Jio AirFiber 5G Wi-Fi service to launch on Ganesh Chaturthi 2023

Jio AirFiber, Reliance Jio’s first fixed wireless home Wi-Fi service that uses the company’s 5G network, will launch on the occasion of Ganesh Chaturthi, which falls on September 19. At the Reliance Industries Annual General Meeting, chairman Mukesh Ambani announced that the upcoming 5G Wi-Fi service uses Jio’s pan-India 5G network and advanced wireless technology to “bypass the need for last-mile fibre.” With Jio AirFiber, the company, which has surpassed 200 million connections in a short time, is aiming to expand to 150,000 connections per day, representing a ten-fold increase in connections. Jio’s upcoming service will take on Airtel Xstream AirFiber, which was launched as India’s first home 5G Wi-Fi service earlier this month.

“Our extensive optical fibre presence puts us in close proximity to over 200 million premises. Yet, providing physical last-mile connectivity is a painstaking process in most parts of our country,” said Ambani during the presentation to the shareholders. Jio AirFiber will help the company leverage its 5G network to offer fixed wireless access (FWA) service to customers without needing to lay down optical fibre for high-speed internet in far-flung and remote areas. Jio Fiber’s optical fibre infrastructure spans over 1.5 million kilometres across India, with an addition of 1000km of fibre every day. However, the company hopes its FWA service will minimise the burden of expanding the fibre network in order to reach every nook and corner of the country.

How 5G Wi-Fi services work and how much they cost

For the technology to work, the router will rely on the signals from the nearest cell towers to offer 5G internet, much like your mobile phone but with better antennas to capture strong signals. While Jio has yet to announce its device and demonstrate its working, Airtel earlier this month explained how the FWA technology will help the company offer last-mile high-speed connectivity to customers. Airtel’s Xstream AirFiber is a plug-and-play device that uses the built-in Wi-Fi 6 technology to offer wide indoor coverage. It can support up to 64 device connections at the same time while offering 50 percent higher speed than Wi-Fi 5 routers. It is likely that the Jio AirFiber device will also come with the Wi-Fi 6 technology to offer high internet speeds.

Alongside the launch of the Jio AirFiber device, the company is also expected to announce plans for the upcoming service. According to a report by the Economic Times, Jio AirFiber will cost 20 percent less than Airtel’s Xstream AirFiber. Its price may be roughly Rs 6,000, whereas Airtel’s Xstream AirFiber costs Rs 4,794 for a six-month plan along with a security deposit of 2,500, totalling Rs 7,294. The estimated cost of the Jio AirFiber is expected to include both tariff plans and the security deposit for the plug-and-play device.