Reliance Jio, India’s largest telecom operator, is all set to launch 5G network services. Mukesh Ambani, Chairman and Managing Director (CMD) of Reliance Industries Limited, had announced that Jio’s 5G networks would arrive in four cities by this Diwali - Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai. These four cities will just be the start, but then, by December 2023, Jio promises to cover most of India with its 5G SA (standalone) networks. The thing worth wondering here is whether or not Jio will shock everyone with its 5G networks. Well, it is hard to say what the strategy will be tariff-wise for Jio, but with 5G, there are a lot more things concerned than just consumer mobile network services. Jio shocked everyone in India when it launched its 4G services. The telco said that it would enable users to get its 4G SIMs for free with free data and voice calling. This is something that Indians had never seen before. Will it do something along similar lines to get people to upgrade to 5G? Nothing can be said at the moment, but if there’s anyone in India’s telecom sector who can do this, it is definitely Jio. Reliance Jio has the best position in the sector in terms of profitability and is also going to go for IPO (Initial Public Offer) in the next year. The IPO would definitely change a lot of things for the telco. First of all, Jio would get a ton of fresh funds to expand and then it would also come in direct competition with Airtel and Vodafone Idea (Vi), the other two listed entities in the stock exchanges.
Jio will Have both Consumer and Enterprise Space to Tackle with 5G
With 5G, there would be consumer as well as enterprise services at play. But there would be a lot of competition in the enterprise space as many tech companies would also be jumping into the sector by securing a telecom license from the Department of Telecommunications (DoT). In the consumer space, Ericsson’s latest report suggests that consumers want additional bundled services with 5G plans. Jio is a player known for playing at scale. The telco’s services are slightly more affordable than Airtel and Vi’s services at every turn. With 5G as well, we can expect Jio to position itself as the most affordable player and get most people onboard as fast as possible. Airtel is likely going to continue with its ‘premium’ image. Smartphone companies have started rolling out support for Jio’s 5G network for their devices. Many OEMs had also tested their smartphones with Jio’s 5G network before launching them in the Indian market. Much recently, Realme 9 Pro 5G got support for Jio’s 5G network.
