India’s Reliance Jio to Launch $12 Internet-Enabled Phones

July 3 (Reuters) – Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd, the telecommunications arm of Indian billionaire Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Industries Ltd (RELI.NS)
said on Monday it would launch a new internet-enabled phone priced at 999 rupees ($12.19) to boost digital adoption among basic mobile phone users in the country.

“There are still 250 million mobile phone users in India who remain ‘stuck’ in the 2G era… at a time when the world is on the cusp of a 5G revolution,” President Akash Ambani said in a statement. .

Beta testing for the first 1 million so-called Jio Bharat phones will start on July 7, Reliance Jio said.

($1 = 81.9510 Indian rupees)

Reporting by Ashna Teresa Britto; additional reporting by Indranil Sarkar; Edited by Nivedita Bhattacharjee and Dhanya Ann Thoppil

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