A full-scale migration from 2G to 4G to 5G services, making 5G roll out a national priority, making devices and appliances cheap, fibre connectivity across the country and strong regulations are the elements that will strengthen digital connectivity over the next decade, Reliance Industries Chairman and Managing Director, Mukesh Ambani said today.

He was speaking at the fifth edition of the Indian Mobile Congress, hosted by DoT and Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI).

Ambani credited the spectacular transformation of the mobile and digital landscape in India since 2014 to the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Ambani was confident that India will not only succeed in containing any future wave of COVID but also stage a rapid economic comeback.

He said that India had fundamentally redefined its relationship with technology in the past few years, with people embracing technology with unbridled optimism as was seen during the COVID-induced lockdowns.

“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, Ambani said about his first idea.

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Ambani’s second idea was that the roll-out of 5G should be India’s national priority.

“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 which is fully cloud native and digitally managed,” he said.

His third idea was affordability should just not be restricted to services but should be the case with devices and appliances also.

“The best way of ensuring comprehensive affordability is nimble adoption of futuristic technologies and supportive policy tools like use of the USO fund for purposes other than services. USO fund can be used to subsidise devices to select target groups,” he said.

His fourth idea was that fibre connectivity should be completed across India on a mission mode.

“This is because the world is now transitioning into a digital-first era when almost everything will be done in the digital space first, and then translated into the physical world,” he said.

"Fibre has almost unlimited data carriage capacity. Therefore, to be future-ready, India has to be fibre-ready... Even during these Covid times, Jio was able to introduce Fibre to Home to 5 million homes. If all the players in the industry work together, we can rapidly achieve a nationwide footprint of fibre, just as we reached mobile telephony to every corner of the country in the last decade," he added.

His fifth idea was that beyond connectivity, India should focus on the critical components of the digital eco-system which are necessary for India’s digital transformation.

“The Government is putting in place a sound regulatory and policy framework for this. We are already seeing innovative solutions in Education, Financial Services, Entertainment, Retail, Agriculture, Manufacturing and other key verticals of the economy.

Another candidate for radical transformation is India’s energy systems.

"Technologies are maturing for energy saving through smart grids, decarbonisation of the economy, and a drastic reduction in the cost of India’s transition to clean and green energy,” he said.

Disclosure: RIL, the promoter of Reliance Jio, also controls Network18, the parent company of CNBCTV18.com.

(Edited by : Abhishek Jha)

First Published:Dec 8, 2021 11:55 AM IST