The telecom arm of Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries Limited, Reliance Jio Infocomm will be initiating its commercial ventures by the end of this year. Some of the highlights that Reliance Jio saw in the Financial Year 2014-2015 and later are:
Financial standing
Operating revenues of Reliance Jio were Rs. 415 crores and other revenues were Rs. 42 crores. Reliance Jio acquired a loan of Rs. 5076 crores from its parent company. It also accounted for net assets worth Rs. 30,074 crores.
Important services
In April, Reliance Jio came up with its first product launch. It introduced a mobile messaging app that has video, voice and conference calling features. It also offers group chats and stickers facility. This app is known as Jio Chat. It runs on iOS or android operating system. It also lets users connect with popular brands or their favorite celebrities.
In December 2014, the company also rolled out a preview website that gives information about Reliance Jio’s services, packages and tariffs.The beginning of 2015 saw the company rolling out its free of cost 4G Wi-Fi services in multiple regions of West Bengal. In 2014 too, Reliance Jio gave free Wi-Fi services at varied spots of Ahmedabad, Surat and Baroda. In June 2015, Reliance Jio earned a provisional pan-India MSO license. The organization has decided to make use of its Fiber to the Home (FTTH) connectivity to provide varied services to the users. The services include TV, telephone, wireless connectivity and high-speed internet.
Acquisitions in spectrum auction
The government’s spectrum auction was conducted in March, last year. Reliance Jio bought 71.05 MHz spectrum in the bands of 800 MHz and 1800 MHz. It made an investment of around Rs. 9936.13 crores. It got a total of 43.05 MHz spectrum in the 800 MHz band by spending Rs. 7735.02 crores. Through this, the company covered 9 major telecom regions. It captured the Mumbai region for Rs. 3637.48 crores. It also acquired 28 MHz of spectrum in the band of 1800 MHz with Rs. 2201.11 crores in 6 areas. The company earned the maximum 1800 MHz spectrum in the state of Rajasthan. Besides, it bought 1800 MHz spectrum in Kolkata for Rs. 745.50 crores.
Recruitment at Reliance Jio
Many professionals have joined Reliance Jio, recently. Former Director and Chief Marketing and Commerce Officer of XL Axiata, Pradeep Shrivastava, joined as the Chief Marketing Officer at Reliance Jio. Former Huawei India Devices Marketing Head, Anand Narang, joined as the Head of the Marketing Division. Former Reliance Communications Joint President and Chief Strategy Officer, Shamik Das, was appointed as the Chief Corporate Development Officer. Former Deutsche Telekom executive, Rainer Deutschmann was recruited as the Chief Products and Innovation Officer.
Former Vice President of Marketing of Coca-Cola, Anupama Ahluwalia, became the Marketing Head at Reliance Jio. Son of Mukesh Ambani, Akash Ambani was chosen as a board member. Besides, Reliance Jio also appointed former Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd. Head, K. Jayaraman as its CEO. Former CEO of Den Networks, S.N. Sharma also joined as a member of Reliance Jio’s leadership team.
Summary
Reliance Jio is gearing up for its commercial launch in December 2015. It thus achieved many developments in the FY 2014–2015.