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Consumer demand in smartphones that support the voice over long-term evolution (VoLTE) feature has nearly doubled since Reliance Jio Infocomm’s 4G launch. The interest is more in small towns than in urban centers, which, industry insiders and experts said, is because many in those places associate the technology with free calls that the company is offering.
Jio, whose network supports only VoLTE calling, offers free phone calls for life. Meanwhile, Internet searches for under Rs 5,000 VoLTE phones have also surged, prompting vendors to launch more devices supporting this feature at lower prices, a far cry from as recently as the beginning of this year when VoLTE would come only at premium prices. VoLTE allows a telco to offer both voice and data without switching between bands, with voice being just another application that rides on an LTE data network, a technology that Jio has adopted.
While Jio launched its services in early September, Internet search volumes for VoLTE phones jumped 40 per cent sequentially in the quarter ended September, an indication of the consumer interest, show data from 91mobiles.com. More than 14 million VoLTE-enabled smartphones are estimated to have been shipped into India in the September quarter, nearly twice the number in the previous quarter, Cybermedia Research said. The firm expects 70 per cent of 4G smartphones in the past quarter to be VoLTE-enabled. Importantly, vendors say almost all of their new smartphones support or will support the technology.
“To a consumer in tier 3 and tier 4 cities or lower down, VoLTE means free calls — because of Reliance Jio — that’s why we see more demand coming compared to urban and tier 1and 2 cities,” said Pankaj Rana, head of smartphones business at Panasonic, which has changed its portfolio to make all its 11 available 4G models VoLTE-enabled before Diwali. “Tier 1and 2 level consumers understand the technology and know that VoLTE will give them better quality HD voice calling, due to three-four Chinese brands promoting their phones in such a way, but consumers in the lower tiers are not as aware of the new technology,” Rana added.
The demand for VoLTE from smaller towns — where people are the most price sensitive — is reflected in the surge in the number of searches for under-Rs 5,000 priced devices, which have nearly tripled sequentially — the most across all price categories, albeit of a lower base — 91mobiles. com data showed. “With the launch of Jio services, we expect VoLTE capability to be a default functionality in smartphones and the ASP (average selling price) can penetrate sub-$50 (Rs 3,350) price band which will further drive the adoption,” said Tarun Pathak, senior analyst at Counterpoint Research.
As of Septemberend, 350 of the 1,132 models in the market, or over a third, were VoLTE-enabled. This compares with 170 out of 800 models, or close to one in five, till June. “Six months ago, 4G had become hygiene for a metro consumer, we're beginning to see that with VoLTE now because of Jio,” said Micromax Informatics’ chief marketing officer, Shubhajit Sen. Consumers want to have the option of having VoLTE because it has got a lot of prominence, Sen added. Micromax has 20 models, of which just a handful are not VoLTE-enabled. The company is issuing software patches for making these as well VoLTE-compatible.
Demand for VoLTE devices doubles on Reliance Jio’s 4G launch - ET Telecom
Jio, whose network supports only VoLTE calling, offers free phone calls for life. Meanwhile, Internet searches for under Rs 5,000 VoLTE phones have also surged, prompting vendors to launch more devices supporting this feature at lower prices, a far cry from as recently as the beginning of this year when VoLTE would come only at premium prices. VoLTE allows a telco to offer both voice and data without switching between bands, with voice being just another application that rides on an LTE data network, a technology that Jio has adopted.
While Jio launched its services in early September, Internet search volumes for VoLTE phones jumped 40 per cent sequentially in the quarter ended September, an indication of the consumer interest, show data from 91mobiles.com. More than 14 million VoLTE-enabled smartphones are estimated to have been shipped into India in the September quarter, nearly twice the number in the previous quarter, Cybermedia Research said. The firm expects 70 per cent of 4G smartphones in the past quarter to be VoLTE-enabled. Importantly, vendors say almost all of their new smartphones support or will support the technology.
“To a consumer in tier 3 and tier 4 cities or lower down, VoLTE means free calls — because of Reliance Jio — that’s why we see more demand coming compared to urban and tier 1and 2 cities,” said Pankaj Rana, head of smartphones business at Panasonic, which has changed its portfolio to make all its 11 available 4G models VoLTE-enabled before Diwali. “Tier 1and 2 level consumers understand the technology and know that VoLTE will give them better quality HD voice calling, due to three-four Chinese brands promoting their phones in such a way, but consumers in the lower tiers are not as aware of the new technology,” Rana added.
The demand for VoLTE from smaller towns — where people are the most price sensitive — is reflected in the surge in the number of searches for under-Rs 5,000 priced devices, which have nearly tripled sequentially — the most across all price categories, albeit of a lower base — 91mobiles. com data showed. “With the launch of Jio services, we expect VoLTE capability to be a default functionality in smartphones and the ASP (average selling price) can penetrate sub-$50 (Rs 3,350) price band which will further drive the adoption,” said Tarun Pathak, senior analyst at Counterpoint Research.
As of Septemberend, 350 of the 1,132 models in the market, or over a third, were VoLTE-enabled. This compares with 170 out of 800 models, or close to one in five, till June. “Six months ago, 4G had become hygiene for a metro consumer, we're beginning to see that with VoLTE now because of Jio,” said Micromax Informatics’ chief marketing officer, Shubhajit Sen. Consumers want to have the option of having VoLTE because it has got a lot of prominence, Sen added. Micromax has 20 models, of which just a handful are not VoLTE-enabled. The company is issuing software patches for making these as well VoLTE-compatible.
Demand for VoLTE devices doubles on Reliance Jio’s 4G launch - ET Telecom
