Reliance Industries AGM updates: Mukesh Ambani launches free 4G JioPhone at Rs 1,500 security deposit

 BT Online        Last Updated: July 21, 2017  | 13:47 IST
Reliance Industries AGM LIVE updates: Mukesh Ambani launches 4G JioPhone for free with Rs 1500 security deposit
RIL chairman Mukesh Ambani

Reliance Industries Chairman Mukesh Ambani is speaking at the conglomerate's 40th Annual General Meeting today at Birla Matushri Sabhagar in Mumbai. Ambani announced the launch of free of cost JioPhone with a refundable Rs 1,500 security deposit.

Ambani announced the launch of the new 4G VoLTE Jio Phone. "Jio will reinvent the conventional feature phone with a revolutionary device made in India by young Indians for all Indians," Ambani said. After ending free offers and setting data prices, Reliance Jio once again seems to be in a mode to expand its customer base. The launch of the 4G phone is a step in that direction.

The rate of growth of Reliance Jio's subscriber base which saw a spike early on due to free offers had slowed down in recent months. Reliance Jio would expect to regain the momentum by tapping into a customer base which cannot afford smartphones and still uses 2G services.

Here are all live updates 

1:28 pm: The launch of JioPhone will help Reliance Jio enter an untapped market of lower-income people. Ambani in his speech said that the JioPhone would end the digital divide in the country.

01:10 pm: As we march toward the Golden Jubilee of Reliance in 2027, I can confidently say that the Golden Decade of Reliance has begun: Mukesh Ambani 

01:07 pm: My father also taught us to be humble. And to never forget that the nation expects a lot more from us in the future: Mukesh Ambani

01:05 pm: Jio will become India's largest provider of data service, products and application platforms: Mukesh Ambani

01:00 pm: What took the West 300 years and China 30 years, India can achieve in just about a decade or two: Mukesh Ambani

12:55 pm: Every minute, 8 smartphones; every hour, 42 laptops and 68 TVs are sold at Reliance Digital: Mukesh Ambani

12:50 pm: Over the next decade, India has the potential to move from a $2.25 trillion economy to a $6 trillion economy: Mukesh Ambani

12:40 pm: This is the largest bonus issue, ever, in India: Mukesh Ambani

12:35 pm: The Board of Directors has decided to recommend a bonus issue in the ratio of 1:1: Mukesh Ambani

12:30 pm: The net profit of Rs 29,901 crore is the highest in the Indian corporate sector: Mukesh Ambani

12:16 pm: Reliance is the highest income tax payer in the private sector in India and paid Rs 8,880 crore as during the year: Mukesh Ambani

12:15 pm: GST brings uniformity in tax rates and enables India to fulfil One Nation One Tax, resulting in one unified market: Mukesh Ambani

12:10 pm: We, at Reliance, congratulate the Government on its historic step of introducing the GST regime: Mukesh Ambani 

12:05 pm: The JioPhone will be available for user testing in beta from 15th August and for pre-booking from 24th August. From last quarter of 2017, all JioPhones will be made in India. We are targeting to have 5 million JioPhones a week: Mukesh Ambani

12:00 pm: Jio Phone is effectively free for all Indians 


11:57 am: Digital Life will no longer be the privilege of the affluent few. Reliance democratized the equity culture in the past. Now, Jio will democratize the digital culture in India. Jio will be the greatest accelerator of the Bharat-India connectivity: Mukesh Ambani

11:56 am: Mukesh Ambani launches 4G JioPhone for Rs 0 with a Rs 1,500 refundable security deposit.

11:54 am: This is how Jio will end the digital exclusion in India. And this is what I call true digital freedom: Mukesh Ambani

11:53 am: Reliance dedicates JioPhone to the nation on the joyous occasion of India at 70, 70th anniversary of India's Freedom: Mukesh Ambani

11:52 am: Rs 309 per month will allow Jio Phone users to watch 3-4 hours of video on any kind of TV: Mukesh Ambani

11:51 am: Jio Dhan Dhana Dhan offer will be available for Rs 153 per month - free calls, unlimited data for all Jio Phone users: Mukesh Ambani

11:50 am:   Jio will give them access to UNLIMITED DATA on the JioPhone: Mukesh Ambani

11:48 am: Starting 15th August this year, I am declaring DIGITAL FREEDOM for all feature phone users: Mukesh Ambani

11:47 am: On the Jio phone voice will always be free: Mukesh Ambani

11:41 am:  Akash and Isha Ambani demonstrate features of Jio phone.

