RIL AGM today: All eyes on Mukesh Ambani’s speech; FTTH service, Jio Phone 3 model announcements expected

Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) will hold its 42nd Annual General Meeting (AGM) in Mumbai on Monday. In previous years, the RIL AGMs have been the venue to announce big launches including the Jio rollout that turned out to be one of the biggest disruptors in the Indian telecom sector. What surprises will today’s (12 August) AGM hold for investors and customers? One expectation is that an announcement will be made on the launch of fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) service of Jio GigaFiber, a combo service of broadband, TV and fixed landline. Another one likely is on the new Jio Phone 3 model. Details of Jio phone 3 will also be watched keenly. Jio’s earlier phone models have been big success. Markets are keenly awaiting for details of both—service of Jio GigaFiber and Jio Phone 3—at the AGM today. At the 41st AGM last year, the broadband service, JioGigaFiber broadband was launched. JioGigaFiber would provide ultra high-definition entertainment on large screen TVs, multi-party video conferencing from a living room, voice-activated virtual assistance, virtual reality gaming, digital shopping and immersive experiences. Subscribers can avail of its Preview Offer for a security deposit of Rs 4,500 or Rs 2,500, depending on the speeds one opts for. [caption id=“attachment_4669411” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  File photo of Mukesh Ambani, [/caption] At the 41st AGM, Reliance Industries Chairman and Managing Director Mukesh Ambani had said that “The company has already invested more than $250 million in the industry. We will now extend the service to 1,100 cities to offer the most advanced fibre-based broadband services. This will mean a faster internet experience. A virtual reality experience for all citizens where you can control switches in your house from outside as well. This will redefine 24x7 emergency help for all homes across India. We are calling this the JioGigaFibre.” In fact, JioGigaFiber has already been launched in select markets across the country. It currently offers fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) broadband connections with 1.1TB (terabytes) of free data at a speed of 100 mbps. During the June quarter, the Average Revenue per user (ARPU) for Reliance Jio—which unleashed one of the most brutal price wars in India’s telecom market—was at Rs 122 per subscriber per month. This is, however, lower than ARPU of Rs 126.2 per subscriber per month seen in the March quarter. Reliance Jio, the newest entrant in the telecom sector, pipped Bharti Airtel to become the second-largest mobile operator with 32.29 crore subscribers and 27.80 percent market share in May, according to regulator Telecom Regulatory Authority of India’s (TRAI) data, reported PTI. As per the latest data released by TRAI, Vodafone Idea—born last year from the merger of older operators Vodafone India and Idea Cellular—continues to be the largest operator with 38.75 crore consumers and 33.36 percent market share in the wireless segment as on 31 May 2019. Reliance Jio added 81.80 lakh new subscribers (on a net basis) in May and ended the month with 27.80 percent market share and 32.29 crore subscribers. Disclaimer: Reliance Industries Ltd. is the sole beneficiary of Independent Media Trust which controls Network18 Media & Investments Ltd which publishes Firstpost