Reliance Jio turning out to be a strong threat to incumbents: Credit Suisse

Evaluation of Reliance Jio’s 4G network has brought some good news at the year end. It has been found that network coverage in urban areas is at par with telcos presently offering services and call quality from VoLTE to other networks to be same as those made over circuit switch, according to brokerage Credit Suisse.

"RJio network is turning out to be as strong a threat to incumbents as we had feared," analysts at Credit Suisse said in a report.

It added that the next focus would be on pricing and marketing execution as the market is being surprised negatively on telco stocks.

Credit Suisse found that Voice over LTE (VoLTE) works with perfect interconnection with other operator networks and also found no difference in experience on VoLTE call to 3G, 2G or fixedline call when compared with a full circuit switch (CS) call.

It also added that going off the highway resulted in calls not going through in villages off the highways, implying that Reliance Jio’s first rollout would be focussed on urban areas first.

The house added that handset availability is limited in the beta phase with only 20 models recommended for full VoLTE functionality, which start at $130 offered by Intex.

The firm evaluated Reliance Jio's 4G network in and around Mumbai after the Mukesh Ambani-owned company recently started beta-testing by issuing connections to employees and friends.

(Image credits: indiatimes)