11:34 am: Jio will reinvent the conventional feature phone with a revolutionary device made in India by young Indians for all Indians: Mukesh Ambani

11:30 am: Jio in the next 12 months will cover 99 per cent of India. Expanding physical distribution network in India - 10,000 offices, 10 lakh physical retail outlets: Mukesh Ambani

11:28 am: Trai has consistently ranked Jio as the 4G leader. Because of Jio India's 4G coverage will be more than 2G coverage: Mukesh Ambani

11:26 am: Now, Jio customers alone are consuming over 125 crore GB of data a month, including 165 crore hours high-speed video every month

11:22 am: India has overtaken United States and China in mobile data usage. After Jio's launch, India is number one in mobile data penetration. In the coming months India is on its way to become number one in Broadband data penetration.

11:21 am: In just 6 months of Jio's launch, data consumption in India went from 20 crore GB to 120 crore GB per month: Mukesh Ambani

11:20 am We proved the critics wrong. We enabled Jio users to make voice calls on LTE. Jio sers make 250 crore  

11:19 am: Reliance Jio subscription was faster than Facebeook, WhatsApp, Skype Mukesh Ambani

 

11:15 am: In 4 decades RIL has grown from a startup to a largest and an admired company in the world: Mukesh Ambani

11:14 am: Our market cap has grown from 10 crore in 1977 to 5 lakh crore in 2017: Mukesh Ambani

11:12 am: No Indian corporation and few global companies have expanding in this scale: Mukesh Ambani

11:10 am: Our net profit has grown from 3 crore to 30,000 crore in last 40 years. Increase in net profit is 10,000 times.

11:08 am: Our turnover has grown from 30 crore in 1977 to 3,30,000 crore in 2017

11:05 am: This year marks 40 years of Reliance IPO

10:55 am: Mukesh Ambani arrives for RIL's 40th AGM

10:54 am: After Mukesh Ambani launched Reliance Jio, the telecom sector has undergone a complete transformation. All incumbents have been forced to reduce tariffs for data usage. the rates have fallen to rock-bottom levels. Voice calls are now free for not just Reliance Jio customers but also most postpaid customers of Airtel, Vodafone India and Idea Cellular. 

10:53 am: The onslaught by Reliance Jio has affected the voice revenues of all telecom operators, including Mukesh Ambani's brother Anil Ambani's Reliance Communications. RCom's revenues dipped 24 per cent to Rs 4,524 crore in January-to-March 2017 as compared to corresponding period last year.

10:52 am: There are expectations that Mukesh Ambani could make announcements related to data rates in his speech. At present, among the top plans, Reliance Jio's Rs 509 data pack offers consumers 112GB of data at 4G speed and an upper limit of 2GB per day with a validity of 56 days.

10:51 am: Mukesh Ambani's announcements today could further intensify the the fight between Reliance Jio and older telecom operators. The battle is already at its penultimate stage. Operators such as Bharti Airtel, Vodafone India and Idea Cellular have suffered a body blow in the two quarters since Jio stormed the market with its disruptive pricing.

10:48 am: The Reliance Industries stock hit a fresh nine-year high today ahead the firm's 40th AGM. At 1041 hours, the stock was trading 3.36 percent or 51 points higher at Rs 1580 level on the BSE.

10:46 am: Mukesh Ambani had launched Reliance Jio last year on September 5. Reliance Jio offered free data and voice calls for six months till March 2017. Reliance Jio also crossed 50 million subscribers in just 83 days from its launch, and 100 million in 170 days.

10:40 am: Reliance Jio on Thursday tweeted: We are all set to unfold a new chapter of the Jio Digital Life. Join us at the Reliance AGM 2017.

 

10:30 am: A recent leak on Reddit hinted that Reliance Jio may be offering 100Mbps speed with a cap of 100GB per month at Rs 0 for 3 months. A picture was posted on Reddit, showing a glimpse of the JioFiber plans.

10:00 am:  Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd on Thursday said it plans to raise Rs 20,000 crore from a rights offer. After spending a little less than Rs 2 lakh crore, the fresh round of funding will help Jio challenge competitors with its free-for-life voice calls and dirt-cheap data services. Jio is offering 400 crore non-cumulative optionally convertible preference shares (OCPS) at Rs 50 each to RIL, according to a stock exchange filing. With this latest infusion, RIL's total investment in Jio will reach over Rs 2.1 lakh crore.

Meanwhile, Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) yesterday announced its earning for the quarter ended 30th June, 2017. Reliance Industries has reported an increase of 28 per cent net profit to Rs 9,108 cr.  The revenue increased by 26.7% to Rs 90,537 crore.

The increase in revenue was attributed to increase in prices and volumes of refining and petrochemical products. "Our industry leading portfolio of assets in the refining and petrochemicals business contributed to considerable improvement in our earnings for the quarter," Ambani said in a press statement.

Ambani also made a special mention of Reliance Jio in the statement. "Jio has revolutionised the Indian telecom and data consumption landscape. This digital services business has been built to address the entire value chain across the digital services domain with smart applications to make life simple, beautiful and secure," Ambani said.