The Jio 5G service will be rolled out in India in the second half of 2021, revealed Reliance Industries President and CEO Mukesh Ambani during his keynote address at the 2020 India Mobile Congress on Tuesday. The Indian billionaire pointed out that the 5G service offered by Jio would be a “testament” to the policy of the Atmanirbhar Bharat (self-sufficient India) government. In addition to rolling out 5G in the country, Jio is developing an affordable Android phone in collaboration with Google that will likely debut in the coming months.
Ambani, 63, said the policy steps were necessary to accelerate the early launch of 5G in the country.
“I assure you that Jio will pioneer the 5G revolution in India in the second half of 2021. It will be driven by locally developed technology components, hardware and networks,” he said.
Jio has been working on 5G for some time. Exclusive network coverage of LTE nationwide is helping the Mumbai-based telco to switch to next-generation cellular service in a shorter time compared to what is required for Airtel and Vi (formerly known as Vodafone Idea).
To make 5G a reality in India, Jio is working with companies like Samsung and Qualcomm. Ambani at the 43rd annual general meeting of Reliance Industries in July announced that Jio would begin testing the 5G network in the country as soon as the spectrum became available. He also poked fun at the telco into developing a homegrown 5G solution.
At the Qualcomm 5G Summit in October, Jio further detailed his 5G plans and announced the development of its 5G Radio Access Network (RAN) that will help test the next-generation network at scale.
In addition to its 5G plans, Jio is currently working with Google to launch its entry-level 4G Android smartphone. The new model is speculated to arrive sometime in the first quarter of next year with a price tag of around Rs. 4,000.
During his speech at the Mobile Congress of India, Ambani urged the government to take political measures to provide affordable smartphones for disadvantaged people who are still on a 2G network.
Jio Platforms, a subsidiary of Reliance Industries that owns the Jio network, attracted investment from several global companies in recent months. The list of investors includes Google, Facebook, Intel Capital, Qualcomm Ventures and Silver Lake Partners, among others. It went up as much as Rs. Rs 152,056 crore selling its 32.97 percent stake. These investments are allowing the company to expand its digital presence in the country.
“Jio Platforms, with its family of more than 20 startup partners, has built world-class capabilities in artificial intelligence, cloud computing, big data, machine learning, Internet of things, blockchain, etc.,” Ambani said. “We are creating attractive local solutions in education, healthcare, agriculture, infrastructure, financial services and new commerce.”
The arrival of the Jio 5G service would help drive the new and existing developments of Jio Platforms. It will also give an edge to the telecommunications company that is already the largest in the Indian telecommunications sector, with a market share of more than 35 percent, according to data provided by the Telecommunications Regulatory Authority of India. .
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