The telecom revolution has started. No one knows how it will end, but Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Jio is aiming for 100 million users in the shortest possible time. After investing Rs 1,34,000 crore and spending six years planning this revolution, Ambani is attempting to rebuild the foundation of the telecom sector. Voice calls are free for life and unlimited and everything will run on data. This is a game changer because every other telecom company’s revenue model is based on voice calls which bring in 75 per cent of the revenue with the remaining coming from data or internet service. Reliance Jio has fused the two and henceforth all a consumer has to do is buy data and use it the way he or she desires, to surf the internet or make calls. Ambani has not only changed the technology but also the revenue model and he could do this because his company, a late entrant, is starting with 4G as a base. This means others will have to get on the bandwagon or lose customers to Reliance Jio. Competitors have already cut data charges by 80 per cent and are tweaking their voice services, but as of now its advantage Reliance Jio because it’s impossible to beat free calls.
