Reliance Jio: Know Everything abou the business model.

Via Quora user Kshitij Salgunan

What is the business model of Reliance Jio?

It is really simple. Most of you are going to pay the same or probably more money to Jio compared to your current network provider. After reading this answer, you will realize what a clever businessman Mukesh Ambani is.

I have been following the news about Jio since many years, and have written multiple articles about Jio in the past many months.

Why Mukesh Ambani wants to enter networking field so badly?

This story requires us to know why Mukesh Ambani is investing so much in yet another telecom company especially when there is already another company named Reliance Communications. In 2002, when Dhirubhai Ambani died, there were some major ownership issues between his two sons - Anil Ambani & Mukesh Ambani. After some public feud between both the brothers for the control of Reliance empire, their mother intervened and split Reliance into two parts in 2005. Anil Ambani got telecom, power, entertainment and financial services business while Mukesh Ambani received Reliance Industries and IPCL. 

Although Anil Ambani got the Reliance Communications, it was Mukesh Ambani who started it and revolutionized the Indian mobile industry by reducing the call rates in the early 2000s, which made mobile phones affordable to Indians. It was his baby all the way, while Anil Ambani was not even having a seat in it’s board of directors.

That is not all. To prevent Mukesh Ambani from making another telecom company and competing with Reliance Communications, they had inserted a non-compete clause in the agreement. 

In 2010, as soon as the non-compete agreement was scrapped/expired, Mukesh Ambani bought 96% stake in Infotel Broadband which had won 4G spectrum in all sectors in India. Later they renamed it to Jio, and started building fiber optic network around the country.  

This is not just about personal rivalry. With his experience in starting up Reliance communications, Mukesh Ambani knows that existing network providers are not good enough and that he can easily compete with them and win. Telecom is also a very lucrative business. It is like he gets to control Internet/communications in India.

Jio’s Business Model.

Everything Jio have done till now is intended at making money. Their tariff plans may look unbelievably awesome, but they will make more money by giving free voice calls than what the other companies make by charging you for it!  

In India, the monthly average revenue per user (ARPU) the current network providers get is around Rs 150 per month. That is the money they get on average from each user. If you spend over Rs250 per month, you are considered a high value customer. 

Look at this tariff plan.

Which plan would you choose? If you are a voice-only kind of person, then you would be okay with the Rs 149 per 28 days plan, as you will get free unlimited voice calls. But, even though you are not explicitly paying for voice, you are already paying over Rs 150 per month, thus their ARPU will by default be as good as the current players.

If you are someone who uses over Rs 150 worth of voice calls every month then it is a totally awesome plan for you. But, my point is that other telecom companies make about Rs 150 per month on average from each user by charging for voice, SMS, data and roaming. Jio will be making the same/more amount of money on average from each user even after providing SMS, roaming and voice calls for free, by just pricing things differently.

Now, if you are a moderately data using person, which plan would you choose? Did you see that there is no plan in-between the Rs 149 and Rs 499 plans? This is basically a psychological trick to get you into the Rs 499 plan. Many people will compare it with the smaller plan and see that you are getting Unlimited 4G night data and choose atleast the 499 plan.

Now, again see that if you want to really use more than 4GB of 4G, then you have to spend double and move to the 999 plan. Did you notice that there is nothing in-between?

Also, notice that all these plans are for 28 days which can easily be perceived as ‘a month’ by most people. If we divide the number of days in an year with 28, we will realize that we are paying for 13 ‘billable months’ in an year. (365/28=13.03)

They have some smaller plans at Rs 19, 199 and 299, but these plans do not really offer any more value than their main plans as they have even less validity. Also, it offers less data. Also, since there is no separate package for voice calls, I think you must be subscribed to some of their plans to even make calls.

What does 1GB costs?

