‘The industry should provide high-speed data at affordable prices’
Chief of Reliance Industries Ltd Mukesh Ambani, who disrupted the telecom sector with the launch of Reliance Jio last year, believes 4G telecom coverage in India will surpass that of 2G in a year.
‘Digital oxygen’Speaking at the first India Mobile Congress (IMC 2017) here on Wednesday, Ambani said: “Data is the oxygen of a digital economy. We cannot deprive Indians of this vital life-sustaining resource. We have to provide ubiquitous access to high-speed data at affordable prices.”
He said India, riding on the back of a digital revolution, will grow to a $7-trillion economy in the next 10 years, from $2.5 trillion right now, and rank among the top three economies in the world. “The Indian mobile market is now overflowing with data. All of us have worked to create a robust digital circulatory system to carry data to each one of the 1.3 billion Indians, including those living in the remotest village,” he said.
There is an urgent need to apply the revolutionary powers of digital technologies to India’s pressing needs and challenges, he said, stressing on three ‘must-do tasks’ for the consideration of both the government and industry to achieve that.
One, he said: “We must explore and implement innovative ideas to generate employment, self-employment and income-generation opportunities for millions of youth. We must foster confidence in the society regarding new technologies such as artificial intelligence, robotics, Internet of things.”
Secondly, he said digital technologies can be a boon for achieving national priorities of energy, water and resource securities. And third, he said, digitalisation of education, training and human resource development in a comprehensive manner must be regarded as a precondition for the success of ‘Digital India’.
“To accomplish all these tasks, the telecom and IT industry will have to partner with every sector of the economy and government, every business and every institution, from the biggest to the smallest,” Ambani said.
The RIL Chairman also said the industry must break silos and forge partnerships.
“No corporate, nor the government, can do it alone. Together, we can achieve the unimaginable. Let’s not forget — India provides a big enough opportunity for all of us to grow, and prosper, together.”