Jio to roll out VoWi-Fi services

As per a news report, Reliance Jio has announced to launch its voice over Wi-Fi services soon. 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.

Jio has announced that it would integrate the VoWi-Fi service not only for smartphones but also in its JioPhone. Notably, the JioPhone is a feature phone device by the company which offers 4G VoLTE services. The affordable cost of JioPhone can be a deciding factor in propelling the technology to farther parts of the country. Compared to other telecoms like Bharti Airtel and Vodafone India which are still in the testing stages, Reliance Jio has progressed quickly on the technology and has sped through the competition.

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. The telco is unlikely to charge customers for the new service since it has already said that voice will always be free of charge on its regular Voice over LTE (VoLTE) networks.

The VoWi-Fi services provide the carriers to use the same number for internet as well as cellular calling. This service 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-I and tier-II cities. Under this project, DoT will set up 10,000 Wi-Fi hotspots across the country in the first month, and then in the coming three months, the number of Wi-Fi hotspots will escalate to 100,000 in the country.