India’s biggest telecom operator, Reliance Jio, announced today that it is set to pioneer the 5G revolution in the country. Reliance Industries chairman and managing director, Mukesh Ambani, in his inaugural speech at India Mobile Congress, revealed that Jio’s 5G network will launch in India in the second half of 2021.
The company currently operates a 4G-only network and first shared its plans to debut a 5G network at Reliance’s AGM earlier this year. Reliance Jio currently has nearly 41 crore subscribers, all thanks to its competitive prepaid and postpaid plans.
Jio 5G Network Launch Next Year
During his keynote speech, Ambani introduced his four ideas that will help India in its digital transformation. He believes India is one of the best digitally connected nations and 5G connectivity is the next step. The country has, however, been delaying the 5G spectrum auction. Ambani said that the government needs to put major policies into action to accelerate the development and deployment of 5G connectivity across India.
Reliance Jio 5G wants to be at the forefront of the 5G revolution in India and serve as a testimony for the government’s Atmanirbhar Bharat initiative.
“I can say with utmost confidence that 5G will enable India to not only participate in the fourth industrial revolution but also to lead it,” said Ambani in his speech. Other 3 ideas propagated by the Indian billionaire talk about connecting over 300 million underprivileged individuals across India, Jio Platform’s role in the technological advancements, and the belief that India could serve as a major semiconductor manufacturing hub in the future (via News18).
Mukesh Ambani noted that the 5G services offered by Jio in the coming years would be “testimony” to the government’s Amtanirbhar Bharat initiative. We have already seen a slew of apps and services including TikTok rival Chingari, PUBG Mobile rival FAU-G, and many others. The Jio 5G network will set a benchmark for homegrown upstarts as the company will use indigenous-developed network, hardware, and technology components.
Fully-Indigenous Jio 5G Network
Jio and Qualcomm, who invested over Rs. 730 crores in the company, have partnered to develop a fully-indigenous 5G Radio Access Network (RAN) in the country. It was first shown off at Qualcomm’s 5G Summit back in October and initial trials saw Jio 5G network achieve speeds over 1Gbps.
In addition to its 5G network, Reliance Jio and Google are also working together to develop an affordable 4G smartphone for the Indian masses. It was initially said to arrive in December this year. But, the rumor mill now suggests an early 2021 launch with the price tag being around Rs. 4,000.
