5G Launch Should Be India's National Priority - Mukesh Ambani At IMC 2021

Reliance Industries Limited Chairman and CEO Mukesh Ambani, speaking at the 2021 India Mobile Congress, said India should prioritize the roll-out of 5G to boost connectivity across the country. He also stressed the importance of rapidly migrating Indians from 2G to 4G networks as soon as possible as the industry prepares for the 5G revolution.

"India must complete the migration from 2G to 4G to 5G at the earliest. To keep millions of Indians at the bottom of the socio-economic pyramid confined to 2G is to deprive them of the benefits of the digital revolution," said Ambani.

Speaking around the theme-'Connectivity for the next Decade'- Ambani said, "Roll-out of 5G should be India's national priority." He further added, "At Jio, we are currently focused on 4G and 5G execution and broadband infrastructure expansion. We have developed a 100% home-grown and comprehensive 5G solution that is fully cloud-native and digitally managed. Because of our converged, future-proof architecture, Jio's network could be quickly and seamlessly upgraded from 4G to 5G."

He also emphasized the affordability aspect to expand digital inclusion. "We must not lose sight of the fact that affordability has been a critical factor in the extraordinarily rapid expansion of the mobile subscriber base in India. India should move towards greater digital inclusion, and not greater digital exclusion," he said. Clarifying his position on the key aspect of affordability, Ambani said: "Actually, India needs to ensure affordability not only of services but also of devices and applications."

"The best way of ensuring comprehensive affordability is nimble adoption of futuristic technologies and supportive policy tools like the use of the USO fund for purposes other than services. USO funds can be used to subsidise devices to select target groups," he said. Along with 5G connectivity, he also said that fibre connectivity should be completed across India on "a mission mode".