If we exclude the unlimited night data and the wifi data which many of us may not have access to, then the price per GB of these plans will be

0.3GB for Rs149 = ~Rs 497/GB (Will anyone choose this for data?)
4GB for Rs 499 = ~Rs 125/GB
10GB for Rs 999= ~Rs 100/GB
20GB for Rs 1499= ~Rs75/GB
35GB for Rs 2499= ~Rs71/GB
60GB for Rs3999= ~Rs66/GB
75GB for Rs 4999= ~Rs66/GB

Did you see that even their highest plans doesn’t go as low as their advertised Rs 50/GB rate.

How can they provide unlimited night data?

Once you have build an entire network infrastructure, it really doesn't cost anything for the network provider to give you internet data. 

The reason why most internet providers limit your data is basically because they do not have enough bandwidth to handle so much data. In the case of Jio, they have already laid an awesome fiber optic network which is designed to even handle the 5G and 6G. So, they do not have much of the data bandwidth problem.

Other telecom companies were primarily made to handle voice calls and they have limited data bandwidth. Also, other companies do not own nationwide fiber network, so they have to pay to use the fiber network of other companies. This is the reason other companies don’t usually provide unlimited plans.

Jio currently have the ability to provided truly unlimited data plans, but they will not do so, because that will decrease their profits. They have already decreased prices on average by 50%. This means people will anyway be happy to use their services. If they provide more GBs in the lower end plans, then lesser people will buy their higher plans. So, currently their pricing is optimally placed to increase their profit. When other companies reduce their prices, it is likely that Jio will also further reduce their prices.

How can they provide unlimited free voice calls?

Again, Jio has an all IP network, so all voice calls will go through the internet just like skype or whatsapp. There is not really any point in charging for voice anymore. It is an outdated system and there shouldn’t really be any surprise in why Jio totally abandoned it.

If hypothetically, Jio had tariff for voice calls, then some company similar to WhatsApp would have launched an app through which you can do free voice call over the internet (infact WhatsApp itself has a voice-call option). Once everyone has a good internet connection, people would anyway use such services to make their calls.

How Jio makes money with LYF phones?

Many of you may be knowing about their LYF phones. Few months ago, purchasing these phones were the only way you could get access to a Jio Sim Card to get their their free unlimited preview offer. Did you ever wonder why they have so many versions of these phones?

Nearly all of their phones have very low specs compared to the competition at the price point they sell. The only reason why people bought their phones were because of the unlimited internet+voice calls preview offer.

This was a very clever move by Jio. The reason why there are so many versions of these phones is because of this business model:

1. Jio would go to China and then buy previous generation unsold 4G phones for dirt cheap prices in bulk. No one wants to buy these phones, so obviously the manufactures will happily sell it for a very low price.
2. Then it is re-labeled and sold in India. This is how they have several phones with totally different specs.
3. A totally outdated phone which no one would otherwise buy is coupled with Jio preview offer and now everyone wants to buy it just for the Jio offer.
4. Jio can now sell these phones and make profit. Plus, they get to test their network and solve the bugs. Plus, they can venture out into the mobile device market.

Brilliant idea, isn’t it?

The real money is in Jio Apps

Many people may consider their apps to be bloatware and don’t even install it. I also thought of it as a bloatware when I first heard of it. But, when I tested them out, I saw real potential in them.

1. JioPlay : This has the potential to become a TV channel company. My prediction is that Jio will soon release something like Google Chromecast to provide this service directly to TVs. The ability to watch Live TV channels on smartphones is also a cool idea, especially in India. This may become the most used app in rural areas too.
2. JioOnDemand : This has the potential to become the Netflix of India. Imagine if those who currently pirate movies had an option to get those movies in HD quality legally for nearly free. It can benefit both the users and the producers.
3. JioBeats : Legal music. It has the potential to become Spotify of India.
4. JioMags : Most popular magazines in eBook format. My cousin who reads tech magazines on a regular basis loved it.

You get the point? They can make any type of app in the future and dominate that category with minimal efforts.

