Jio Bharat - Feature Phone Disruption

Jio – Reliance’s major disruptor is yet again gearing up to revamp the feature phone segment in the telecom space. Jio recently introduced Jio Bharat – the 4G feature phone priced at ₹ 999. The device comes locked with Jio’s SIM and pre-installed Jio Apps.

Jio has been a constant market share gainer in the telecom space. With Jio Bharat, RIL will look to delay the tariff hike for telecom and could also impact the feature phone user market share of Bharti Airtel as per D-street’s Analysts’ consensus estimates.

Talking of tariffs, Jio has announced that mobile tariff’s for Jio Bharat will range from ₹ 123 for 28 days and ₹ 1234 per year.

According to Jefferies Report, -

“These plans offer unlimited voice and 0.5GB data/day will drive market share gains for Jio. Jio Bharat’s attractive pricing and reasonable device quality are likely to drive adoption amongst existing feature phone users. While feature phone users at the end of their device life are likely to save 26 per cent on their mobile spends, those who don’t want to change their handset may not switch.”

Impact on Competitors

With Jio’s Bharat feature phone, prospectively delaying the tariff hike, the impact on Average Revenue Per User (ARPU) will be quite significant and that too on the downside. This launch will also put pressure on Jio’s 2G Telecom peers Airtel and Vodafone Idea.

Jio’s ARPU for Q1FY24 came in at ₹ 180.5 which is just 1% growth sequentially, on account of no tariff hikes, with 9.2 million subscribers. Jio’s management is confident of growing ARPU with growing subscriber-base and increase in data consumption.

About Jio Bhart Phone

There are two Jio Bharat entry-level phones with some smartphone-like capabilities at a competitive price. The two look similar to old feature phones but with support for 4G connectivity. One of the Jio Bharat phones was co-created with Indian manufacturer Karbonn, called Jio Bharat K1 Karbonn. Jio says other manufacturers will also get to adopt the 'Jio Bharat platform' to build 'Jio Bharat phones.'

The Jio Bharat phone co-created with Karbonn -- Jio Bharat K1 Karbonn -- features a mix of red and black. The front includes the "Bharat" branding, while the back has the "Karbonn" logo. The phone includes the old-school T9 keyboard and flashlight at the top. There's also a camera on the back, but the specifications remain unclear. Otherwise, the phone supports UPI payments with JioPay. Users can also watch movies or sports matches on JioCinema.

Conclusion

As Jio plans to capture a major portion of 2G Market with Jio Bharat feature phone, affordable pricing, discounted tariff structure will attract more subscribers towards Jio specially from the rural and sub-urban parts of India. 
Going forward, the subscriber-churn between the 3 telecom giants – Airtel, Jio and Vodafone Idea will decide who will win this telecom battle – Will it be an “All Win” or “One Win, Two loose” in the Indian Telecom space.