Jio, the telecom arm of Reliance Industries, is targeting 35 million subscribers within the first year of commercially operationalising its fibre-based broadband business from next month, a senior official said.

A senior Jio official said the company will bundle in not just TV sets, but also desktops as part of the Jiofiber plan which will go commercially live from September 5.

He also hinted that the cable TV subscription is not a part of the plans ranging from low Rs 700 to a high Rs 10,000 per month.

Subscribers will have to pay separately for receiving the TV services which will be delivered either through the cable fibre or by getting a DTH service, he added.

He said Jio, which unveiled a set top box earlier in the day, wants to grow in the market "very quickly". "We want the people to again feel excited. We couldn't do that with LTE phones because our price points were really low," the official said, referring to the mobile connectivity service which retails for as low as under Rs 150 per month.

The official said the company will target 1,600 towns from the first day of the launch and will initially try to reach out to the rest of the country through 30,000 local cable operators who are aligned to three multi-system operators acquired by it recently.

The company had launched the home broadband service at the last AGM, following which 5 lakh homes were connected as part of a pilot project and the experience with apartment blocks has not been very unpleasant as many housing societies are "receptive" he added.

"We have built the infrastructure and now launching the services commercially," he said, adding the job is to now go in and connect the homes as part of the last mile reach.

Over 15 million people have already registered, wishing to get the service, while the addressable market in the 1,600 towns is 35 million, including 20 million residences and 15 million business establishments.

"To begin with 35 million customers in 12 months is what we are looking at doing in the first year of operations. But it will depend on how much time the last mile takes to go and connect," he said.

The company will offer television sets of its own brand 'Reconnect' and has also partnered other manufacturers, the official said, adding group synergies make it possible for it to achieve the same without compromising on margins. PTI AA BEN
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