They are currently giving these apps for free till 2018. But, that is done so that they can get maximum users to get addicted to these apps. Then they can start subscription charges for these apps. Instead of paying for your TV service or Movie-DVD or Magazines, Jio wants you to pay them.

Apart from that, these apps are locked to Jio network. So, a person using any other internet service won’t be able to use it. Thus, this will force other people into joining Jio. Currently, only Airtel is capable of properly competing with Jio in the 4G market, but they too may not be able to release such apps on time.

Is this good?

Yes, we need companies like Reliance to make such bold moves and invest in India. This is good for everyone. It is a win-win situation. It will increase the progress rate in India and will improve our quality of life. It will also give much needed jobs to millions of people.

Also, we absolutely need competition in this stagnated telecom industry which is currently dominated by players who may have secretly made agreements with each other to not compete on the basis of price. Why do you think Idea, Airtel and Vodafone have similar looking pricing which charges Rs 250 for one GB data?

Conclusion

By just making their tariff plan in such a way that most people interested in 4G have to pay over Rs 500 per month, Jio will be making way more money than the current players. Most of the high value customers of other players will instantly port to Jio, and they maybe able to achieve a huge market share in next couple of years.

When their apps, devices, and fiber services are added up, they are here here to win multiple business verticals. And, at current stage, they are almost unstoppable.

Via Quora user Kshitij Salgunan

"The Most Alien Looking Place on Planet Earth"

An island in the Arabian Sea which is a part of Yemen. 

Courtesy: Wikipedia

The island is very isolated and a third of its plant life is found nowhere else on the planet. It forms one of the most isolated land-forms of earth.

It has a tropical desert and a semi desert climate.

Halah Cave: It is located at the east of this island and has one of the highest Stalactites and Stalagmites in the world. It is several hundred metres deep with total darkness.

Courtesy: Wikipedia

Considered the jewel of biodiversity in the Arabian Sea. The long geological isolation and fierce heat and drought has led to the formation of unique flora of the region. Has nearly 700 endemic species.

The Dragon's Blood Tree:The most striking flora of the region is this tree. Strange looking, umbrella shaped. Bleeds bright red sap when it's cut, was thought to be the dragon's blood of the ancients. Used today in paints, varnish and dye.

Fauna:

Courtesy: Wikipedia

Recognized by UNESCO as a world heritage site in July, 2008.

The name of the island is SOCOTRA in the Arabian Sea, part of Yemen !!

It is surely "The Most Alien Looking Place on Earth" !!

What is the sedition law in India?

What is the meaning of sedition (राजद्रोह)?

• An illegal action inciting resistance to lawful authority and tending to cause the disruption or overthrow of the government.
• Conduct or language inciting rebellion against the authority of a state.

What is IPC?

• IPC stands for Indian Penal Code, it is the main criminal code of India and covers all aspects of a criminal law.
• Drafted in 1860 based on recommendations of the first law commission of India whose chairman was Thomas Macaulay(shown in image below).

Which Section of IPC covers sedition?

• Section 124 A of the Indian Penal Code covers all cases of sedition.

What does it mean for India?

• It is a mechanism to impose reasonable restriction on the right to free speech.

• Though it is a British Era Law, but it was included in the Indian Penal Code to prevent the misuse of freedom of speech and expression that would incite hatred and violence.

What does the section 124A of IPC state?

Sedition—Whoever, by words, either spoken or written, or by signs, or by visible representation, or otherwise, brings or attempts to bring into hatred or contempt, or excites or attempts to excite disaffection towards, the Government established by law in India, shall be punished with  [im­prisonment for life], to which fine may be added, or with impris­onment which may extend to three years, to which fine may be added, or with fine. 

Explanation 1.—The expression “disaffection” includes disloyalty and all feelings of enmity. 

Explanation 2.—Comments expressing moral disapproval of the measures of the Government with a view to obtain their alteration by lawful means, without exciting or attempting to excite hatred, contempt or disaffection, do not constitute an offence under this section. 

