Ever since its launch, Reliance Jio has been leading the charge to make India “fully 4G” and make internet services available to all citizens. While it’s steadily rolling out 5G services in major cities, the company hasn’t forgotten its original mission. Reliance Jio has announced the “Jio Bharat” phone platform today, making an internet-enabled feature phone available to buy for just Rs 999 in India. That said, let’s look at all the details.
Reliance Jio Launches ‘Jio Bharat’ Phone Platform
In an official press release, the company mentioned that the “Jio Bharat platform leverages device and network capabilities to deliver internet-enabled services on entry-level phones.” As part of this initiative, Reliance Jio is the first to launch a Bharat phone (see image below) with a tiny screen, a T9 keypad, a VGA camera, and FM radio support with a speaker on the rear.
The phone is also confirmed to bring a slew of internet-enabled features. This includes UPI payments via Jio Pay, JioSaavn for streaming music, and Jio Cinema for streaming live sports and other content on the go.
As for the tariff plans, the company has confirmed to offer an affordable Rs 123 per month recharge plan. You will get unlimited voice calls and 0.5GB data/ day (14GB) with a 28-day validity. You can also opt for the Rs 1,234 annual plan, which offers the same benefits and 16% overall savings as compared to the monthly plan.
Furthermore, Jio boasts that its tariff plans for 4G feature phone users in India are 30% cheaper than its competitor’s offerings. This phone is the first among the onslaught of internet-backed feature phones launched as part of the “Jio Bharat” platform. The company also confirmed that other phone brands like Karbonn will adopt this platform to build affordable sub-Rs 1,000 4G feature phones for Indians.
Now comes the important question – how do you buy the Jio Bharat phone? The official press release states that the Jio Bharat phone will be available as part of a “beta trial” starting from 7th July. The company is kicking off this campaign, targeting over 6,500 tehsils in India, with 1 billion 4G feature phones. How does Jio’s proposition sound to you? Will we finally see the end of 2G and Edge in India? Let us know in the comments below.
