Source: India Today | By Priya Pathak
Reliance Jio testing VoWiFi once again, commercial rollout imminent
Jio started the testing of the VoWiFi service in July and was said to launch it in the coming few months.
It seems that Reliance Jio’s voice over WiFi service could be come soon now. To recall, Jio started the testing of the service in July and was said to launch it in the coming few months. The service has once again been spotted in testing hinting that the commercial rollout could happen soon.
According to TelecomTalk report, Jio is currently testing the service in Madhya Pradesh with plans to further test it in Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, and Kerala too. The report also carries a screenshot shared by one of its readers from Madhya Pradesh which confirms the presence of the service in his area. The screenshot has been clicked on an iPhone. It shows Jio WiFi service at the place where you see the name of the network operator. This could mean that Jio could go for the commercial rollout soon.
There is no word on when exactly the roll out would happen but it might come in January 2019. The service for now seems to be limited for Jio-to- Jio only but it could expand to other networks also. Also chances are that the company will not charge the users for the service as it has said in the past that voice calling will always be free on its network.
Voice over WiFi is the telecom department’s effort to allow subscribers to make calls over the wireless network using WiFi in areas with poor network connectivity. The feature could improve the poor connectivity situation in the country.
Jio not only plans to add the voice over WiFi support to smartphones but also to its feature phone- the JioPhone. The phone has helped the company enter the remote parts of the country and adding the voice over WiFi support to it would help people in rural or remote areas access good call connectivity at an affordable price. Economic Times in May had reported that Jio has already completed the security tests of the service.
Meanwhile, Jio is also testing its home broadband Jio GigaFiber service and could commercially roll it out by March 2019. India Today Tech spotted the service being tested in parts of Ghaziabad, UP. The company is currently offering 1100GB per month at 100Mbps speeds for 3 months as a preview offer with charge to pay for the data. The company asks for Rs 4500 as a security deposit which will be refunded whenever the users returns the router and modem. Plans for Jio landline and home automation services re also in pipeline.
* Lead image used for representational purposes only.
