iWorld
Reliance Jio plans soft launch on Dhirubhai Ambani’s birth anniversary
MUMBAI: Touted as the most anticipated launch in the Indian telecommunications space, Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Jio is planning a soft launch on the late family patriarch – Dhirubhai Ambani’s birth anniversary i.e 28 December, 2015.
While Jio’s launch is being regarded as the game changer of the Digital India vision, the task cut out for the newest telecom company in the fray is not as simple as rival Bharti Airtel, which is also gearing up to launch its 4G network.
During the company’s Annual General Meeting earlier this year, Reliance Industries chairman Mukesh Ambani spoke about Jio’s commercial launch in December 2015. However, a source close to the development tells Indiantelevision.com that while the soft launch will happen in December this year, the commercial launch will only be somewhere around March 2016.
“Airtel has a full fledged 3G network across the country and hence if consumers are out of the 4G network area coverage, they can operate on 3G. However, Reliance Jio cannot follow this proposition due to unavailability of the 3G network. We are planning for a soft launch on a good day in December,” the source says.
The source also confirmed that Reliance Jio’s commercial launch, which will facilitate consumers from across 5,000 cities and towns, might get delayed to March.
Recently, Reliance Jio Infocomm signed a deal with US-based test and measurement equipment provider Keysight Technologies to test its 4G network. Analysts peg that the testing deal may have cost Reliance Jio approximately Rs 100 crore.
Ambani plans to launch 4G services in over 5,000 cities and towns across India with an approximate investment of Rs 100,000 crore. Test runs have already begun in some parts of the country.
iWorld
Matka King campaign turns Mumbai into a city of cards
Massive card billboard, buses and shelters recreate 1960s Bombay.
MUMBAI: Mumbai isn’t just shuffling traffic this week, it’s dealing in drama, one card at a time. A high-impact outdoor campaign for Matka King has quite literally taken over the city, transforming everyday streets into a living, breathing throwback to the world of 1960s Bombay. At the centre of the spectacle is a towering billboard near the city’s T1 airport, created by visual artist Rob, assembling hundreds of playing cards into a striking portrait of Brij Bhatti, the infamous Matka King portrayed by Vijay Varma. The installation doesn’t just sit on the skyline; it commands attention, pulling eyes upward in a city otherwise known for looking straight ahead.
But the campaign doesn’t stop at a single visual. The streets themselves have been drafted into the narrative. Vehicles wrapped entirely in vintage playing card designs are cruising through Mumbai, while bus shelters constructed to resemble houses of cards have begun appearing across key locations. The effect is immersive less an advertisement and more a temporary rewriting of the city’s visual language, where modern Mumbai briefly slips into a stylised past.
The campaign leans heavily into experiential storytelling, extending the show’s world beyond screens and into public spaces. By using tactile, physical installations rather than purely digital amplification, it taps into a growing trend in entertainment marketing where scale, spectacle and shareability converge to create cultural moments rather than just promotional bursts.
Created by Abhay Koranne and directed by Nagraj Popatrao Manjule, the series features a wide ensemble cast including Kritika Kamra, Sai Tamhankar, Siddharth Jadhav and Gulshan Grover, among others. Produced under banners including Roy Kapur Films, the show is currently streaming on Prime Video across India and more than 240 countries and territories.
For now, though, the real action isn’t just on screen, it’s unfolding at traffic signals, bus stops and billboards. In a city that rarely pauses, this is one campaign that has managed to stop people mid-step and deal itself straight into public attention.
