Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) chairman Mukesh Ambani signalled towards
rolling out 5G telecom services in the second half of 2021. He indicated the requirement of policy steps
that ensure the early rollout of affordable and ubiquitous ultra-high-speed 5G
services.

Ambani’s baby, Jio turned four this year and has conquered the first
spot, tempting customers with free-voice calling and data at very reasonable
rates. Ambani said that India could not rely on imports in this critical area
and suggested developing hardware manufacturing in the country.

5G is the 5th generation mobile network that virtually connects everyone
and everything together, including machines, objects, and devices.

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India is today among the best digitally connected nations in the world,
he said. However, the country still has an operational 2G network that offers only
voice calling and text messaging.

“As many as 300 million mobile subscribers in India are still
trapped in the 2G era. Urgent policy steps are needed to ensure that these
underprivileged people 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 added.

RIL offers low-priced smartphones that allow internet access.

“I can say with utmost confidence that 5G will enable India to not
only participate in the Fourth Industrial Revolution but also to lead it,”
he said.

The Indian economy and Indian society strives towards digitalisation,
the demand for hardware will also increase. India has advanced in chip design,
he said.

“I clearly foresee India becoming a major hub for the
state-of-the-art semiconductor industry,” he said. “When all the stakeholders
work together, we can surely ensure that India’s success in hardware will match
our success in software”, he added.

Jio Platforms, together with its family of over 20 start-up allies, has
built world-class capabilities in artificial intelligence, cloud computing, big
data, machine learning, the internet of things and blockchain. They aim at
creating home-grown solutions in education, healthcare, agriculture,
infrastructure, financial services and new commerce, Ambani said.

India has two assets — the confluence of three D’s — vibrant democracy,
young demography and digital transformation, and the visionary and dynamic
leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi – that will make India the world’s
pre-eminent digital society, he said.

The outbreak of COVID-19 pushed people to the confines of their homes
where they worked online, studied online, shopped online, received healthcare
online, socialised online, played online. So, high-speed 4G connectivity
infrastructure was India’s Digital Lifeline, he said.

“India can — and India will — prove cynics wrong by becoming a USD
5 trillion economy,” he said. “It will be a more equal India, with
increased incomes, increased employment, and improved quality of life for 1
billion Indians at the middle and bottom of the economic pyramid”, Ambani
added.