How JioPhone's TV play will help Reliance Jio get higher ARPU
NEW DELHI: Reliance Jio on Friday launched its much awaited JioPhone and along with that it
The company, keeping in mind the older TV models has made
this technology accessible on CRT TV sets in addition to the modern
television sets. Using the accessory, Jio users will be able to mirror
their phone screens to TV sets.
For this, the users can recharge with Rs 309 plan and can
watch videos 3-4 hours daily per month. Jio also announced two data
sachets for this service priced at Rs 24 and Rs 54 having two days and
one week validity respectively.
However, it is still unclear whether this accessory would
be introduced for Lyf phones as well. Also, it is unsure whether the
cable device will come as an in-box accessory with the JioPhone or will
it have to be purchased separately.
“Users anyway have to shell out Rs 300- Rs 500 for cable
services; by getting such services on a feature phone, users get an
alternative which translates into higher average revenue per user (ARPU)
for Jio,” said Neil Shah, Analyst, Counterpoint Research.
Now Jio will make Rs 153 (data plan) + Rs 300 (cable
service plan), round about Rs 450 per subscriber where earlier Airtel
and Vodafone couldn’t get more than Rs 100 per subscriber on a 2G
network, essentially it’s an ecosystem play for Jio, added Shah.
"For users, streaming content on a 2.4 inch won’t be
feasible therefore introducing a device which allows them to view
content on large screen makes sense," said Shah.
However, with such offerings, Jio needs to ensure the
quality of its handset, especially in terms of high battery life and
high data speed or in-building coverage, in order to achieve the desired
target, experts suggest.
Jio has been showing a lot of inclination towards content
offerings lately as it plans to enter the cable/DTH segment, has a suite
of content-based apps and now it has brought both of these together in
its JioPhone. The phone comes pre-bundled with Jio apps and will be
having functionality to view the content on large screen via Jio’s
TV-cable.
To top this all, the company has also acquired 24.9% stake
in Balaji Telefilms' subsidiary ALT Balaji Digital Media for Rs 413
crore.
There needs to be high value proposition for Reliance Jio’s
feature phone users which means that basic voice calls and internet
access won’t be enough to trigger massive adoption of the feature
phones. Therefore Jio’s strategy revolves around getting its users
hooked on to streaming content for free, analysts believe.
RIL Chairman Mukesh Ambani stated in his AGM speech that
out of 78 crore mobile phone users in India, 50 crore people are using
feature phones and have not been able to become a part of the digital
revolution.
JioPhone will be available for trials from August 15 and the pre-booking will start from August 24.
Click here to read
Click here to read
Tag :
JIO
