Reliance Jio to bring 5G to every Indian by Dec 2023, says Mukesh Ambani

India may have started late in introducing 5G services, but will finish first by rolling out the service across the length and breadth of the country, Reliance Industries Chairman Mukesh Ambani said at the sixth edition of the India Mobile Congress on Saturday.

Ambani said that the telecom sector in India will offer the highest quality 5G service at the most affordable rates and reiterated Reliance Jio’s commitment to connect every town, taluka, and tehsil with 5G by December 2023.

Jio plans to roll out the 5G service in metros including Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata by Diwali and is investing Rs 2 trillion to develop its network. Jio acquired 24,740 megahertz (MHz) of spectrum across various bands in the recent auction and will be using non-standalone technology for its service.

Speaking on the occasion, Ambani said India can become the world’s leading digital society while simultaneously achieving dual goals of accelerating growth and inclusion in development by harnessing the power of demography and digital technologies. This would make India  India a 40-trillion-dollar economy by 2047, up from $3 trillion today, and increase the per capita income rapidly to over $20,000, from $2,000 today.

Ambani said 5G is a foundational technology that can unlock the full potential of other 21st century technologies such as artificial intelligence, IoT, robotics.

He said that 5G enabled service can transform the nation by bringing affordable and high quality education, and providing affordable healthcare to rural areas. It can also bridge the gap between rural and urban India by accelerating digitisation and intelligent data management of agriculture, services, trade, industry, informal sector, transportation and energy infrastructure. “This will create huge efficiencies in all economic activities, make India a hub of innovations, and also help mitigate the climate crisis,” Ambani said.

“5G can make available the same powerful productivity tools to small-scale industrial and commercial enterprises as are used by large capital-intensive businesses. This will drive modernisation and profitability of all sectors of India’s economy.  By bringing artificial intelligence into every domain, 5G can power India’s emergence as the world’s intelligence capital. This will help India become a major exporter of high-value digital solutions and services,” Ambani said.