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Communications

India's Richest Man Launches 4G LTE Network, Offers Unlimited Free Voice Calls (mashable.com) 92

Posted by msmash from the wow dept.
An anonymous reader writes: India's biggest industrial house has launched its 4G LTE network and is offering unlimited free voice calls forever to anyone who signs up for its services. It is also claiming to offer the cheapest 4G LTE data rates in the world. After numerous delays and months of testing, India's richest man, Mukesh Ambani, today announced the commercial availability of Reliance Jio's mobile services. The conglomerate's Jio services, which users can avail starting Sept. 5, is offering a nation-wide LTE network coverage, coupled with free voice plans and best data tariff Indian consumers have ever seen. Jio's network is being touted as the largest 4G LTE deployment anywhere in the world, Ambani said, adding that the network is also "future proof" with baked in support for upcoming 5G and 6G network technologies. Jio's 4G coverage is available in 18,000 cities in the country, and over 200,000 remote areas. The company aims to extend the coverage to 90 percent of India's population by next year. Reliance Industries has invested $22 billion in Jio, and has been working on the roll-out for last five years.
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India's Richest Man Launches 4G LTE Network, Offers Unlimited Free Voice Calls More

India's Richest Man Launches 4G LTE Network, Offers Unlimited Free Voice Calls

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  • Kingsman (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward

    some kind of evil plan?

  • I saw that movie... (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward

    You'll go wild for this cell service. It'll blow your mind!

  • Not free (Score:4, Insightful)

    by sjbe ( 173966 ) on Thursday September 01, 2016 @09:22AM (#52807689)

    India's biggest industrial house has launched its 4G LTE network and is offering unlimited free voice calls forever to anyone who signs up for its services.

    If there is a monthly fee for the service then they aren't free. On a unit cost basis (per call) it might be cheap if someone makes a lot of calls but it isn't free. If the network has enough bandwidth the marginal cost of allowing additional calls within the network is a good approximation of zero. There is an upper cap to the amount of bandwidth a single phone can use for voice calling so once the network exceeds that capability there really is no reason to bill by the minute anymore.

    Ambani said, adding that the network is also "future proof" with baked in support for upcoming 5G and 6G network technologies.

    Sounds like puffery to me.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by mjwx ( 966435 )

      India's biggest industrial house has launched its 4G LTE network and is offering unlimited free voice calls forever to anyone who signs up for its services.

      If there is a monthly fee for the service then they aren't free. On a unit cost basis (per call) it might be cheap if someone makes a lot of calls but it isn't free. If the network has enough bandwidth the marginal cost of allowing additional calls within the network is a good approximation of zero. There is an upper cap to the amount of bandwidth a single phone can use for voice calling so once the network exceeds that capability there really is no reason to bill by the minute anymore.

      By the sounds of it, the way it's being advertised, you pay for network access only (the ability to connect to the network) with maybe text included, voice and data are add on packs. This is not the first country I've seen this done in.

      Not everything is advertised in overpriced plans like in the US. Currently paying GBP 12 a month for 2 GB of data (plus some minutes and texts I don't use) on PAYG.

      Now the real profit for this telco comes from the customer data that will be sold and the ads that will b

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by mark-t ( 151149 )
      Even with a fee for the service, if it does not matter how often or how much you use that service, it amortizes to being effectively free. The limit of some fixed positive number over x as x approaches infinity is zero. If the fixed positive number is small enough relative to average income levels, then even the fixed cost is inconsequential.

      • Even with a fee for the service, if it does not matter how often or how much you use that service, it amortizes to being effectively free.

        If you make one phone call per billing cycle the price does not amortize to even close to free. Even if you use it a lot the price per call might be cheap but it will not and cannot be free. It might be inconsequential but it isn't zero.

        The limit of some fixed positive number over x as x approaches infinity is zero.

        There is an upper bound on the number of minutes a phone can be used in a billing cycle. Infinity does not ever come into the discussion. To make up some bogus numbers for a 28 day billing cycle, the most a phone could possibly be used is 40,320 minutes if it was used 24

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by mark-t ( 151149 )

          If you make one phone call per billing cycle the price does not amortize to even close to free.

          True, but if you are on a month-to-month plan and not using a burner phone, then you are spending that money anyway. It becomes part of your monthly cost of living.

          If you prefer to use a burner instead of paying every month for a service, that's fine... but not everyone does that.

    • If the network has enough bandwidth the marginal cost of allowing additional calls within the network is a good approximation of zero. There is an upper cap to the amount of bandwidth a single phone can use for voice calling so once the network exceeds that capability there really is no reason to bill by the minute anymore.

      This is one of those statements that's tantalizingly close to right in theory, but badly wrong in the real world.

