India’s Telecom Giant Reliance Jio Takes on Zoom with New Video Conferencing App JioMeet

UTC by Bhushan Akolkar · 3 min read
India’s Telecom Giant Reliance Jio Takes on Zoom with New Video Conferencing App JioMeet
Photo: JioMeet

India’s fastest growing telecom giant Reliance Jio is posing a big competition to Zoom as it is launching its own video conferencing app JioMeet without any time-limits on the video calls.

India’s telecom giant Reliance Jio has created a massive buzz in the Indian stock market despite the COVID-19 economic crisis. Last Thursday, the Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Jio launched its native video conferencing app JioMeet taking on the mighty Zoom Video Communications Inc (NASDAQ: ZM) on its home turf.

The JioMeet application from Reliance Jio allows free video calls in 720p high-definition with a cap of 100 participants per call. However, unlike Zoom, JioMeet doesn’t have any call duration limit. As per Jio Platforms, a JioMeet user can have an uninterrupted free video call for 24-hours. Currently, the JioMeet services have no paid plans for an indefinite period and its unclear if Jio Platforms would add any subscription plans in the future.

Jio Platforms said that the JioMeet application comes with “enterprise-grade” host controls. Meaning, it hosts some screen sharing and collaborating features, multi-device login support, and password protection on each call.

The host can also initiate a ‘waiting room’ feature where users need to seek permission to enter the call. Besides, the JioMeet application allows seamless switching from one device to another.

The launch of JioMeet comes just at a time when a majority of the Indian conglomerates have asked their employees to work-from-home. The sudden lockdown by the Indian government due to the Coronavirus outbreak in March 2020 forced companies to switch to WFH culture.

Zoom is currently the most popular video conferencing app in India with 35 million monthly active users. The number of Indian users joining Zoom has significantly shot up from 4 million in March 2020.

Big Tech Giants Invest in Reliance Jio

Reliance Jio has emerged as India’s fastest growing telecommunication company and has disrupted the country’s telecom sector big time. The Jio Platforms has a suite of applications under its umbrella like the JioTv, JioCinema, JiMart, and the newly launched JioMeet.

Reliance Jio has been aggressively putting new products and services in the market over the last year. In April, social media tech giant Facebook Inc (NASDAQ: FB) invested a whopping $5.7 billion for a 9.99% stake in Reliance Jio. Since then there has been a flood of companies willing to grab a share in Jio. The latest entrant has been tech giant Intel Corporation (NASDAQ: INTC) pumping $253 million for 0.39% stake in Jio Platforms.

Industry reports suggest that Reliance is planning to list Jio Platforms as a separate entity from its parent company Reliance Industries. Since March 2020, RIL shares have outperformed the markets with more than 100% returns in just the last four months. Stock market analysts in India are very much positive over Reliance’s future growth. Jyoti Roy, DVP Equity Strategist, Angel Broking said:

“We are positive on RIL from a long term perspective as we believe that the digital and retail business will be key growth drivers for the company going forward. The potential listing of the digital and retail business over the next 3-5 years would also lead to significant value unlocking for shareholders in the long run.”

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