Reliance Jio may disrupt the market again with a Rs 500 4G VoLTE handset

The long-rumoured Jio feature phone with 4G VoLTE support may be unveiled at a price of Rs. 500 on July 21, the day Reliance Industries Limited is holding its Annual General Meeting. A research note by HSBC analyst Rajiv Sharma reportedly says the Jio feature phone will be priced as low as Rs. 500 (less than $8). The move could help Reliance Jio convince users of 2G feature phones on other networks to make the switch to its 4G network, with a new aggressively-priced Jio plan also said to be on the cards to further sweeten the deal.

Reliance Jio feature phone price

According to an Economic Times report, the HSBC research note says the Jio 4G VoLTE feature phone will be subsidised by as much as $10-15 (roughly Rs. 650-970) in order to achieve the price point of Rs. 500. The company is said to have placed an order of 18-20 million units for the handsets with Chinese vendors such as Zhejiang Techain Electronics Technology Co., Shenzhen CHINO-E Communication Co, Crave and Megaphone. Shipments will start in late July or early August.

While the Reliance Jio 4G feature phone is expected to be announced at the July 21 AGM, it will reportedly hit the market on August 15. The feature phone is expected to be launched under the Lyf brand, which is a part of the Mukesh Ambani-backed Reliance Digital.

Jio plan for feature phone users

Along with the 4G feature phone, Reliance Jio is said to be launching a more aggressively priced tariff plan to reach more users. This new Jio plan is said to be priced at Rs. 80-90, but it is not yet known whether the tariff will be limited only to buyers of the 4G feature phone or for customers using the network on smartphones as well. Just this week, the company launched a new offer that provides customers with 224GB of 4G data, but this is limited only to those buying a new JioFi device, and not for existing users.

In its April regulatory filing, the operator said it has 112.55 million users on its mobile network. A low-priced, 4G-enabled feature phone with a complimentary tariff plan will give Reliance Jio access to millions of consumers who still use 2G handsets due to the prohibitory costs of smartphones. Of course, this move is expected to further increase the competition in the telecom industry, which has been bleeding since Jio started operations in September last year.

According to previous leaks, the Reliance Jio 4G VoLTE feature phone will come in two variants: one featuring a Qualcomm processor, and the other with a Spreadtrum chip. In terms of specifications, Jio 4G feature phone is said to have a 2.4-inch display, 512MB RAM, 4GB internal storage, microSD card support, 2-megapixel rear camera, VGA front camera, Wi-Fi, GPS, and NFC. With 4G VoLTE support, buyers will be able to access digital content on the feature phone courtesy the free subscription to Jio apps. In fact, leaked photos of the device show dedicated hardware buttons in the front for MyJio, JioTV, JioCinema, and JioMusic apps. Voice calls and SMSs are also expected to be free with the device.