RIL to invest Rs 2 lakh crore in 5G, eyes Diwali metro launch – Times of India

RIL to invest Rs 2 lakh crore in 5G, eyes Diwali metro launch - Times of India

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MUMBAI: Reliance Industries (RIL) will invest Rs 2 lakh crore ($25 billion) to roll out 5G services across the country, its chairman Mukesh Ambani announced on Monday. The company’s telecom unit Jio will launch the next-generation services this Diwali (which falls in October) in select cities and will expand the coverage across India by December 2023.
Earlier this month, it had emerged as the biggest spender in the country’s 5G spectrum auction, winning airwaves worth Rs 88,078 crore ($11 billion). “Jio 5G will be the world’s largest and most advanced 5G network,” Ambani said. This, he said, is because it will not depend on the 4G network. Instead, it will deploy a standalone 5G version that will deliver speedier connectivity.
“Most operators are deploying a version of 5G, called non-standable 5G, which is essentially a 5G radio signal delivered over an existing 4G infrastructure. This non-standable 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 said.
“Jio will deploy the latest version of 5G, called standalone 5G, which has zero dependency on our 4G network. With standalone 5G, Jio can deliver new and powerful services such as low latency connectivity, massive machine-to-machine communication, 5G voice, edge computing and network slicing, and metaverse.”
Ambani further said, “Digital freedom is the birth right of every Indian. Therefore, 5G cannot remain an exclusive service, available only to the privileged few, or only to those in our largest cities.” Hence, Jio plans to increase the high-speed services footprint month after month, which will be the “fastest 5G rollout in the world”. By December 2023, we will deliver Jio 5G to every town, every taluka and every tehsil of the country.”
Ambani, however, didn’t reveal tariff plans for the 5G services. The chairman also announced that Jio has partnered with Qualcomm to develop 5G solutions for the Indian market. Qualcomm is an investor in RIL’s telecom unit.



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