Alert for broadband firms! Reliance honcho Mukesh Ambani roars JioGigaFiber launch plan

Reliance Industries Ltd. chairman Mukesh Ambani on Thursday has made it clear that company’s forthcoming initiative JioGigaFibre will have a massive opening similar to Reliance Jio.

Ambani also said that he is confident about India’s data-growth and the country will witness 100 per cent 4G enabled phones by 2020. (Image: PTI)

India Mobile Congress 2018: After a trenchant expansion of high-speed internet to the pocket of the masses and placing India as world’s leading data consuming nation, Reliance Industries Ltd. chairman Mukesh Ambani on Thursday has made it clear that company’s forthcoming initiative JioGigaFibre will have a massive opening similar to Reliance Jio. Ambani, while speaking at the India Mobile Congress 2018, said that Reliance Jio’s fibre-based broadband offering – which is expected to roll out by the end of this month – could place the country among the top three nations in fixed broadband from a low rank of 135 currently. Ambani also said that he is confident about India’s data-growth and the country will witness 100 per cent 4G enabled phones by 2020. “India can be transformed when people get artificial intelligence at just Rs 100 per month,” Ambani said. Jio, which stormed the telecom industry with free calls and SMS bundled with dirt cheap data in 2016, had begun rolling out its ambitious ultra-high speed fibre-based broadband services for homes and offices. “And from day one, JioGigaFiber will offer complete fixed-mobile convergence where Indians will travel seamlessly between mobile and fixed broadband networks 4G and 5G when on the move and Wi-Fi when indoors,” the Reliance chief said at the event which had Union minister Ravi Shankar Prasad as chief guest. According to the RIL juggernaut, India has moved from 155th rank in mobile broadband penetration to being the number 1 nation in mobile data consumption in the world in less than two years. This is the fastest transition anywhere in the world from 2G/3G to 4G. Speaking about his aim to digitise the rural parts of the country, Ambani said, “I am personally excited about the promise and prospect of bringing Digital Revolution to India’s villages, agriculture, rural enterprises and to marginalized communities.” Watch Reliance Industries Chairman Mukesha Ambani's full speech at the India Mobile Congress 2018 here:

Sh Mukesh D. Ambani, CMD, RIL at the inaugural session of #IMC2018, Aerocity, New Delhi #IMC2018 #5GUltra https://t.co/wWqZ9irQPd

— Reliance Jio (@reliancejio) October 25, 2018

Further speaking about JioGigaFibre launch plans, he said, “With JioGigaFiber, we have now begun an ambitious push in fixed broadband through Fiber-to-the-home and premise. Jio is committed to building a deep-fibre network across the country and ensuring that every premise is connected with the highest quality network.” Ambani also stated that from the very beginning of its launch, JioGigaFiber will offer complete fixed-mobile convergence where Indians will travel seamlessly between mobile and fixed broadband networks 4G and 5G when on the move and Wi-Fi when indoors. Last week, RIL announced acquisition of majority stakes in Hathway Cable and Datacom Ltd, and Den Networks for a sum of 5,230 crore. While the telecom major picked up 51.3 per cent stakes in Hathway for Rs 2,940 crore, in Den it took over 66 per cent stakes for Rs 2,290 crore.