Tech Trend 247

Even India's richest man is unable to quench the country's thirst for free voice calls and high-speed internet connectivity.

Life is slow for those looking for a Reliance Jio SIM card. Long queues were seen outside Reliance digital stores in India on Monday, the day the 4G LTE network became available to everyone in the country. But despite waiting for hours in the queue, most people returned to their homes without a new connection.

After testing its new 4G LTE network for months with roughly two million people, Reliance Industries announced earlier this month that its new telecom service Jio will be available to all starting Sept. 5. In a price sensitive market such as India’s, Jio’s free voice calls and “unlimited” 4G data offering is naturally attracting thousands of people to its stores.

Such large gathering for a SIM card is unprecedented in the country. The only other phone-related event that has driven people to digital stores is the launch of new iPhones, which has traditionally seen many people driving to the store on the launch night. Naturally, queues for a free SIM card have surpassed and outlasted queues for any phone.

Unfortunately for these users, however, Reliance seems to be running short on SIM cards. People are flocking from one store to another after learning about the unavailability of SIM cards and application forms. Customers are being told to wait for as many as six weeks for application forms and SIM card stocks to arrive.

Even during the testing phase, as more people became aware of Reliance Jio's service, the company faced unprecedented interest and delays in activating new connections. But at the time, users needed to purchase a phone or a MiFi router to get the SIM card. People can now purchase a Jio SIM card without buying a phone or any other device with it, which has resulted in bigger queues. 

Reliance is offering users free voice calls and 4GB of data usage every day till Dec. 31,  2016. The company is also offering customers access to its on-demand live TV viewing service, music and movies streaming, magazine app, cloud storage among other homegrown services till the end of next year. What remains to be seen if the company is prepared to serve millions of new customers.