeds the operator had been experiencing. According to data shared by telecom regulator TRAI’s MySpeed app for the month of May 2018, the Jio download speed was 19Mbps, up from 14.7Mbps in April. It stood at 21.3Mbps in February this year, but the Jio speed dipped for two successive months, before finally rising to 19Mbps in May. Airtel, Vodafone and Idea, on the other hand, experienced marginal changes in their respective download speeds in the month.
As per the MySpeed data, the Jio download speed was the highest in the market at 19Mbps. It was followed by Airtel at 9.3Mbps, a small rise over the 9.2Mbps speed the operator registered in April this year. Next were Vodafone and Idea at 6.8Mbps and 6.5Mbps, respectively. In the preceding month, Vodafone registered 4G download speed of 7.1Mbps, while Idea recorded the same at 7.4Mbps — showing a decline for both the operators.
Now coming to upload speeds in May 2018, Idea continues to lead the market even though its 4G upload speed has fallen for the second straight month. On the other hand, Airtel, Vodafone and Jio saw their 4G upload speeds rise slightly. Getting down to the numbers, Idea registered download speed of 6.3Mbps, followed by Vodafone at 5.2Mbps. Jio and Airtel took the next two spots at 4.8Mbps and 3.8Mbps, respectively. In the previous month, Idea, Vodafone, Jio and Airtel stood at 6.5Mbps, 5.2Mbps, 4Mbps, and 3.7Mbps, respectively.
Last week,TRAI saidthat Airtel delivered higher 4G download speeds than Jio in the Delhi-NCR area, based on Independent Drive Tests in the region. In the tests, Airtel delivered 8.9Mbps download speed, followed by Jio at 7.3Mbps. Vodafone rounded off the list with 4.9Mbps speed. In upload speeds in the Delhi-NCR area, Vodafone topped the list at 5.8Mbps, followed by Jio (2.1Mbps) and Airtel (2Mbps).
