Jio wages price war in fixed-line broadband

Reliance Jio has taken a disruptive call in the fixed broadband space by offering an entry-level unlimited 10 mbps home broadband service for just ₹198 a month, slashing their earlier entry price of ₹399 (for 30 Mbps). Analysts say that the offer will lead to a price war with rival Bharti Airtel whose minimum pack currently is ₹499. Bharti is expected to respond to Jio's gambit soon.

- SURAJEET DAS GUPTA

Clearly, Jio plans to use the low-priced entry offer as a "back up plan" to expand the country's home broadband market, which is limited to only 27.5 million homes at present. Of this, there are over 15 million homes with fibre broadband, which is provided by Jio and Bharti Airtel.

Analysts at BOFA Global Research say that Jio is trying to replicate what it did with its 4G mobile services to encourage customers to try out their service as a secondary SIM at a low price and then have them convert to Jio completely.