Just when all the telecommunication companies in India were lagging behind, both in terms of bandwidth and customer satisfaction, Reliance Jio brought a revolution that flipped the market of telecommunications in India. Now, India is one of the biggest data-consuming countries in the world! And it is all because of the Jio Revolution. Let’s understand the backstory of Reliance Jio and how it became the biggest player in the telecom industry.
BACKSTORY:
Jio is one of the biggest telecom companies in India, which was started in 2016 with the motive of giving the best services at cheaper rates. Back in the day when Indian customers had faced a lot of connectivity issues with the type of services provided by Indian telecom companies, Jio came up with the brilliant idea of providing the best services at affordable prices or even at no cost which amazed most of the citizens as well as big players.
Jio focused mainly on increasing bandwidth, customer base, and data consumption. Their main strategy was to give the population free services for calling, messaging, and data, along with excellent bandwidth! With this, within the span of 83 days, Jio gained 5 mln subscribers and even extended its offer for the next three months (in 2016) which helped them increase their customer base.
This leads to our next point which is
CUSTOMER GROWTH:
Talking about the customer base/growth that Jio has gained so far, then
Vodafone Idea has lost 1.8 million subscribers and fell to 267.12 million total subscribers, as per reports by TRAI in 2021.
Reliance Jio’s active subscriber base grew 1.13%. Out of a 420 million customer base, Jio has approximately 86% Active subscribers base, that is 364 million.
REVENUE:
Another thing that highlights the growth really well is the revenue of the company. We saw an 18% growth in EBITDA in October-December 2021 and are expected to grow 4-5% more in the future.
After gaining a solid customer base, Jio wanted to do something beyond good bandwidth at affordable rates. The company, therefore, maneuvered its customer knowledge and technology and brought something new to the table. With this idea, they came up with whole another concept of super-app where they wanted their customers to leverage all the products in one place, which is now known as
JIO SUPER-APP:
Jio super-app has built an entire ecosystem for the lifestyle of its customers whose products are easily accessible in one place. The app is supposedly designed mainly for the Indian market which facilitates most of the Indian day-to-day services; from transferring money to OTT platforms, the app contains everything. Here are some of the key features/highlights of the application:-
1. Jio Digital Life Includes unlimited data, free voice, SIM home delivery, JioFiber, recharge, and payments. It also has Jio popular plans where it combines normal recharge plans with entertainment services 2. Jio UPI/Transactions UPI ID, QR code scan, check the balance, recharge bills (electricity, gas), and Jio rewards
3. Jio Mart Includes all the daily life commodities like grocery, beauty, electronics, home & kitchen, fashion, medicines, jewelry, etc. They also launch discount offers and exciting vouchers to attract customers 4. Jio Payments bank This feature allows customers to open their payment account on their mobile phones and provides free virtual debit cards and seamless payment 5. Jio EasyGov In this feature, one can avail all the government-related facilities which are available in multiple languages for better understanding. All the government jobs and schemes are updated to the customer as per the requirements Jio Saavn, OTT, and games Where the user can play games, listen to music, and even watch their favorite movies & TV shows.
Jio has incorporated a section of Mini-apps in its super-app where one can even avail the standalone applications if they want to, as per the customers’ needs like JIoSaavn, JioMart, JioCinema, JioTV, JioNews, and many more.
Have you looked closely into the strategy or plan that they played out? If yes, then you'll be able to see a very important issue that Jio targeted. They not only focused on giving high-quality speed or connectivity, but also on the type of lifestyle services that Indian customers want. From payments to gaming, it has everything a customer would need, thus making it a ‘customer-friendly’ product or application that directly impacts the lifestyle of the citizen.
Even now, telecom companies are targeting lifestyle services more and more, just like other fintech companies. Building a super-app has now become their major goal where they know they can succeed along with their customers. In fact, all the major telecom companies around the world are solving obstacles and making it smooth. Super-app has become their trump card which is accessible to everyone and everywhere. We have already seen finance adopting technology to create super-app. Now we are able to see telecom companies upgrading the technology to fabricate their own ecosystem, where they emphasize premium quality, customized products, and create a different customer experience in a unique way.
