Ambani, 59, who had more than a decade back left the telecom business to younger brother Anil when the Reliance empire their father had created was split, outlined his re-entry plans through a slew of "affordable" offerings and plans that promise to shake up the country's telecom industry.
Targeting 100 million customers in the shortest span of time, he told Reliance Industries' annual general meeting that its wireless phone unit, Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd will offer data for Rs 50 per GB and monthly plan for as low as Rs 149.
"We Indians have come to appreciate and applaud Gandhi-giri, now we can all do 'data-giri', which is an opportunity to do unlimited good things with unlimited data," Ambani said at the AGM.
In 2003, the undivided Reliance had created a storm of kind by announcing monsoon hungama, offering wireless connectivity for an unheard price of Rs 501.
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In the speech that found mention of his children, Isha and Akash, who are both the directors on Jio as also his wife, Nita, Ambani did not forget to make a mention of government's ambitious programmes Digital India, Make in India and Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Ambani didn't mince words when talking about the
Telecom operators not only have legal obligation to provide points of interconnect to other operators, but also cannot limit customers' right to migrate to Jio using Mobile Number Portability, he said.
A company statement later said: "Jio may extend the period of free services in case Jio subscribers are not able to get adequate experience of seamless connectivity across network due to POI congestion and MNP restrictions and the quality of service parameters are not as per the benchmarks desired by management."
Stating that new handsets will be provided at affordable rates, he said LyF handsets will be available at price points starting from Rs 2,999. Devices for 2G/3G customers will be available at Rs 1,999.
Shares of Idea Cellular and Bharti Airtel tanked up to 9 per cent today after Ambani announced the free voice calling and cheaper data tariffs.
The network will reach 18,000 cities and 200,000 villages with data speeds that will allow video calls and more, he said.
"Customers should pay for only one service, either voice or data. Not both... The era of paying for voice calls is ending," he said. "No Jio customer will ever have to pay for voice calls again."
He also announced a 25 per cent more data for students, 1 million Wi-Fi hotspots across the country, "best-ever international calling rates", unlimited subscription to Jio app and special solutions for enterprises.