Jio to launch 5G in key metros by Diwali — to invest Rs 2 lakh crore for pan-India coverage by end of 2023

Reliance Industries Ltd Chairman Mukesh D Ambani said Jio Infocomm — the company's telecommunications arm — plans to invest Rs 2 lakh crore for the rapid rollout of 5G services and be available to users across key cities, including Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, and Kolkata, by October (this Diwali).

During the company's Annual General Meeting on Monday, Ambani said pan-India coverage of 5G would happen by December 2023.

"I firmly believe that digital freedom is the birthright of every Indian. Therefore, 5G cannot remain an exclusive service, available only to the privileged few or only to those in our largest cities," Ambani said during his address to the shareholders.

He said Jio had prepared an ambitious 5G roll-out plan, which would be the fastest in the world.

Ambani said Jio's 5G network would be the world’s largest and most advanced 5G network and that it would deploy Standalone 5G, which has zero dependence on existing 4G infrastructure as opposed to non-standalone 5G.

The chairman said most operators were deploying a version of 5G, called Non-Standalone 5G, which is essentially a 5G radio signal delivered over an existing 4G infrastructure. "This Non-Standalone approach is a hasty way to nominally claim a 5G launch, but it won't deliver the breakthrough improvements in performance and capability possible with 5G," he said.

He said that Jio had further consolidated its position as India's Number One digital service provider over the past year. "Today, we have 421 million mobile broadband subscribers on our 4G network. And on average, they consume nearly 20 GB of broadband data every month, nearly doubling their consumption from the year before," Ambani said.

The company said it was committed to making India the largest data-powered economy in the world, beating China and the US.

He said Jio could deliver powerful services like low latency, massive machine-to-machine communication, 5G voice, Edge computing and network slicing, and the metaverse.

"Using 5G technology, we can dramatically reduce latency or lag and deliver breakthrough increases in broadband speed, network capacity, and the number of connected users," Ambani said.

The company plans to connect over 100 million homes with unparalleled digital experiences and Smart Home solutions. "We will catapult tens of millions of small merchants and small businesses to great heights, empowering them with cutting-edge, plug-and-play solutions delivered from the cloud," Ambani said. He added that the company would provide millions of medium businesses with the same digital capabilities that were available only to larger companies.

Jio 5G will also offer an ultra-high-speed fixed-broadband called JioAirFiber. "We have developed a JioAirFiber Home Gateway, which is a wireless, simple, single-device solution.

"We will accelerate the digital transformation of tens of thousands of our large enterprises and make them globally competitive. And we will launch billions of smart sensors with connected intelligence that will trigger the Internet of Things and fuel the Fourth Industrial Revolution. With Jio 5G, we will connect every-one, every-place and every-thing with the highest quality and most affordable data. In addition to meeting India's needs, we are condent of offering digital solutions to global markets," he said.

Jio will use its combined wireless and wireline assets to cover every part of India, connecting even those parts of the country where, thus far, satellite technology was considered the only option. Jio made strong progress in fibre and FTTH deployment with a pan-India fibre-optic network of more than 11 lakh route kilometres. Two out of three new customers choose JioFiber.

"India is ranked 138th in the world in fixed broadband adoption. Jio will take India to the top 10 globally in fixed broadband adoption," Ambani said.

Jio said it has some of the world’s leading technology players as partners in its “Made in India” 5G collaboration: Meta: immersive technology; Google: develop ultra-affordable 5G smartphones; Google Cloud; Microsoft: Azure ecosystem, vibrant ecosystem of cloud-enabled business applications and solutions; Intel: Cloud-scale data centres and 5G edge locations.

With well-established relationships with leading global network technology providers like Qualcomm, Ericsson, Nokia, Samsung and Cisco, Jio has consolidated its position as India’s number one digital services provider, with very strong operating and financial results, Ambani said.

Industry experts advised cautious optimism as, despite the ambitious plans for 5G rollout, we still have no concrete details.

“As of now we don't have any details on the pricing of the pack, 5G packs and there were expectations on some announcements regarding a 5G handset from Jio. The other thing to note is that the company has announced that it would have a pan-India coverage by December 2023 and they have also earmarked Rs 2 two lakh crore of capital investment, of course, we don't know what timeframe this investment would be made. So I think some of those finer details are not yet known,” said Balaji Subramanian, Vice President of IIFL Securities.

Manish Chokhani, Director, Enam Holdings, had a more positive outlook, saying this will kickstart the next generation.

"There is always value in Reliance at every point, because it is a company  which is constantly growing and constantly changing its orbit. Even on 5G, if you saw the recent bids, which were made, they were more than two times the amount that bandwidth taken by Reliance as compared to even Airtel and the areas in which they are seeking to use it will range from education and healthcare to industry, to sports, to the whole gamut," Chokhani said.