iWorld
Jio extends HNY free data offer up to 31 March ’17
MUMBAI: Taking a significant lead over the incumbent telecom operators, Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) chairman and managing director Mukesh Ambani today showed some more `datagiri’ while announcing a slew of new offers and initiatives that all had an underline themes of Digital 2017 and Happy New Year (HNY).
Ambani, while addressing RIL employees and stakeholders in a meeting, revealed that starting 4 December 2016, every new Jio user will get data, voice, video and the full bouquet of Jio applications free till 31 March, 2017. He also added that all the existing customers will get extended benefits of Jio Happy New Year offer on the existing SIMs.
Speaking about Jio’s success, India’s richest man said that it was the fastest-growing technology company in the world. He said that the e-KYC (know your customer or the customer verification process) allowed the activation of SIM within five minutes — the fastest experience for SIM activation in the world.
Ambani said that Jio successfully rolled out e-KYC across 200,000 outlets in India, which is nearly equal to ATMs in India. “We are in the process of doubling this network to 400,000 digitally enabled outlets by March of 2017,” he added.
RIL CMD also mentioned that, in the first three months, Jio has grown faster than Facebook, Whatsapp or Skype. “In 83 days, Jio added 50 million customers on its 4G LTE all-IP wireless broadband network.”
However, swelling subscriber numbers are also a burden on the infrastructure; especially when 50 million+ customers vie to take full advantage of the free Jio `Welcome Offer.”
On an average, a Jio customer, as per claims, is using 25 times more data than the average Indian broadband user. And, Jio signed up over 600,000 customers every day for the past three months. According to Ambani, a Jio customer today is consuming data “on par” with and, in many cases, “more” than sophisticated users anywhere in the world.
Still, admitting that Reliance has found out few issues with data speed on Jio network, Ambani said that about eight per cent of Jio towers experienced “congestion” due to “abnormally high data usage, which resulted in customers served by such telecom towers experienced lower data speeds.
“While 92 per cent of our base stations and customers have been experiencing consistently high data speeds, we are working to de-congest these eight per cent towers, so that impacted customers go back to experiencing true-4G speeds. On the whole, Jio is not only delivering four times more data than all other Indian telecom operators combined, but also much faster throughputs than any other mobile network in India.”
Reliance Jio, which has been at loggerheads with other telecom operators and also the telcos’ apex industry body COAI, is now playing the customer card having announced expansions and new initiatives like digital wallet/money.
Dwelling on indifferent to bad voice services on Jio network, Ambani took a pot-shot at competition: “While customers have shown unprecedented love for Jio services, we have not received the required support from existing operators. In the last three months, nearly 9000 million voice calls from Jio customers to the networks of our three largest competitors were blocked… We thank the government and regulator for enforcing the licence conditions.”
Targeting the high-end customers, who, probably, don’t have time to go to a Jio store to acquire a SIM card and want to retain their existing phone numbers, Reliance is offering SIM delivery at home and full number portability. “I am happy to inform that Jio now fully supports mobile number portability,” Ambani said, adding free home delivery and e-KYC features were being launched across India through the MyJio application to be available in the top 100 cities by 31 December 2016.
iWorld
Why Peaky Blinders is one of television’s biggest hits that still deserves more attention
Six seasons, multiple awards and the release of Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man bring the Shelby saga back into the spotlight
In the crowded universe of streaming content, only a handful of shows manage to leave a lasting cultural footprint. Peaky Blinders is overwhelmingly considered one of the biggest global hits of the past decade. Yet many viewers still haven’t fully explored the dark, gripping world of the Shelby family.
Originally produced for the UK’s BBC and later finding a massive global audience through Netflix, the series quietly grew from a British period drama into a worldwide streaming phenomenon.
Created by Steven Knight, the show follows the rise of the Shelby crime family in post-First World War Birmingham. What begins as a gritty street-gang story gradually expands into a sweeping narrative about ambition, politics, power and survival.
At the centre of the saga is Thomas Shelby, portrayed with extraordinary depth by Cillian Murphy. The casting of Murphy is widely regarded as perfect for the role. With piercing eyes, restrained dialogue and an almost hypnotic screen presence, he transforms Shelby into one of the most unforgettable characters in modern screen storytelling.
Murphy’s brilliance lies in his restraint. He rarely shouts or performs theatrically. Instead, a quiet stare, a calculated pause or a subtle shift in expression conveys the emotional storms within the character. Beneath the ruthless gang leader is a war veteran carrying trauma, guilt and loneliness. Murphy captures this complexity with remarkable precision, making Thomas Shelby both terrifying and deeply human.
Beyond its central performance, Peaky Blinders stands out for its unfiltered portrayal of reality. The show does not romanticise crime. Instead, it exposes the harsh social conditions of early 20th-century Britain, from poverty and class struggle to political extremism and the psychological scars left by war.
The series also presents powerful female characters who hold their own within the Shelby empire. Polly Gray, played by Helen McCrory, is the strategic backbone of the family and one of the most formidable figures in the story. Women in the series shape decisions, influence power structures and challenge the rigid social norms of the time.
Across six seasons, the narrative grows dramatically in scale. What begins in the smoky streets of Birmingham evolves into a story involving political conspiracies, fascism and international criminal networks.
The series has also earned significant critical acclaim. It won the BAFTA Television Award for Best Drama Series in 2018 and multiple National Television Awards for Best Drama, cementing its reputation as one of Britain’s most celebrated modern shows.
Another defining feature of the series is its iconic music. The show’s opening theme, Red Right Hand by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, became instantly recognisable and widely associated with the Shelby universe. Combined with a powerful soundtrack featuring artists such as Arctic Monkeys and Radiohead, the music helped shape the show’s dark, stylish identity and became hugely popular among fans.
And the Shelby story is not over yet.
In fact, its legacy is unfolding right now. The long-awaited feature-length continuation, Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man, was released on March 6, 2026, bringing the Shelby universe from streaming screens to cinemas and giving fans a new chapter in the saga.
For viewers who have not yet stepped into this world, the timing could not be better.
Six gripping seasons are ready to binge on Netflix. A new film has just arrived in theatres. And at the heart of it all stands one of the most magnetic performances in modern drama by Cillian Murphy.
So if Peaky Blinders has been sitting on your watchlist for years, this weekend is your moment.
So, by order of the Peaky fookin’ Blinders, consider this your cue to finally step into the ruthless world of Thomas Shelby. Pour yourself a drink, clear your schedule and press the play button. Because when the Peaky Blinders give an order, you listen.
