The impact so far: Has Jio's entry delayed Modi's Digital India goals?

Ground reality and initial impact of Jio is very different and TRAI has played important role

Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) has created quite a splash around the Modi government’s Digital India project. The Mukesh Ambani-run firm has consistently promoted its telecom subsidiary Reliance Jio as a key driver of Digital India.

The ground reality and initial impact of Jio is very different and the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has played an important role in it.

Jio’s impact so far has been limited to mostly increasing urban teledensity while depleting the Universal Service Obligation fund (USOF) – a government fund that is used to build rural telecom infrastructure – by about Rs 1,600 crore in