Two Years Ago, India Lacked Fast, Cheap Internet – One Billionaire Changed That

Firstly, it used to insist on Aadhaar (the resident ID linked with biometrics) to provide a connection. I'm not sure if that has changed in the recent times and if it accepts other documents.

Secondly, as someone else pointed out here, Jio is an unsustainable model. While the prices charged by other telecoms/ISPs could go down a bit, what Jio is doing is creating a bloodbath where everyone sinks, including Jio. Jio already has huge debts. I don't think that bodes well for consumers, and would negatively affect how much things can improve in the coming years. This could result in a deep and long stagnation once all companies have no money and have huge debts. After all, telecom is a capital intensive business, combined with the operational expenses that are more specific to the Indian scenario (and not applicable in some developed economies) — like a competitor cutting the cables of another provider in a area and creating a mass outage, roads being dug without warning or planning to lay cables and not repaired later (sometimes resulting in fines to the company), etc.

Lastly, Jio is from Reliance, a big conglomerate that has a reputation of being unethical in many ways. [1] This may be considered as being compensated by some of the good that has been done by the company, but it still cannot be completely ignored. The 2007 Hindi movie "Guru" [2] is a fictionalized depiction of the beginnings of Reliance and about Dhirubhai Ambani (the founder).

[1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reliance_Industries#Scams

[2]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guru_(2007_film)

I live in USA but I am of Indian origin. My parents' apartment in India now has Fiber Internet with 80Mbps at 1000INR (15USD)/month. On my recent travel (Aug 2018), I had Jio and was working remotely. It is so cheap to get Jio. I had 0 issues and I was praising the Internet situation in India for the first time in the last decade. Seriously, good changes in Internet situation. The top challenges for me right now to move back there are 1. Rampant corruption in state government offices (especially with land registrations, legal heir certificates) 2. Extreme levels of sanitation/drainage issues even in metros 3. Personal indiscipline of the people. There is now some transparency because of digital transformation/e-governance. I think in a decade, (1) and (2) will be addressed. It will take miracles to fix

Great points.

About 1: What you see is actually a massive improvement from last decade. National level corruption is so low (low, not gone completely) as compared to last year, its incredibly liberating

About 2: Again, so much better than last decade. You can ask your parents if they feel India has changed way beyond what they've lived through. Especially in Tier 1 cities which are almost western but with Indian tinge

About 3: I think that is just the way of life in India. This will not go away soon. Come to think of it, I don't think it needs to. This is part of culture and the indiscipline allows for innovative folks to capitalize and make money with improved efficiencies in Jugaad