 "RIL AGM: AirFiber to go live from September 19 amid fresh telecom push")
Reliance Industries Chairman Mukesh Ambani on Monday promised “AI to everyone, everywhere”, saying Jio Platforms was keen to lead efforts in developing India-specific artificial intelligence (AI) models.
Ambani also pledged to create up to 2,000 megawatts of AI-ready computing capacity across both cloud and edge locations while adopting sustainable practices and a greener future.
“Seven years ago, Jio promised broadband connectivity to everyone, everywhere, and we have delivered. Today, Jio promises AI to everyone, everywhere, and we shall deliver,” he said while addressing RIL’s 46th annual general meeting.
Ambani said a global AI revolution was reshaping the world, and intelligent applications would redefine and revolutionise industries, economies, and even daily life, sooner than expected. ”To stay globally competitive, India must harness AI for innovation, growth, and national prosperity,” he added.
Jio AirFiber launch on Ganesh Chaturthi
Ambani also announced the launch of Jio AirFiber, Reliance Jio’s fixed wireless access broadband offering, this Ganesh Chaturthi (September 19). Jio AirFiber would solve the challenge of last-mile connectivity of fiber optic cables and act as a personal Wi-Fi hotspot in homes, connected to ultra high-speed internet using Jio’s 5G service. It aims to connect up to 150,000 premises daily, 10 times higher than the connections done using optical fibre.
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“Our extensive optical fibre presence puts us in close proximity to over 200 million premises. Yet, providing physical last-mile connectivity is a pain-staking process in most parts of our country. This leaves millions of potential customers without home broadband due to the complexities and delays involved in extending optical fiber to their premises. This is where Jio AirFiber comes in,” Ambani said.
Rival Bharti Airtel had launched its own AirFiber service last month. According to Airtel’s data, only 34 million homes in India have optical fibre connections, highlighting a large number of customers struggling for fibre access. Xstream AirFiber, a plug-and-play device with in-built Wi-Fi 6 technology, aims to address this gap by offering wide indoor coverage and the capacity to connect up to 64 devices simultaneously.
Airtel’s service is available to 5G consumers in Delhi and Mumbai, and delivers up to 100 Mbps speed at a cost of Rs 799 per month.
Telecom companies have been focused on the segment because of its immense potential. “Through fixed-mobile convergence, we can foster greater engagement and loyalty among Indian households, especially premium households where home broadband usage is growing the fastest,” Ambani said.
Industry insiders expect Jio to hit the ground running, given its optical fibre infrastructure spanning over 1.5 million kilometres across India, far ahead of competition. Ambani said the company was laying a further 1,000 km of fibre every day.
Fastest 5G rollout
Ambani said Reliance Jio had brought 96 per cent of the census towns in India within its 5G network, and up to 85 per cent of the total 5G cells operational in the country were in Jio’s network. Adding one 5G cell to its network every 10 seconds, Jio would have nearly 1 million 5G cells operational by December, he added.
He said Jio had built its own low-power small cells to go deeper into specific pockets of high consumption, such as tourist spots and temples.
The company has also used its own 5G stack to become the first operator in the world to launch commercial services on millimeter wave spectrum using standalone 5G. This high-capacity, low-latency layer will significantly enhance private 5G, home broadband, and enterprise use cases, he said.
Jio’s overall customer base has crossed the 450 million mark, resulting in a year-on-year revenue growth rate of over 20 per cent. Of these, 50 million are 5G customers.
Ambani stressed that Jio remained the only company with the capacity to smoothly transition its entire 4G customer base to 5G, with minimal additional capital expenditure. “With the growing adoption of Jio 5G, we are also seeing an increasing trend of high-Arpu (average revenue per user) postpaid customers choosing Jio as their preferred network,” he said.
Jio’s net port-ins via the government’s mobile number portability facility was five times that of its nearest competitor, he added.
True5G platform and lab
Jio Chairperson Akash Ambani announced Jio True5G Developer Platform, which combines “our 5G network, edge computing, and a spectrum of applications and services”.
The platform gives enterprises the control and options to activate network slices on demand, deploy applications on Jio’s multi-access edge-compute locations, and access a diverse ecosystem of partner applications – all within a single platform, he said.
He also announced Jio True5G Lab, a facility where the company's technology partners and enterprise customers can develop, test, and co-create multiple industry-specific solutions. The inaugural Jio True5G Lab will be located at Reliance Corporate Park in Navi Mumbai.
While Jio provides connectivity services to over 80 per cent of large enterprises in India, the company would focus on the small and medium business segment to rapidly scale this up, he said.
“Historically, enterprise services accounted for a large proportion of most telecom operators’ revenues. This suggests that we have a golden opportunity to rapidly catch up and build an enterprise connectivity business that mirrors the scale of our consumer business,” he said.
(With inputs from PTI)