NE BUSINESS BUREAU
MUMBAI, JULY 15
Mukesh Ambani on Wednesday announced his group’s digital arm Jio developing a homegrown 5G telecom solution.
“Jio has designed and developed a complete 5G solution from scratch. It will be ready for trials as soon as the 5G spectrum is available and can be ready for field deployment next year,” Ambani said at Reliance Industries’ annual general meeting.
Jio’s global-scale 4G and fibre network is powered by several core software technologies and components. “It is this capability and know-how that positions Jio on the cutting edge of another exciting frontier – 5G,” he said.
Jio Platforms, with over 20 startup partners, has built world-class capabilities in technologies such as 4G, 5G, Cloud computing, Devices and OS, Big Data, AI, AR/VR, Blockchain, Natural Language Understanding, and Computer Vision, he said.
“Using these technologies, we can create compelling solutions across multiple industry verticals like media, financial services, new commerce, education, healthcare, agriculture, smart cities, smart manufacturing & smart mobility,” he said, adding Jio Platforms is conceived with the vision of developing original, captive intellectual property, using which we can demonstrate the transformative power of technology across multiple ecosystems – first in India, and then rest of world.
In the next three years, Jio will connect half a billion mobile customers, a billion smart sensors, and 50 million home and business establishments, Ambani said.
“We have fully kickstarted five accelerators of growth of digital connectivity: Mobile broadband, JioFiber, Jio’s enterprise broadband, broadband for SMEs, and Jio’s Narrowband Internet-of-Things (NBIoT),” he noted.
JioMeet sees 5 mn downloads: Ambani
Mukesh Ambani on Wednesday said India’s first cloud-based video-conferencing app JioMeet has seen 5 million downloads within days of its launch.
Reliance Industries earlier this week launched the JioMeet video-conferencing app with unlimited free calling, which is being seen as rate war on rival Zoom.
JioMeet video conferencing app is available across Android, iOS, Windows, macOS, and web.
According to the company website, JioMeet supports HD audio and video call quality with up to 100 participants and offers features like screen sharing, and meeting schedule feature, among others.
But unlike Zoom, it does not impose a 40-minute time limit. Calls can go on as long as 24 hours, and all meetings are encrypted and password-protected, the company said.
Ambani says got strong interest from strategic investors for Reliance Retail
Mukesh Ambani on Wednesday said his group”s retail venture has received strong interest from strategic and financial investors.
“We will induct global partners and investors in Reliance Retail in the next few quarters,” he said at Reliance Industries’ annual general meeting.
Reliance Retail has already started pilots of its e-commerce venture.
“We have successfully piloted JioMart grocery model with kirana partners. The beta version of the JioMart grocery platform is being piloted in 200 cities. Daily orders have crossed 2.5 lakh, and the number is growing each day,” Ambani said.
Connecting farmers and delivering their fresh produce directly to homes is a key part of the firm”s grocery strategy. “This will significantly improve farmer income and incentivise higher productivity,” he said.
More than two-thirds of Reliance Retails” nearly 12,000 stores are operated in Tier II, Tier III and Tier IV towns. “It sources over 80 percent of fruits and vegetables directly from farmers,” he said.