      First, wireless providers don't design systems to have oodles of unused bandwidth sitting around at any given time -- that would force them to charge subscribers more for no perceived benefit. So for a real-world system that is running close to capacity, an extended burst of voice traffic caused by a bunch of people making long phone calls all at the same time because... free (think about how pe

  • He'll set up a cut-rate call center in Atlanta, and tell the good 'ol boys to answer the phone as 'Arnav,' 'Sai,' and 'Vihaan'...
    • Comment removed based on user account deletion
      • They have people working in shifts, so nobody works the way you are describing. Talking about the companies here - Reliance, Airtel, Tata, et al

  • forever ? (Score:4, Interesting)

    by ardmhacha ( 192482 ) on Thursday September 01, 2016 @09:37AM (#52807757)

    "offering unlimited free voice calls forever to anyone who signs up for its services"

    A promise that cannot be kept.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Duhfus ( 960817 )
      While they likely won't keep this promise, I don't understand why this promise can't be kept.
      Their announced model seems to be charge for data and not for calls or text. Why is this not viable?

  • Lots of posts so far referencing Kingsman, but I would think that this only means that the number of voice calls or how long you talk does not create any additional cost to whatever fixed rate you pay everything that is bundled with the service.

    I have free unlimited calls nationwide on my cell phone plan too... but I still pay for it, One fixed monthly rate... It's not that big a deal.

  • "Baked in" before they decide on recipe? (Score:4, Informative)

    by daboochmeister ( 914039 ) <daboochmeisterNO@SPAMgmail.com> on Thursday September 01, 2016 @09:44AM (#52807785)
    The 5G spec isn't stable yet, and isn't the 6G spec just a glint in someone's eye at this point? Not sure how he could have "baked in" support for them yet ...

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by mark-t ( 151149 )
      This is kinda what I was wondering about here too.... it makes me a bit suspect that something is going on that isn't kosher.
    • Wouldn't buying extra frequency bands cover for it? Unless 5G and 6G completely changes the way data is transmitted from RF signals to, say, UV signals or something?

    • Re: (Score:2, Insightful)

      by Anonymous Coward

      The 5G spec isn't stable yet, and isn't the 6G spec just a glint in someone's eye at this point? Not sure how he could have "baked in" support for them yet ...

      This could just mean that the backhaul to the towers will support the higher data rates.

    • The 5G spec isn't stable yet, and isn't the 6G spec just a glint in someone's eye at this point? Not sure how he could have "baked in" support for them yet ...

      It's easy. You've already got the tower!

      All you have to do is change the equipment, data lines, power lines, and antennas!

      Or maybe "baked in" support means the tower supports are literally baked in clay...

      • Does equipment always need to get changed, or would firmware/software updates take care of what's needed? I'm assuming that data lines and power lines won't be different for 5G and 6G, or would they?
        • I really don't know. Depends on power consumption, more data means more power...might have to upgrade to bigger/more power lines to the devices...maybe that's what they've already accounted for. Same with data lines.
  • ...will Eggsy save the world this time?
  • That's some good reporting right there. Nice job Manish!

  • For those who don't know, Reliance is already one of the leading telecom companies in India. Already offers both GSM and CDMA services. Just wondering - how is Jio different, other than being 4G?

    And they are still way behind Airtel, which has had 4G for the last 3 years.

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by Anonymous Coward

      There are TWO reliance companies in India.
      Reliance ADAG (Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group) that owns the incumbent Reliance Communications that is the one you are mentioning isn't doing well.

      Second Reliance is Reliance MDAG (Mukesh DAG) that owns RIL - Reliance Industries Limited, that has launched Reliance Jio.

      So, from Sept 5th there will be TWO reliance companies offering telecom in India:
      Reliance Communications
      Reliance Jio.

  • Samuel L. Jackson will probably play him in the inevitable biopic [wikipedia.org].

  • So is that "Unlimited" unlimited, or Unlimited unlimited?
  • this sounds suspiciously like the plot from "The Kingsmen"
  • Worst customer service. The Comcast of india. Hard to activate. Harder to cancel.

    • Worst customer service. The Comcast of india. Hard to activate. Harder to cancel.

      This... I would rather pay more for every call than take a connection from Reliance. They are always keen to take your money, but the moment a problem crops up( as it inevitably does) you are left to swim on your own. Anil or Mukesh Ambani- which ever brother it is from, unless you have a lot of time and a lot of patience its better to avoid Reliance.

  • Although it might have been more useful for him to invest that money to provide toilets for the more than 600 million Indian citizens who lack them. Well, at the very least they will be able to use their phones while taking a shit in some public lot.
  • Come to the US. It might be a great option here.

  • Ambani owes 100,000 crores to Banks;
    Govt must nationalize Reliance Industries;
    https://www.change.org/p/india... [change.org]

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