Reliance Jio, the telecom subsidiary of Reliance Industries, has launched the internet-enabled Jio Bharat Phone at a price of ₹999. This is the ‘lowest entry price’ for an internet-enabled phone, the company said in a statement. The phone is available in two series-- JioBharat V2 and JioBharat K1 Karbonn.

Through the launch of the Jio Bharat phone, the company is looking to bolster its presence in rural areas. Unlike its peers, Jio Bharat Phone offers exciting plans and features, in order to woo customers.

Cheaper monthly plans

Jio Bharat Phone will offer a 30% cheaper monthly plan and seven times more data compared to feature phone offerings of other operators, according to the company. The low-budget device will also offer unlimited voice calls anywhere in India and 14 GB (gigabyte) data at a price of ₹123 per month, which is cheaper as compared to the ₹179 plan for voice calls and 2GB data charged by other telecom operators.

Features of Jio Bharat phone

The low-budget device will offer UPI (unified payments interface) payments via JioPay. Keeping in mind customers inclination towards entertainment, Jio Bharat Phone has access to movies, series, videos and sports highlights through Jio Cinema. The phone also has access to eight crore songs in multiple languages through Jio Saavn and FM Radio.

"There are still 250 million mobile phone users in India who remain ‘trapped’ in the 2G era, unable to tap into basic features of the internet at a time when the world stands at the cusp of a 5G revolution. 6 years ago when Jio was launched, we made it clear that Jio will leave no stone unturned to democratize internet and pass the benefits of technology to every Indian," said said Akash Ambani, Chairman, Reliance Jio.

"Technology will no longer remain a privilege for a select few. The new Jio Bharat phone is another step in that direction. It is at the centre of innovation, and it continues to demonstrate our focus on bringing disproportionate and true value for different segments of users with meaningful, real-life use cases," he added.

The beta trial of the first one million Jio Bharat phones will begin on July 7 across 6,500 tehsils.

Notably, Reliance Jio's customer market share increased to 37.9% in April, according to the latest data from the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI). The telecom behemoth added 3.04 million mobile subscribers in April. The company's mobile subscriber tally during the month under review stood at 433.27 million. In terms of broadband users, Reliance Jio's subscriber base stood at 441.92 million in April. In rural areas, Jio gained 1.58 million users in April.

In FY23, the company's profit stood at ₹18,207 crore, up 22.9% from ₹14,817 crore as compared to the previous fiscal. Total revenue surged 18% to ₹91,148 crore in FY23 versus ₹77,204 crore in FY22.

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