Speaking at the opening session of the India Mobile Congress (held virtually online) prior to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s inaugural address, Ambani proposed indigenous development of 5G technology, although Airtel CEO Gopal Vittal called indigenous development as an “existential threat”, which could “Exclude India from the global ecosystem”.
Ambani, whose Reliance Jio company has reached the top position in the telecommunications sector in a short period of four years after starting services in September 2016, said that India is one of the largest digitally connected societies and needs to upgrade to faster technologies to move. later in speed and experiences.
“This (5G) will be powered by indigenously developed network, hardware and technology components. Jio’s 5G service will be a testament to his inspiring vision for Atma-Nirbhar Bharat, ”said Ambani.
Ambani also attacked rivals Airtel and Vodafone Idea, which still offer 2G mobile services in the country versus Jio’s 4G-only operations. “Up to 300 million mobile subscribers in India are still stuck in the 2G era. Urgent political measures are needed to ensure that these disadvantaged people have a smartphone, so that they too can benefit from the direct transfer of profits to their bank accounts and actively participate in the digital economy. ”
Mittal, who spoke after Ambani, had a different take when he said next-generation 5G would start to become the norm in the mobile broadband space in just two to three years.
Vittal said that instead of having a local approach to handling 5G, India should follow global standards. The development of a separate 5G standard will have an impact on innovation, he said. The government, while talking about the need for 5G, has yet to give specific dates for the 5G spectrum auction.
CP Gurnani, Executive Director of Tech Mahindra, said that telecommunications have proven to be the backbone of Indian industry during the corona pandemic and that technologies like 5G are now a reality in many parts of the world.
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