JioFiber Plans May Never Be as Affordable as Reliance Jio Mobile Services, Here’s Why

JioFiber plans, as everyone is now aware, were announced on 5 September 2019 and much to the disappointment of several consumers, the prices were higher than expectations and not disruptive, unlike the Reliance Jio mobile services. This has also lead to several consumers criticizing Reliance Jio on public forums.

“Not worth. High monthly rental may not work. How many could afford and who has the time to utilise the offered package fully. Unless they reduce the monthly tariff, Jio may not get subscribers, as they believe,” comments EM Anujan on DataQuest. “Jio will soon lose its hard-earned clientage, it has disappointed the Jio users due to its high prices,” says Shiv Garg.

Nevertheless, consumers may have to make peace with the fact that JioFiber plans may never be as disruptive as Reliance Jio mobile services for the simple reason that JioFiber is a Fibre-to-the-Home service that faces various challenges of its own.

Why JioFiber Plans May Not Be Disruptive?

1. As mentioned before JioFiber is an FTTH service, and added to that Reliance is promising high speeds of up to 1GBPS, which means that the cost of deployment is very high. The company would need to invest a lot into civil works and infrastructure to provide the said service.
2. Customer acquisition cost, which is the money spent on acquiring more customers, is considerably high in FTTH technology than it is for mobile services. This is also probably one of the reasons why JioFiber is targeting multiple dwelling units or apartments and societies.
3. There is already a lot of competition in the field with more established players such as BSNL, ACT Fibernet, Airtel and so on offering FTTH services. So there is uncertainty regarding the number of subscribers who would opt for JioFiber.
4. JioFiber has promised cable TV services along with broadband, therefore this means they may have to invest more into forming partnerships with local cable operators. Right now Reliance Jio has acquired significant stakes in Hathway and Den, but more such partnerships are required if Reliance wishes to penetrate further into the FTTH market.

As of now JioFiber is apparently still being offered to new subscribers under the preview offer, which requires consumers to pay a onetime security deposit of Rs 2500. Whether JioFiber plans will continue to cost the same or will be brought down can be determined only once the services start on a full-fledged basis.