It’s been over five months since Pokemon GO started rolling out worldwide, but to this date, the hit augmented reality mobile game still isn’t available in some large territories. Of course, that isn’t to stay Niantic is content with the current situation. In fact, the San Francisco-based studio has recently been hard at work trying to bring its latest game to more countries. As a result of that endeavor, Niantic just confirmed that Pokemon GO started rolling out in India with some assistance from the local LTE wireless carrier Reliance Jio Infocomm.
So, as of today, Reliance Jio customers in India can download Pokemon GO from the Google Play Store. This new partnership is also somewhat similar to the one Niantic recently announced with Sprint. More specifically, thousands of Reliance Digital Stores and stores of the company’s retail partners throughout the country will be turned into PokeStops and Gyms as of tomorrow, December 14th. In a short press release, the Mumbai-based wireless carrier explained how it agreed to this partnership to allow more Indians to enjoy modern entertainment powered by contemporary wireless service infrastructure. John Hanke, Chief Executive Officer at Niantic, mirrored this sentiment, adding that Reliance Jio’s network provides “an excellent way” to play Pokemon GO.
In addition to that, the said wireless service provider will offer an exclusive Pokemon GO channel in its JioChat instant messaging app available to its customers. The said chat group will allow players to organize events and share tips about the game. Last but not least, Reliance Jio customers can play Pokemon GO without incurring any data charges until March 31st. However, this offer isn’t exclusive to Niantic’s latest mobile game and actually encompasses every other app available in the Google Play Store. The Mumbai-based carrier labeled this promotion as a way to celebrate the upcoming holiday season. This announcement was made less than a day after Niantic announced that new pocket monsters are finally coming to Pokemon GO. Apart from a handful of generation two Pokemon, players can now also catch a special version of Pikachu wearing a Santa hat. This limited variant of Pikachu will be encounterable in the game until December 29th.