Reliance Jio Infocomm Limited (RJIL) has begun providing 4G network speeds at four Wi-Fi locations in Bhubaneswar, in accordance with the Odisha government’s ‘Smart City’ initiative. It’s free for now as part of the company’s introductory scheme, but will cost consumers following its commercial launch.
People can currently access it on a fair usage basis. The Jionet Wi-Fi zones will be present at Gopabandhu Chowk, Surya Nagar, Governor House Road, and the Orissa University of Agriculture and Technology (OUAT) campus. It covers places such as the Gopabandhu market complex, a Reliance Fresh outlet and an ICICI bank.
As per NDTV (via IANS), Reliance has set up 27 access points to enable Wi-Fi across the locations and claims it can connect up to 1000 citizens at a time. Their feedback on the overall experience will be taken into consideration by the brand in order to improve the service and prepare for the formal launch of the LTE network as well.
Once 4G is released, the Wi-Fi and LTE bands will work smoothly side-by-side. Earlier this month, Reliance Jio started a similar free Wi-Fi service at Lucknow’s Hazratganj bazaar. It had previously conducted pilot projects in Gujarat to get a better idea of consumption patterns in India. The telecom operator found that such zones were popular with students who used it to download study materials.
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Reliance Jio is currently preparing for its 4G deployment across the country in December this year. The telecom operator is set to introduce a range of 4G devices in partnership with Huawei and is targeting over 90% of the urban populace. It will face competition from players like Vodafone and Airtel. The former plans to start in December too, while the latter rolled out the service commercially in August.