Reliance chairman Mukesh Ambani during the Indian Mobile Congress 2020 today said that Jio will roll out 5G services in India by June 2021. He noted that the 5G service offered by Jio would be a testimony to the government’s Atmanirbhar Bharat policy.
Ambani said “India is today among the best digitally connected nations in the world. In order to maintain this lead, policy steps are needed to accelerate early rollout of 5G, and to make it affordable and available everywhere. I assure you that JIO will pioneer the 5G Revolution in India in the second half of 2021. It will be powered by indigenous-developed network, hardware and technology components.”
As many as 300 million mobile subscribers in India are still trapped in the 2G era. Urgent policy steps are needed to ensure that these underprivileged people have an affordable smartphone, So that they too can benefit from Direct Benefit Transfer into their bank accounts, and actively participate in the Digital Economy.
Further, in his speech, Ambani said that 5G will enable India to not only participate in the Fourth Industrial Revolution but also to lead it.
As the digitalisation of the Indian economy and Indian society picks up speed, the demand for digital hardware will grow enormously. We cannot rely on large-scale imports in this area of critical national need, he said.
Stating that many leading global companies are coming to India to set up manufacturing facilities, he said the country has developed world-class strengths in chip design.
“I clearly foresee India becoming a major hub for state-of-the-art semiconductor industry. When all the stakeholders work together, we can surely ensure that India’s success in hardware will match our success in software” he added further.
Jio Platforms, with its family of over 20 start-up partners, has built world-class capabilities in Artificial Intelligence, Cloud Computing, Big Data, Machine Learning, Internet of Things, Blockchain, etc. We are creating compelling home-grown solutions in Education, Healthcare, Agriculture, Infrastructure, Financial Services and New Commerce.
He also expressed confidence that the pandemic will be behind us soon in 2021 and the Indian economy will not only bounce back, but will also grow with unprecedented acceleration.