The Reliance Jio launch on 5th September 2016 will start a new era in Mobile industry in India. The “Mobile” as a concept was a replacement to the phone and the initial positioning of the device was as an “Instrument for talking”. “Voice” carriage was therefore the central purpose of the mobile network and the entire industry built its business on this concept.
Use of mobile for “Data” started with the advent of “Smart Phones” and was secondary to the use of mobile for voice. Most of the mobile network was more robust for voice carriage and data connectivity was always poor. But consumers did not complain too much since the main purpose of them holding a mobile device was for voice interactions and hence they were tolerant of the bad “Data Over Mobile” availability. Some managed with “WiFi” at home and Office and “Voice Only” when on the move.
Now, suddenly, Jio is changing the fundamental nature of the mobile usage from voice to data usage. It’s proposition is that all voice will be carried over the IP network only as data. “VoLTE” (Voice over LTE or Voice over Long Term Evolution, similar to VoiIP which is Voice over IP) is therefore their USP. Jio network is an “All LTE” network on the 4G band. (P.S: Refer this article for more technical information)
VoLTE enabled Phones
Jio is also selling LyF brand mobiles which are specially configured for VoLTE. Many of the other mobiles are also capable of operating in the LTE bands used by Jio. But at present it appears that only phones with the Qualcomm snapdragon chipset may provide the complete HD voice experience which VoLTE is expected to provide.
Additionally, Jio is introducing a “JioJoin” app which may enable any non VoLTE enabled phone user to make vice calls over the LTE networks. It is however said that the call quality in an VoLTE phone would be far better than through the app. The free offers of 3 month unlimited data is perhaps only for certain declared brands of the phones and mainly the LyF brands. In other phones, Jio SIM may work but the free offer may not be available.
If the user’s phone is not capable of working in the LTE bandwidths of 2300 MHz, 1800 MHz and 850MHz, it may not be able to receive Jio signals. 2300 MHz is critical since JIO has Pan India license in this bandwidth. In the other two bandwidths it has license only in few circles.
With the use of “Free Voice” offer that Jio is offering, it is possible that a large number of voice users from the prepaid segment may switch over to Jio SIMs since they get unlimited voice at Rs 149 per month. If the users prefer data, then they have to move to rs 499 per month scheme where they may get 4GB data under the plan. (Night data would be unlimited). At this rate the cost of using Jio would be about half of the existing plans of other service providers. (They may also drop their rates shortly to retain the customers).
Security Risks of Smart Phone usage
Since Jio will promote a higher use of Smart Phones because of “Free Voice” feature, the risks associated with the use of Smart Phones such as viruses and Trojans that can commit frauds and identity thefts is also going to increase exponentially. We may see this impact in more Bank frauds and Mobile wallet frauds in the coming days.
Government Officials may use 2G phones for better security
Assuming that there will be a largescale migration of users to Jio, then the voice networks on 2G will have a lower bandwidth usage. If other operators also start offering VoIP over the 3G network and free voice calling, then the 2G frequency band may become redundant for most mobile users excepting those who use it only for voice and use the old 2G only mobiles. This would mean an under utilization of the band and unless the license holders find alternate uses, they may prefer to drop their licenses in this frequency bandwidth. Unless the Government reduces the auction prices of these bandwidths to non significant levels, it will remain unauctioned with the Government.
Perhaps the Government may start using this band width more and more for their inter-governmental communication over old non Smart phones which are considered less hackable. If BSNL can use these bandwidths for communication between Government officials with some network level encryption, we may be able to solve the need for a secure communication system in the Government. The quality of voice calls may also improve with lower call drop rates since the usage will be thin.
Interceptions on the Voice over Data transmissions
On the other hand, the service users who start using VoLTE and VOIP will convert all voice transmissions to data and carry it over the networks creating a huge data on temporary transmission and capable of efficient security monitoring through Big Data analytics. From the security perspective this is good but from the privacy perspective, there could be some concerns.
It is understood that Reliance Jio has already installed a Lawful Intercept and Monitoring (LIM) system to make the encrypted flow of information available to security agencies in clear readable form. (Refer this article)
It is not clear what kind of encryption is used by Jio network and whether it is under the old 40 bit encryption norm applicable for ISPs. Now, under ITA 2008, Government was supposed to provide new guidelines for encryption under Section 84A which has not yet happened. Since guidelines under this section are yet to be issued, this is one task which the DeiTy has to address quickly.
Private Encryption of Voice
Since the voice transmissions all happen through data which is amenable for data mining, many users may shift to the use of user level encryption of voice transmissions with the use of Apps. If there is a large scale use of such software, there will be other murmurs and complaints from the law enforcement and perhaps a point of confrontation between the law enforcement and the privacy activists. (We need to check if the current apps for these purposes are compatible with the use of VoLTE and JioJoin apps.).
Whats App Calling
Perhaps many would continue to use WhatsApp calling as a preferred mode in view of the end to end encryption provided by the app.
“WhatsApp calling over Jio network” may therefore provide the security but without the “Free Voice Feature” that Jio offers. Users now have the option to trade data costs for Whats App calling with encryption capabilities to protect their privacy.
According to one estimate, it costs Re 1 per minute of WhatsApp call on 3G and Rs 2.50 per minute on 2G network. A 4G LTE WhatsApp Call may cost about 50 paise per minute which is more or less equivalent to the current voice tariff. (These cost estimates are on the basis of old data rates which Jio will bring it down to less than half. Hence the cost for a WhatsApp call on Jio could be around 25 paise per minute).
Thus Reliance Jio is causing disruption on many fronts. Apart from shaking up the manufacturers of Mobiles and Processors to make them compatible with VoLTE calling, it is bringing changes in the Mobile Banking Security, Encryption and Big Data Scenarios.
Let’s watch how things unfold.
P.S: I invite technology experts to send their feedback and make corrections on any technical aspects discussed above
Naavi
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