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

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

#21

Post by piyush_soni »

Yes, he is the game changer when it comes to bringing fast and cheap internet in India (along with unlimited calls, data, 'national roaming' etc.). Unlike some countries like US, national roaming wasn't really free in India until Jio happened. So much that it forced every other telecom company in India to have similar plans (at least close to that) even if that meant huge downfall in their profit. Such is the power of Mukesh Ambani.

But, if someone is thinking the reason behind it is his philanthropy or something, forget about it. He's the biggest businessman in India, and just wants to capture all the market and all of its 'data'. Ambani wants his company to become India's Google.

That being said, thanks to him, literally (almost) everyone in India is on the internet these days.

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

#22

Post by lihaciudaniel »

seunosewa wrote: post #10
cooper12 wrote: post #8

What a crap title and article, which spends half its time bootlicking Mukesh Ambani and how he's so rich, when the second paragraph says: > has shelled out $35 billion of the company’s money I'm also tired of all these publications that brainlessly give credit for achievements to the CEO like those that suck Elon Musk off for things his engineers have done. Not that I should expect anything better than a journal name…

It really doesn’t bother me because he is the chairman, managing director and largest shareholder of the company in question. Leaders get credit for the things they ask their followers to do all the time. No one can actually accomplish anything significant without lots of help from other people.

Everyone wants to be boss and take decision but nobody wants to take responsibility for their actions, that's why we have middle managers.

To be fair the CEO/Entrepreneur is the one who brings the startup and ideas to life that's why he is the most talked about.

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

#23

Post by baybal2 »

sgr wrote: post #7

I'm on Jio and paying $5 for 84 days. I get 1. Free voice calls 2. 100 SMS/ day 3. 1.5GB High speed data/ day (20+ MBPS)- Post which unlimited @ 64 Kbps 4. Subscription to Jio apps like Music/ Movies/ News The page shows pricing at $5.7, everyone I know has always received a discount voucher for Rs 50. https://www.jio.com/en-in/4g-plans

100$ for 200GB 4g plan on China Mobile Pakistan

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

#25

Post by ganarajpr »

About 5 months or so ago, one of my cousins called me ( video call on whatsapp ) from one of the snow covered mountains in the himalayan range. I know its not the top of mount everest and the place does see a decent tourist traffic, but still I was surprised by the fact that he could do a clear video call from that location. THIS, compared to me, sitting on a train ( not underground! ) just 10 miles away from London and no internet ( or network ) feels very very strange.

That is when I really understood how gamechanging Jio is to India. There is nothing even closely comparable to it anywhere in UK atleast and I believe the same is true for most developed countries.

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

#26

Post by kamaal »

sgr wrote: post #7

I'm on Jio and paying $5 for 84 days. I get 1. Free voice calls 2. 100 SMS/ day 3. 1.5GB High speed data/ day (20+ MBPS)- Post which unlimited @ 64 Kbps 4. Subscription to Jio apps like Music/ Movies/ News The page shows pricing at $5.7, everyone I know has always received a discount voucher for Rs 50. https://www.jio.com/en-in/4g-plans

Airtel has similar plans.

Ultimately this is game of who runs out of capital first. Jio has a debt of >1,25,000 crore as of now. Airtel has plenty of cash reserves which it is burning to sustain through this.

Data is still not cheap. Its being subsidized. For how long, no one knows. Until Airtel or Jio run out of cash, or think they must stop bankrupting themselves in a price war which no one can win.

Another important thing is Mukesh Ambani has plans for e-commerce. So I guess he is playing a big game on that end too.

Consumers are benefitting though.

Bonus statistic: Jio alone is serving more data than all US networks combined.

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

#27

Post by Investopad »

piyush_soni wrote: post #21

Yes, he is the game changer when it comes to bringing fast and cheap internet in India (along with unlimited calls, data, 'national roaming' etc.). Unlike some countries like US, national roaming wasn't really free in India until Jio happened. So much that it forced every other telecom company in India to have similar plans (at least close to that) even if that meant huge downfall in their profit. Such is the power o…

Hi Piyush. Great points but would like to say that not even half of India has access to internet just yet. While Jio is certainly expediting this growth, we have a long way to go.

You can find my reference here: https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/business/india-business/...

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

#28

Post by peter303 »

The Arnold Carnegie of India. Mr Carnegie funded hundreds of public libraries around the USA in the 1800s. He was a rags to riches 19th century steel billionaire in modern valuations.I have read dozens of testimonials of how small town middle class children use their libraries to enter ivy league universities and onto fantastic careers. I am one of these people.

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

#29

Post by kisslaay »

Jio is huge in India. Jio is specifically targeting rural areas. Areas which would have taken years for internet cable to reach. They have strong presence by maintaining cellular signal, Jio shops etc in these areas. Maybe that is the reason why India leads in number of people who first accessed Facebook on mobile.

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

#30

Post by puranjay »

pnenp wrote: post #17
sgr wrote: post #7

I'm on Jio and paying $5 for 84 days. I get 1. Free voice calls 2. 100 SMS/ day 3. 1.5GB High speed data/ day (20+ MBPS)- Post which unlimited @ 64 Kbps 4. Subscription to Jio apps like Music/ Movies/ News The page shows pricing at $5.7, everyone I know has always received a discount voucher for Rs 50. https://www.jio.com/en-in/4g-plans

Had to re-read to see 1.5 GB per day . Wow. I used to think we had it good in Austria (10GB for €10 per month ). But that is fantastic.

You can get a 5GB/day plan for INR 799 (~$11) per month. That's more data than most will use in a single day.

That's not all - you also get free access to Jio's music service, movie library, streaming TV, and cloud storage.

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