The rise of Reliance Jio was one of the biggest stories of 2018. Reliance acquired the status of a giant after it added ten million subscribers every day for the entire last year. This company has played a pivotal role in changing the face of the telecom industry as we knew it.
The story of the establishment of the dominance of Jio
Before the rise of Reliance Jio, the telecom industry was dominated by Airtel, Vodafone, BSNL and Idea along with Reliance and several other smaller players. In less than two years, however, the market is completely dominated by Jio. There exist a few other players who are trying to compete. The dominance established by the rise of Reliance Jio, however, is absolute.
This has completely wiped out all the small players from the industry. Vodafone and Idea used to occupy half the market share previously. They have now merged in order to survive. The rise of Reliance Jio has been characterised by brutal competition. It is now eating away at its arch-rival Airtel as well as BSNL.
The expert opinion on the rise of Reliance Jio
The complete dominance has left experts baffled. According to them, “The incumbents (existing operators like Vodafone-Idea, Jio) are undoubtedly under great pressure and are struggling to compete. The large debt sitting on their books further impacts their ability to raise funds and invest in their networks. Vodafone Idea and Airtel reported a loss of 4,970 crores and 118 crores respectively in September quarter. On the other hand Reliance, Jio reported a profit of 681 crores for the same period.”
The rise of Reliance Jio is not just in terms of the number of subscribers. The company has remarkably increased its revenue in the market share as well. In a statement by Uppal, he said, Reliance Jio, the erstwhile challenger in the market, is now dictating terms in the telecom sector. And this year, it may well emerge as the number one player by both subscriber base and revenue market share,”
The rise of Reliance Jio has created a cutthroat competition where hardly a few can survive. The consumer will, however, benefit from this as telecom service charges will be driven down.
