Excerpts From Mukesh Ambani’s Speech on JioPhone

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Mukesh4

Here are excerpts from Mukesh Ambani’s speech at the 40the Annual General Body Meeting where he spoke on the new JioPhone.

Dear Friends,

Mukesh
Reliance Industries Chairman Mukesh Ambani announcing the launch of JioPhone at the 40th Annual General Body Meeting in Mumbai on July 21, 2017

Let me begin with Reliance Jio. It has been only 10 months since the launch of Jio. And what an incredible journey it has been! 

Jio has broken one world record after another. First, nobody believed that we could acquire customers fast enough to justify our 200,000 crore investment in the world’s largest greenfield 4G LTE all-IP network.

Team Jio stunned the world. They over-delivered on the 100 million target that I had set for them at our last AGM. In less than 170 days, more than 100 million customers signed up for Jio’s services.

On an average, Jio added 7 customers per second every single day. This was the fastest adoption of any technology service, anywhere in the world. Faster than even Facebook, WhatsApp and Skype… Today, Jio has over 125 million customers.

I sincerely thank each and every one of our customers. Aap Sab Ko, Main, Mere Dil Se, Dhanyavaad Deta Hoon…

Second, before the launch of Jio, sceptics said that Voice over LTE is a globally unproven technology. But, we proved them wrong! Jio users consistently make more than 250 crore minutes of voice and video calls every single day…

Third, many analysts believed that India can never be the largest mobile data market in the world.

Again, Jio proved them wrong. In just 6 months of Jio’s launch, data consumption in India went from 20 crore GB to 120 crore GB per month and has been multiplying ever since.

Now, Jio customers alone are consuming over 125 crore GB of data every month, including 165 crore hours of high-speed video every month, making Jio the largest mobile video network.

Indeed, India has overtaken USA and China in mobile data usage. Before Jio’s launch, India was 155th in the world in mobile broadband penetration. Now India is number 1 in mobile data consumption and well on its way to becoming number 1 in mobile broadband penetration, in the coming months.

Fourth, sceptics said India being India, free users will never convert to paid users. Once again, Jio’s customers proved them wrong… And we have converted majority of our free customers to paid customers. Today, Jio has more than 100 million paying Jio Prime customers.

There are 78 crore mobile phones in India. However, let us not forget that in this 78 crore, there are more than 50 crore feature phone users who have been left out of the digital revolution. They cannot avail any benefits of a smart phone, much less the benefits of a 4G LTE smartphone. They can neither afford the cheapest 4G LTE smartphone, nor the exorbitant cost of data charged by existing 2G operators…

Sadly, a vast majority of mobile users in India are starved of data. This digital disempowerment and unfairness must end. Jio is committing to end it today.

Mukesh4First, connectivity.. in the next 12 months, Jio services will cover 99% of our country’s population. Because of Jio, India’s 4G coverage will be more than its 2G coverage… We will soon have over 10,000 Jio offices, across every city and tehsil town of India. These offices will service our sales channel partners and over ten lakh physical retail outlets that sell Jio services.

(And) device affordability… I had challenged our young engineers at Jio to find a disruptive Indian solution to this problem. What they came up with, stunned me. And it will stun you.

Today, Jio is going to reinvent the conventional feature phone. With a revolutionary device, an unmatched Indian innovation, Made in India, by young Indians and for all Indians.

Ladies and gentlemen, let me introduce India ka Intelligent SmartPhone – Presenting Jio Phone… JioPhone is a truly revolutionary phone that will transform the lives of 50 Cr feature phone users.

What is the JioPhone price?

Now, let me announce the tariffs for the JioPhone.

First, On the JioPhone, voice will ALWAYS be free…. Starting 15th of August this year, I am declaring DIGITAL FREEDOM for all feature phone users. Jio will give them access to UNLIMITED DATA on the JioPhone.

If these feature phone users were to consume a similar quantity of data on other operator’s network, they would spend over Rs 4,000 – Rs 5,000 per month at prevailing 2G data rates.

Jio will provide this at ONLY Rs 153 per month… that is one-thirtieth the price. I am putting an end to UNAFFORDABLE DATA, with this ALL UNLIMITED, Jio Dhan Dhana Dhan plan of 153 per month for the JioPhone!

There will be a fair usage policy of half a GB per day, to ensure that bandwidth is fairly apportioned for every user.

Many JioPhone users might like to view their favorite content such as live TV, movies, education on the big screen of their television sets… Our young Jio engineers have created an innovation to help them — a special and affordable “JioPhone TV cable” that connects JioPhone with any TV, not just a smart TV, so that all JioPhone users can enjoy viewing on the big screen of their existing television sets.

Along with this accessory, users can opt for the existing Jio Dhan Dhan Dhan 309 pack that would allow users to watch almost 3-4 hours of videos daily, of their choice, on a large screen.

We are well aware that many of these users find it difficult to commit 153 upfront. In order to fit every pocket, we are also introducing 2 sachets – a weekly plan for 53 and a 2-day plan for 23, that provide similar value.

To sum it up, this breakthrough and revolutionary device named JioPhone along with Jio’s disruptive tariff will unleash the power of Digital Life in the hands of 1.3 billion citizens of the largest democracy in the world.

But that’s not all. There is ONE MORE THING. You may want to know how much the JioPhone cost. Today, I am delighted to announce that JioPhone will be available to all Indians for an effective price of  zero.

Yes, you have heard it right … for an effective price of zero.

JioPhone is effectively free for Jio customers… To protect against misuse of the free JioPhone offer, we plan to collect a fully refundable, one-time, security deposit of 1,500 with every JioPhone. A JioPhone user can use the JioPhone for 36 months, and can get a full refund of the security deposit of 1,500 by returning the used JioPhone.

Net-net, you pay nothing for the JioPhone. It is free!!

Digital freedom for India

Dear Shareowners,

All Indians – without exception – will not only be free from voice charges, from SMS charges, from extortionist data charges. From 15th August, 2017, they will have access to the highest quality, highest quantity, most affordable and unlimited data. This is how Jio will end the digital exclusion in India.

And this is what I call true digital freedom.

Reliance dedicates JioPhone to the nation on the joyous occasion of India@70 – the 70th anniversary of India’s Freedom and offers it to over 50 crore data-deprived mobile feature phone users in India.

Digital Life will no longer be the privilege of the affluent few. This is the most powerful digital tool ever created in India to empower every Indian.

Technological limitations and inefficiencies of some operators will no longer become an excuse to perpetuate digital deprivation to over 50 crore Indians.

Reliance democratized the equity culture in the past. Now, Jio will democratize the digital culture in India…

Friends,

So… when will the JioPhone be available? The JioPhone will be available for user testing in beta from 15th August and for pre-booking from 24th August.

And JioPhone will be physically available to those who have pre-booked, on a first come first serve basis, September onwards.

So, I encourage all of you to pre-book a JioPhone as quickly as possible, starting 24th August.

And from the last quarter of this year, all JioPhones will be made in India. We are targeting to have 5 million JioPhones available every week…

I have always set impossible goals and targets for my colleagues at Jio.

And they have unfailingly made the impossible, possible. Today, I am mandating the Jio Team to help a majority of feature phone users in India to migrate to JioPhone.

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