Explanation 3.—Comments expressing disapprobation of the administrative or other action of the Government without exciting or attempting to excite hatred, contempt or disaffection, do not constitute an offence under this section.]

In simple terms OR layman language OR summary:

• If someone tries to incite violence, by misusing right to free speech then his or her actions amount to sedition.

•  If someone tries to create dissatisfaction against the government without inciting violence, then his or her actions will not amount to sedition.
• There should be a clear danger of violence or a threat to public order, in order to call an action an act of sedition.

Whether the law is anachronistic or whether it is a British era law that has no place in modern Indian society, is a matter of debate.

The Curious Case of Balochistan

              Ever since the Indian Prime Minister has mentioned the name of 'Balochistan' in his speech at the Red Fort. The issue of 'Balochistan' has come to the forefront, we have been reading about it in various forums. So what exactly is Balochistan issue? This post shall give an insight into the issue of Balochistan. 

Location:

1. Balochistan is one of the provinces of Pakistan (Shown in image below). The other three provinces are : Punjab, Khyber-Pakhtunwa and Sindh.

• It is the largest province in Pakistan, but also the least developed province.
• Total population: over 13 million, indigenously called 'Balochis'.

History:

• Before the birth of Pakistan in 1947, a princely state was called as Khanate of Kalat(which was a part of today's Balochistan). 
• The rulers of Khanate of Kalat refused to join Pakistan and  Pakistan sent troops in March 1948 to annex the territory. Though Yar Khan, the then ruler of Kalat, later signed a treaty of accession, his brothers and followers continued to fight, triggering the first conflict between Balochis and the Pakistani Army. 
• There have been violent campaigns by the Baloch nationalists for independence from Pakistan. 
• Today, there are several separatist groups that are active in the region, the most prominent of the is Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA), designated as a terrorist group by Pakistan.

Culture and Climate:

 Balochistan is noted for its unique culture and dry desert climate.

Tourist Attractions:

Problems of Balochistan:

• The Balochi nationalists accuse Islamabad of deliberately keeping the mineral-rich province poor, while Pakistan’s rulers say the pace of development is slow due to insurgency. 
• But a bigger allegation that the Pakistan is facing, and something which PM Modi tried to highlight in his Independence Day speech, is the large-scale human rights violations in the region, both by the Army and the militants. 
• Every time there’s unrest in the region, the Pakistani Army used brute force to retain order. 
• Even the Air Force was used against the civilian population many times.

Hope they get justice and humanity prevails !!

Nationalism in Modern Times !!

    I took the glass from the shopkeeper with ecstatic joy and the puffy yellow mango shake smelt like a drink from heaven. It was a Friday evening and I had nothing much to do this weekend. I wanted to enjoy my drink and therefore I was sipping it very slowly. I would pull the drink up and then push it down through the straw, thereby creating bubbles. And then I was watching them burst. I was enjoying my life, just then I heard a strange sound. Something had fallen down from a height and I glanced from one end of the street to another, but in vain. Something had fallen I was sure and I was curious to know what it was. 

    

    "Don't worry Sir, its just a packet", the juicewala pointed out noticing my curious eyes. "What packet !", I exclaimed.  "Sardarji on the third floor throws this trash packet and litters the street every single day", he replied. I looked up to the third floor to have a glimpse of the divine being. There he was, with a red turban and a clean white shirt. He was holding a glass in his hand and with no guilt on his face, was smiling at us.

     I quickly moved out of that place with some puzzled thoughts. Like why he was smiling, why he was happy about the incident and why he did it in the first place. Maybe, his throw was not perfect and having thrown the garbage packet just beside me he missed his previous target. But he should have been sad having missed the target. With these unusual thoughts, I moved towards my home. 

