Reliance Industries Chairman Mukesh Ambani announced on Tuesday morning that his company Jio will roll out 5G services in India in the second half of 2021. Ambani was speaking at the India Mobile Congress, the biggest telecom industry event in India.
Interestingly, Ambani’s Jio’s biggest rival AirTel chief Sunil Bharti Mittal, in his speech which followed right after, spoke of 5G reaching India in “two or three years’ time”.
“5G will be a testament to Atmanirbhar Bharat,” vouched Ambani, who launched Jio barely half a decade ago, though it is now already the biggest telecom operator in India. He, however, did not give specific details on the roll out or the logistics. 5G auctions have been delayed by the government, in the wake of protests from various telecom companies at the high bid prices, as well as due to the onslaught of the COVID-19 pandemic.
5G will help India lead the Industry 4.0 revolution, added Ambani, also hinting that his company will have bigger stakes in the hardware side of Telecommunications, something he had spoken of at the Reliance AGM back in the summer.
“We cannot rely on large scale imports (to meet the) demand for digital hardware. I clearly foresee India becoming a state of the art semiconductor industry hub. I’m sure India’s hardware will match India’s success in software,” he said.
