Jio To Complete Deployment Of 5G Services Across India In 2023: Mukesh Ambani

Telecom giant Jio, which is aggressively expanding its 5G network, will complete the deployment of 5G services across the country in 2023, Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) Chairman Mukesh Ambani said.

“Under Akash’s chairmanship, Jio is rolling out the world’s best 5G network across India…at a pace which is faster than anywhere in the world. Jio’s 5G deployment will be complete in 2023,” Ambani said while speaking at the company’s ‘Family Day’ celebrations.

Ambani also added that Jio Platforms should now get ready for India’s next big opportunity to provide digital products and solutions to both domestic and international markets.

“Since every single village will have 5G connectivity, India has a historic opportunity to completely erase the rural-urban divide which has plagued our country for so long,” he added.

On Wednesday, Jio launched its 5G services across 11 new cities in the country – Lucknow, Trivandrum, Mysuru, Nashik, Aurangabad, Chandigarh, Mohali, Panchkula, Zirakpur, Kharar and Derabassi.

In these cities, Jio users would be invited to the ‘Jio Welcome Offer’ to experience internet connection at up to 1 Gbps+ speeds at no additional cost, the company said.

“These cities are important tourism destinations as well as key education hubs of our country. With the launch of Jio’s True 5G services, consumers of the region will not just get the best telecommunication network but will also get infinite growth opportunities in the areas of e-governance, education, automation, Artificial Intelligence, gaming, healthcare, agriculture, IT, and SMEs,” a Jio spokesperson said.

Jio announced the beta launch of its 5G (True-5G) services in October on Dussehra in four cities – Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata, and Varanasi.

Since then, the company has been aggressively expanding its network, adding new cities every month. Last month, Jio said it completed deployment of 5G services in all 33 district headquarters in Gujarat, making it the state the first in the country to have all its districts covered by 5G.

On Wednesday, Jio’s competitor Bharti Airtel also announced the launch of its 5G services in Jammu and Srinagar.

India is set to have around 31 Mn 5G users by the end of 2022, and the number is set to rise to 690 Mn by 2028, according to Ericsson’s Mobility Report for November 2022. The next-gen mobile networks would account for 53% of all connections in India by 2028, it added.