Reliance Jio to Have Close to 1 Million Recharge Outlets at Launch

Reliance Jio, which will compete with the likes of Bharti Airtel and Vodafone in offering 4G services, expects to play a "significant role" in lifting India to among the top 10 nations in Internet penetration, from the current 155 rank, its parent Reliance Industries said in its annual report.

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"With respect to sales and distribution, Jio will have half-a-million activation outlets and close to a million recharge outlets at launch. This will be in addition to the digital channels that Jio is promoting for seamless activation and recharge facilities for customers," it said.

All outlets will have real-time access to the 1,072 Jio offices set up across the country, it said.

As per the State of Broadband 2015 report by the Broadband Commission (ITU and UN), India ranked 155 in the mobile broadband penetration.

At present, the mobile broadband coverage in India is estimated at just 15 percent in contrast to 75 percent in the US. "At launch, Jio will have 70 percent coverage of population and will rise to 90 percent in the next one year," RIL said.

Currently, Jio's services are being used by employees, vendors, partners and associates as part of the trial launch, which has resulted in onboarding of over 15 lakh customers.

The current average monthly data and voice consumption per user is over 26GB and over 355 minutes, respectively.

"This test programme will be progressively upgraded into commercial operations in coming months," it said.