    I don't know why but I started observing some incidents as I walked. These differed from the norm, the accepted standards of the society. I saw: 

• A well dressed man in his forties was ambulating with his pet. It was a small little dog ( a 'pug') roaming with his owner, smelling all the cycles, bikes and cars on his way in order to relieve itself. A number of such dogs had created havoc on the road in the previous days.
• A small eatery shop filled with several people, had thrown all the waste products like food, paper, water, sauce, etc right onto the road.
• A barber was continuously wiping out all the bits and pieces of his customers' hairs on the road.
• Some miscellaneous items like 'chappals', clothes, shoes were thrown in the middle of the road.
• People were relieving themselves on the walls of a government owned land, right below the warning 'Trespassers will be prosecuted'. People chose not to trespass, but to take the revenge right on the entrance gate.
• The base of a 'Peepal' tree was occupied with broken idols of God Ganesha, Goddess Laxmi and others.

     All these incidents were not a single incident, they were a trend. These trends once set by individuals, have been followed sheepishly. But the real question is can we stop them from taking place. The answer is Yes. I too should have disapproved of Sardarji's act, but I did not do it. I should have taken the responsibility of making him aware about the repulsive consequences of his act.

     On the morning of every Republic Day and Independence Day when we are watching national programs on Doordarshan, the small little feeling that we have while listening to the national anthem is something I wish that could stay with me forever. While throwing garbage, urinating in public, giving a bribe, taking a bribe or wasting natural resources, we should always be conscious of that small little feeling we had while singing our national anthem. This can be our modern way of nationalism.

    I happened to meet Sardarji again, but this time in a metro. He was about to throw his chocolate wrapper, when I drew his attention towards the logo of my bag displaying Swacch Bharat Abhiyan. He acted as if he was actually going to keep the wrapper in his bag itself. This time I smiled...

Don’t Be Inspired After Reading This

       “Hitler shall meet the same fate as the Jews of Germany. Hail Britain!!”.  The third time it rings, he wakes up furiously at 8.45 AM. Groping for his cell phone, he gives a boiling look as if he was one of the most wronged man on earth. He realises that his left hand is not conscious at all. Trying to relate this to the dream last night, he subconsciously realises that he was a Second World War soldier from Britain. Maybe, “Winston Churchill”. (Because of the ugly reading that he had been doing from few days).

         He quickly checks all his “Facebook” notifications, the latest updates around the world and because of all the weird pages he has liked on the web, he summarises there is nothing new this morning. He opens his “WhatsApp”, checks out all the messages and once again he surmises that all he has got this morning are the forwarded messages of “Good morning” and some really funny jokes that he reads like a prose.

         Glancing in the mirror, he sees his sullen countenance. Again, a damn morning.  A face distorted by sleep, hairs going in all directions. Murmuring, “My smartness has crossed another level altogether”, he starts brushing his teeth vigorously realising he is getting late for his office. All the necessary things that he had planned to implement after reading “Robin Sharma” stuffs like waking up early in the morning, exercising, meditating, jogging and making a good breakfast were circling in his thought process. And then an epic procrastinating idea, “Kal se pakka karenge, ab bahut ho gaya”.

         With a guilt of having reached office late again, he starts working for his daily office chores. He tries to justify himself that he will work really hard today. Just then, he notices a tiny minuscule ant crawling into his keyboard. It disappears and this makes him a little uneasy. He lifts the keyboard, turns it upside down and with a “to and fro” motion tries to desperately throw out the tiny ant. There she was, right on the desk. The black tiny ant crawling over the white mica sheet of the desk. He smiles, and while holding the keyboard he watches the ant steadily moving out. He keeps a close eye on it. The ant stops, and starts rubbing its antennae vigorously. Unwilling to crawl, he starts getting vexed with a little bit of frown on his face. He whiffs at it with full force and it vanishes.

          “Is everything alright, Ramesh?”, inquires his colleague. “Maybe, he was watching me”, he prompts in his head. “Yes Peter, the day is awesome”. Happy that he had at least taught the ant a lesson of a lifetime. Sadism, at its peak.

