Reliance Jio will invest Rs 2 lakh crore for the 5G services rollout, beginning with metro cities in October as it looks to take lead in the launch of ultra-high-speed internet services. Jio’s superfast 5G services will be launched in key cities — including Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata — by Diwali, Reliance Industries Chairman Mukesh Ambani said on Monday as he underlined the company’s commitment to make India the largest data-powered economy in the world, beating China and the United States. India deserves nothing less than “True 5G”, Ambani said at Reliance Industries’ 45th AGM and emphasised that 5G cannot remain an exclusive service available only to the privileged few or only to those in the largest cities.
Digital freedom is the birthright of every Indian, he asserted.
The company showcased the potential of JioAirFiber (its high-speed fixed-broadband offering) and Jio Cloud PC (virtual computer hosted in the cloud) and said combined might of the two along with Jio 5G would be a ‘gamechanger’. Jio would deploy the latest version of the fifth generation offering ‘standalone 5G’, which has zero dependency on the 4G network.
With this, Jio can deliver new and powerful services, such as low latency connectivity, massive machine-to-machine communication, 5G voice, Edge computing and network slicing, and metaverse, Ambani said.
“We are also working very closely with all leading global smartphone OEMs (original equipment manufacturers), and we have their commitment that they will support Jio’s True 5G,” he informed. To build a pan-India ‘True 5G network’, the company has committed a total investment of Rs 2 lakh crore, Ambani said as he unveiled “an ambitious and fastest ever 5G roll-out plan”. “Within the next two months, that is by Diwali of 2022, we will launch Jio 5G across multiple key cities, including the metro cities of Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, and Chennai,” he added.