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Mukesh Ambani Launches 4G Feature 'JioPhone' At Company's 40th Annual General Meeting

"Digital Life will no longer be the privilege of the affluent few."
Bloomberg via Getty Images

MUMBAI -- India's wealthiest man Mukesh Ambani on Friday announced the launch of Jio "intelligent" phone, offering life-long free voice calls bundled with 4G data streaming at an "effective price of zero".

Ambani, who had taken the telecom sector by surprise with free voice calls and data last year, announced the next leap at the company's 40th shareholder meeting on Friday.

Jio phone will be available to all Indians for an effective price of Rs 0: Mukesh Ambani pic.twitter.com/MXuIGQKvDp

— ANI (@ANI_news) July 21, 2017

The phone, targeted at 50 crore feature phone users in the country, will be available for pre-booking from August 24 on payment of a refundable security deposit of ₹1,500.

This deposit will be refunded after 36 months on the return of the phone, he said, adding that the price of the phone will be "effective zero".

Mumbai: Kokilaben Ambani breaks down as Mukesh Ambani pays tribute to Dhirubhai Ambani at 40th AGM of Reliance. pic.twitter.com/d6E1qzj2Hs

— ANI (@ANI_news) July 21, 2017

He used the occasion to introduce his twin children, Akash and Isha, who presented the phone features that include calls and text messaging on voice command, Internet surfing and cable to connect the device to TV to view content, including videos.

"JioPhone will make the 2G feature phone obsolete," Ambani claimed, adding that the company is looking to bring 5 million phones to the market a week.

The JioPhone will be available for user testing in beta mode from August 15 and for pre-booking from August 24.

"Reliance democratized the equity culture in the past.

Now, Jio will democratize the digital culture in India," he asserted. "Digital Life will no longer be the privilege of the affluent few."

Out of the 78 crore phones in India, Ambani said, 50 crore are feature phones that cannot be used for Internet or data usage. The new phone would give "affordable" device to these 50 crore users and "end the digital exclusion in India".

Reliance Jio, the fourth-generation telecom arm of Reliance Industries, will provide unlimited data on the phone for ₹153 per month.

Jio, he said, already has 125 million users since its launch in September last year.

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This article exists as part of the online archive for HuffPost India, which closed in 2020. Some features are no longer enabled. If you have questions or concerns about this article, please contact indiasupport@huffpost.com.