            He completes his daily tasks in office, reaches back home by 6 o’ clock evening. He calls his several friends, his parents and siblings and laments about the workload in his office. He justifies them (and himself too) that it was a very tough day at work. He quickly opens his laptop, and with a “fear of missing out” logs on to facebook. Quickly going through the “news feed” and updating himself about all his friends, he opens his “WhatsApp” and reads all the forwarded messages again. Some really funny jokes are read by him like a prose again. He feels content with his life now.

            He has his dinner and now he has all the time in the world before the morning comes again. He calls his fiancée and talks to her over all the futile, trivial and frivolous topics. (He decides to refrain from telling about the ant that made his life miserable that day.) Covering a wide spectrum of his so called important topics for three to four hours, he decides it’s very late and he should sleep now.

           He pounces on a book kept below his laptop, “The Greatness Guide by Robin Sharma”. He pretends to read it subconsciously and gradually falls asleep. This time he is against the “Apartheid System” in South Africa. Oh! Wait a minute! Is he “Nelson Mandela” today?

P.S.   Don’t vegetate like Ramesh does.

Have a fixed set of goals in your life and work towards them.

Don’t just be lost in a reverie. Go there and do it !

“Kat to rahi hi hai,

Kat to jayegi hi,

Kucch aisa kariye,

Ki zindagi gaaye bhi.”

An Obsession of a Winner

          The Plebeians giggled how the little man fell down, stumbling at something where even a naïve could have done better. The critics pointed out, “Here, here you could have done better.”

           But this little man, in the coliseum, in the arena fighting valorously, striving hard but because of his misjudgment falling short again and again. Erring flagrantly but learning with each fall. He knows the great enthusiasms, the great struggles, the great dedications. His face fraught with dust, sweat and blood. He knows the glory of a victory, the happiness that comes at a cost, the breeze of content that triumph brings.

            The little man, even if he fails, at least fails in this commitment shall always find his place a notch above the coward, cold and timid souls, who never tasted victory nor defeat. This man, this little man is a true CHAMPION.

The "Pain" called "Nostalgia" !!

               The clamorous sound entering my ears from the balcony of my room was enticing, I had heard them before. It spoke to me with blithe ignorance. I frisked there and saw children fighting with juvenile enmity over a cricket match episode. Yes this was enticing, not because I tried to be a judge or something but because, I was visualising myself down there.

               I decided to take a stroll down the memory lane. After years have passed (with no substantial addition to my wisdom ), I realised, I did not take time out from my busy life to harbour some memories that bring smile to my face.

It  was yesterday that I thought ,

Papa was a superman,

Mummy was a stringent,

Sister was an obedient,

Brother was an authoritarian.

                Today, I believe I can be all four at different times (or together) : superman, stringent, obedient, authoritarian. Times change with time, this is the obvious excuse people give. But, time flows like an ideal fluid : with steady flow, with no viscosity (that’s the only way, I can thank all the physics I have studied since class sixth).

               Such has the time changed, that we don’t have a moment of laughter in the entire day. We don’t have that touch, that blessed touch of our mothers, of our loved ones. Living several hundreds of thousands of kilometres away from our family is obviously a curse in disguise. Yes, we’ll have our reasons for it and they might be very true but the truth is we know this and we try not to think about this. And we'll always evade this. Ask yourself do you miss your family?

              So, we grow and grow bigger in stature, money, wealth and wisdom but we also evade the truth. The truth that we are in this world for a purpose, which the great ‘Gandhi’ identified as serving the fellow countrymen, the great ‘Lincoln’ identified as fighting for the slaves and the great ‘Castro’ identified as freeing his country from American domination. Ask yourself what is the purpose of your life?

               We’ll perish one day and be finished. Our descendants would not know us because obviously we did nothing substantial to expect them to remember us.

Here’s the rhetorical question.

Yes we earned money, yes we attained knowledge, yes we attained properties but did we attain happiness?

Ask yourself in the mirror.