Twitter
Advertisement

Invested over Rs 150,000 crore in Reliance Jio's 4G, telecom venture: Mukesh Ambani

The soon-to-be-launched Jio would come with a whole host of applications and services and huge library of audio and visual content.

Latest News
article-main
Mukesh Ambani
FacebookTwitterWhatsappLinkedin

Reliance Industries has invested over Rs 150,000 crore in its 4G internet and telecom venture, Jio, Chairman Mukesh Ambani said on Wednesday, promising to deliver mobile broadband speed that would be 40 to 80 times faster than the current average speeds.

The soon-to-be-launched Jio would come with a whole host of applications and services and huge library of audio and visual content, he said addressing FICCI Frames here.

"Digitisation is the defining trend of this century. In fact, that is the very reason that we at Reliance conceived Jio. It is one of the largest transformational green-field digital initiatives anywhere in the world with an investment of over Rs 150,000 crore," he said.

Jio beta launched its services in December 2015 on Reliance founders day with plans for commercial launch this year.

"I have no doubt that with the launch of Jio, India's rank will go up from 150 to among the top 10 of mobile Internet rankings in the world," he said.

While the coverage of mobile broadband in India is only about 15-20%, US has around 75% coverage. "Jio will start services with 70% coverage of India. From Day One," he said.

Jio would help the industry coverage of the country reach over 90%.

"From Day One, Jio mobile broadband will offer speeds that are about 40 to 80 times faster than the current average speeds," he said adding Jio network is engineered to provide a capacity of 10GB per month for every year.

Stating that all of this would be of no use if it was not accessible and affordable to consumers in all parts of the country, Ambani said, "Jio will significantly up the quantity, quality and coverage for broadband Internet while lowering the cost to the user."

Jio, he said, was not just a telecom network. It is an entire ecosystem consisting of devices, broadband networks, powerful applications and services, distributed to every doorstep in India.

Its offerings will include the most comprehensive libraries and programming of recorded and live music, sports, live and catchup television, movies and events, he said.

He however did not say when Jio would launch commercial services.

Last week, Bank of America-Merrill Lynch had said that the commercial launch of Jio is likely to get pushed to December 2016.

"Despite completing an employee soft launch in December 2015, we do not yet have visibility on the timeline on commercial launch by Jio. In our recent meetings with industry participants, we found a consistent view coming out of risks of Jio launch being pushed to December 2016," it said.

Credit Suisse however believes Jio is preparing for a soft launch of its 4G services soon.

"Our visits to Reliance Digital stores in Mumbai revealed that the stores are preparing for a possible soft launch of Jio's 4G connections soon," it said. 

Ambani said Indian media industry has grown by 9 times in the last 12 years and the total value is expected to hit $100 billion in 10 years.

He said the opportunity to transform the lives of 1.3 billion people is what motivated him to re-enter telecom sector with Jio.

"As the world goes digital, we cannot afford to be left behind. Today, we are ranked 150 in the mobile internet access rankings among 230 countries... 1.3 billion people cannot be left behind as the world enters a new era," he said.

Ficci Frames is the country's largest media and entertainment industry's annual gathering where the who's who of the industry and the top government officials brainstorm about the issues about the industry.

"I have no doubt with the launch of Jio that our ranking will go up from 150 to among the top 10 in the next few years," Ambani said.

Domestic media and entertainment industry has grown from $2 billion in 2004 to $18 billion in 2015, and it will be $100 billion in the next decade, Ambani said.

"To my mind, digitisation is the defining trend of this century...If you don't have a globally competitive digital tool you will simply not survive, you will be disrupted, outcompeted, left behind and become irrelevant," he said.

On how Jio will aid the digital transformation, Ambani said his telecom offering will start its services with 70% coverage of the population from day 1, and the services will be very affordable.

"With the efforts that Jio and all partners are making, high-speed internet coverage will be over 90% by 2017," he said.

He also said Jio's network is engineered to provide a capacity of over 10 gigabytes of data per person, which is 100 times the current data consumption average of 0.15 gigabytes a user per annum.

Outlining five mega trends that define our digital future, he said the world is moving from oral to visual medium, and that "video will be the new voice of the network industry, driving learning, communication and entertainment".

Secondly, Ambani said opportunities will be larger in a digital ecosystem, as technology is exponential compared to human thinking which is linear.

Thirdly, telecom, ICT, and various media sectors are converging and the traffic is no longer linear, and have to be managed and regulated accordingly.

He also said intelligent analytics is the key, as there is going to be an abundance of choice, distribution and content.

"There will, however, be a scarcity of context, and purpose, and those who can address this will win," he said.

He also pointed out that technology cannot become the end-goal, and it is only a means to make human life better.

Find your daily dose of news & explainers in your WhatsApp. Stay updated, Stay informed-  Follow DNA on WhatsApp.
Advertisement

Live tv

Advertisement
Advertisement