Jio disruption: Feature phone to cost Rs 0 with Rs 1,500 refundable deposit

Jio feature phone offered free voice, SMS, unlimited data at Rs 153/month

Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) on Friday held its 40th AGM or annual general meeting for shareholders today, at Birla Matushri Sabhagar in Mumbai. During the event, Reliance announced the launch of its 4G feature phone. Along with that the telco has announced its cable TV device. The JioPhone will be available for free but buyers will have to deposit a fee of Rs 1500 which will be refundable after three years. This means the phone will be available at an effective price of zero.

The phone, targeted at 50 crore feature phone users in the country, will be available for pre-booking from August 24 on payment of a refundable security deposit of Rs 1,500.

Indian Companies News : This deposit will be refunded after 36 months on return of the phone, he said, adding that the price of the phone will be "effective zero".

He used the occasion to introduce his twin children, Akash and Isha, who presented the phone features that include calls and text messaging on voice command, Internet surfing and cable to connect the device to TV to view content, including videos.

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"JioPhone will make the 2G feature phone obsolete," Ambani claimed, adding that the company is looking to bring 5 million phones to the market a week.

The JioPhone will be available for user testing in beta mode from August 15 and for pre-booking from August 24.

"Reliance democratised the equity culture in the past. Now, Jio will democratise the digital culture in India," he asserted. "Digital Life will no longer be the privilege of the affluent few."

Out of the 78 crore phones in India, Ambani said, 50 crore are feature phones that cannot be used for Internet or data usage. The new phone would give "affordable" device to these 50 crore users and "end the digital exclusion in India". Read more full article.