Reliance Industries Chairman Mukesh Ambani on Tuesday said that policy steps are needed to accelerate early rollout of 5G, and to make it affordable and available everywhere, adding that as many as 300 million mobile subscribers are still trapped in the 2G era.
“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,” Ambani said at the India Mobile Congress (IMC) 2020, held virtually.
Digital economy
He assured 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, he said.
To eradicate 2G users in India, he said urgent policy steps are needed to ensure that these underprivileged people (300 million) 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.
Ambani who owns the country’s largest telecom network also said that Jio’s 5G service will be a testimony to the government’s inspiring vision of Atmanirbhar Bharat.
“I can say with utmost confidence that 5G will enable India to not only participate in the ion Industrial Revolution but also to lead it. 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 and Blockchain,” he said.
Semiconductor industry
Ambani further said that India cannot rely on large-scale imports in this area of critical national need, and therefore he was thankful to government’s efforts for inviting leading global companies to set up manufacturing facilities.
“India has developed world-class strengths in chip design. I clearly foresee India becoming a major hub for state-of-the-art semiconductor industry,” he added.