One of India’s top telecom mobile operators, Reliance Jio is all set to roll out its 5G network in key cities this Diwali in October. During its Annual General Meeting (AGM) on Monday, Chairman and Managing Director Mukesh Ambani said that the next generation of mobile LTE networks will be available first in the cities of Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, and Chennai. The exact date of the launch is not yet official.
Shri Mukesh D. Ambani introduces #JioTrue5G at Reliance AGM 2022.#RILAGM #RILAGM2022 #WeCare #JioTogether #Jio #Jio5G #5G pic.twitter.com/OGSpEcedz1
— Reliance Jio (@reliancejio) August 29, 2022
The services would further be expanded to other Indian cities and towns and the company plans to cover the entire country by December 2023 in phases over 18 months.
“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. To build our pan-India True 5G network, we have committed a total investment of `2 lakh crore. Jio has prepared an ambitious 5G roll-out plan which will be the fastest in the world,” Mukesh Ambani said during his keynote speech.
“Jio 5G will be the world’s largest and most advanced 5G network. Most operators are 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,” Ambani added in his speech.
Mukesh Ambani also highlighted that the upcoming network services will not rely on the existing 4G network as Reliance Jio will deploy a standalone 5G architecture to offer superior performance. Not sharing any tariff details, he added that the company can connect 100 million homes with its 5G network and further accelerate its connectivity ambitions with fixed broadband services. The company introduced a wireless plug-and-play 5G hotspot, the AirFiber, that doesn’t require fiber cables to reach homes.
At the 5G spectrum auction held last month, Reliance Jio emerged as the largest bidder with a spending of Rs 88,078 crore on the auction.
Reliance Jio’s rival Airtel is also introducing its 5G services in October. However, as per a report from ET Telecom, Vodafone Idea might take a little longer to release 5G services as the telco is currently having some financial issues, and it is still in talks with external investors for funds.
