5 reasons how Jio become India’s biggest Telecom Company

With schemes like Jio Phone, Jio Recharge and Jio Fibre, India’s largest telecom provider has captured around 388 million users around the country

The company’s history dates back to 2007 when in Ahmedabad it was founded as Reliance Jio Infocomm Limited. Mukesh Ambani, India’s richest man and son of industrialist Dhirubhai Ambani laid the stones for the company and laid its grounds in the 4G era of the Indian Telecom Sector. 

Jio soon launched its widespread services which included Jio Phone, Jio Recharge, and Jio Fibre. Jio’s journey began in mid-2010 as Infotel Broadband Services Limited (IBSL). IBSL was the very first telecom operator which had won the 4G broadband spectrum in over 20 circles in India. Later, in 2013, IBSL renamed it as Reliance Jio Telecom Limited (RJIL) or JIO. 

Urgent: Jio needs to be stopped, NOW!

How JIO became the largest telecom company of India, leaving behind telecom mammoths like Bharti Airtel and Vodafone. Here are the 5 reasons showcasing the rise and rise of Reliance JIO. 

Powerful Parent organization

JIO’s parent organization, Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) had been one of the country’s most successful and financially sound companies. Founded in 1973, the conglomerate has its roots in textiles, mineral oil, natural resources, retail, petrochemicals, telecommunications, etc. 

RIL is responsible for almost 5% of the government of India’s total revenues from excise and customs duty. Other than that, it is also the highest income taxpayer in the private sector in India. 

JIO had its base built on a platform that had the trust and understanding of the audience. With a history of work in different sectors across the country, RIL had made the introduction of JIO more perpetual and revolutionary. 

Secret connections (not so secret)

The tale of the connections of the Ambani family members with bureaucrats and politicians dates back to the era of Dhirubhai Ambani. As a promising industrialist who had foreseen the future, Dhirubhai had played a lot of tactics to make sure his company i.e. RIL reaches the top of the hill. 

In a similar fashion. Mukesh Ambani is known for his close ties with members of the ruling-Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) and especially with the Prime Minister Narendra Modi. JIO’s rise from a nowhere company to the largest telecom operator in less than 10 years hints at the various direct, indirect, or shrouded contributions from the political arena. 

Demonetisation and boom!

On 8 November 2016, the Government of India announced the demonetization of all ₹500 and ₹1,000 banknotes of the Mahatma Gandhi Series. It also announced the issuance of new ₹500 and ₹2,000 banknotes for the demonetized banknotes. This took the entire nation by shock except for the man himself, Mukesh Ambani. 

Various reports were going around during demonetization that Ambani knew about the government’s plan to disburse the 500 and 1000 notes. Ambani, a supporter and a close ally to PM Modi, made a king’s move to create a buzz and planned a mega-launch of free 4G service by JIO. Post this, talks involving the mega-conversion of Mukesh Ambani’s black income into white became more common in the market. 

Within the first month, Jio announced that it had gained 16 million subscribers in India and later crossed 50 million subscriber mark in 83 days since its launch. Jio Phone, Jio Recharge and Jio Fibre took a spike. In early 2016, JIO had made alliances with global companies like Deutsche Telekom, Millicom, Orange S.A., Rogers Communications, MTS, etc. 

Kicking out the competitors 

Before the 4G allocation of JIO, existing telecom operators in India viz. Vodafone, Idea, Bharti Airtel, etc. had flourished their business. With introducing free 4G service by JIO (post demonetization) the actual value of these companies fell miserably. 

Other than its customer count, the operators lost their financial hold on the market. As for the case of the second-biggest telecom operator Airtel, it was struck with huge losses. A 2017 report by NDTV stated that “Bharti Airtel Reports Lowest Profit in 4 Years, Hit by Demonetisation and Reliance Jio”. Vodafone India lost its whole chunk of subscribers to JIO and suffered losses in billions. BBC in 2019 reported Vodafone’s $7 billion loss in a quarter. 

With help from his friends in the government, Mukesh Ambani made sure that no other company could plan to expand and grow as quickly as JIO. 

Marketing the formula of ‘free’

Mukesh Ambani, in an annual general meeting of JIO, was heard saying, “Every Indian is used to Gandhigiri, now every Indian can do ‘data giri’. 

When the entire nation was curbing with the drastic decision of demonetization, JIO rolled out Jio Phone, Jio Recharge, and Jio Fibre. Taking notice of the current financial situation in the market, JIO did some rigorous campaigns and marketing to make sure that the word is out to each Indian. As a citizen who would not let go of free things, JIO became a success story and spread its wings. As more and more people readily opted for the free JIO plans, Mukesh Ambani had foresighted a long future for JIO. 

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