New Reliance Jio Spotted Testing VoWi-Fi Service, Official Launch Expected in Coming Days

Back in July, we heard that Reliance Jio is testing the VoWi-Fi service in the country and it was said to launch in the country very soon. And it’s finally happening as the telco has spotted testing the service in Madhya Pradesh. Not only in Madhya Pradesh, according to information we have, but Jio is also conducting trials of VoW-Fi service in various circles such as Andhra Pradesh & Telangana, Kerala. As you can see in the screenshot, it’s an iPhone 7 latched onto Jio VoWi-Fi. This screenshot has been sent by Nikhil Sharma (one of our reader) located in Gadarwara, Madhya Pradesh. To recall, in July, it was said that Jio is in advanced stages of testing VoWi-Fi service and the commercial launch might happen in the coming days. As of now, it’s unknown when Jio is going to officially launch the service, but it might happen in January 2019.

Jio VoWi-Fi Service Will Be Limited to its Own Network

In the early stages, Reliance Jio’s VoWi-Fi services will be limited to Jio-to-Jio. However, soon the carrier will expand to other networks too, according to the report which surfaced back in July this year.

Not only for smartphones, but Jio was said to integrate the VoWi-Fi service in its JioPhone also. Notably, the JioPhone is a feature phone device by the company which offers 4G VoLTE services. In the past quarters, Reliance Jio has boasted of selling more than 200 million JioPhones. Given that the VoWi-Fi technology will be beneficial to people in rural areas where the network is weak, the affordable cost of JioPhone can be a deciding factor in propelling the technology to farther parts of the country.

DoT Also Pushed Recommendations on VoWi-Fi

The concept of Voice over Wi-Fi came into the mainstream when DoT pushed a recommendation on the same. The service allows subscribers with no cellular connectivity to make calls over their network through the use of Wi-Fi. The service will also be useful for people who live in remote locations or are inside a building with thick walls where connectivity issues are commonplace. Also, an ET Telecom report back then highlighted that as per DoT’s norms Jio’s security testing is already completed.

Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Also Testing VoWi-Fi in India

While Reliance Jio is already on the verge of releasing the technology for the users, other incumbent telcos like Bharti Airtel and Vodafone are speeding their operations to get the VoWi-Fi technology in the hands of the users as soon as possible. Vodafone already has similar operations running in other countries. Therefore it is going to be easy for the telco to replicate the infrastructure in India. Also, Sunil Bharti Mittal led Bharti Airtel is in the advanced stages of testing too said Gopal Vittal, Airtel Chief Executive earlier.

Interestingly, this new project of VoWi-Fi infrastructure is based on government’s ‘Public Open Wi-Fi’ project using which the centre wishes to roll out cheap internet and other related internet-based services for the people in remote areas and tier-1 and tier-2 cities. Under this project, DoT will set up 10,000 WiFi hotspots across the country in the first month, and then in the coming three months, the number of WiFi hotspots will escalate to 100,000 in the country.

It was in June that DoT amended the license conditions for allowing internet telephony, meaning that now the carriers could use the same number for internet as well as cellular calling, thus paving the way for VoWi-Fi. As such, Jio is in full capacity to roll out the services to max users since a large chunk of Jio’s userbase resides in the rural areas thanks to the JioPhone.