The delivery of about 6 million JioPhones will start on Sunday and be completed within 15 days, as per a channel partner of Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd (RJIL).

Deliveries of the low-cost 4G handsets will begin from rural areas and small towns before urban centres, the partner, who did not wish to be named, told PTI.

“The Chairman (Mukesh Ambani) had said that the JioPhone will bridge digital divide between rural and urban India.

Therefore, delivery of JioPhone will start this Sunday in rural areas and small towns,” the channel partner said.

Queries sent to Reliance Jio did not elicit any response.

Pre-booking of the JioPhone started on August 24 against payment of a refundable deposit of Rs 500. The remainder Rs 1,000 has to be paid by the customer when the company starts delivering the handsets. The entire amount will be refunded against return of the phone after three years.

“The delivery of first lot of 6 million will be completed in 10-15 days,” the source said.

He, however, was not aware of the dates for the next round of booking for JioPhone.
According to CyberMedia Research, a total of 61.8 million mobiles were shipped in the second quarter of 2017. With 6 million units of sale, JioPhone is estimated to account for around 10 per cent of India’s total mobile phone market in a quarter.

Reliance Jio Chairman Mukesh Ambani had announced that voice calling for customers of JioPhone would always be free and they would get unlimited data for a month against a payment of Rs 153.

JioPhone will come with pre-loaded Jio apps for messaging and entertainment. The phone can be connected with television sets for watching live TV using the Jio TV app.