Reliance Jio Infocomm, India’s largest wireless telecom operator by numbers, has partnered with Swedish multinational networking and telecommunications company Ericsson for a long-term strategic contract to launch 5G standalone (SA) in India.
This is Jio and Ericsson’s first collaboration in the country for radio access network deployment.
Jio’s standalone 5G network deployment represents a significant technological leap forward as it modernizes network infrastructure to provide a truly transformative 5G experience to consumers and enterprises.
The 5G SA capabilities are expected to drive innovation, build a strong 5G ecosystem, and deliver enhanced services.
Jio’s 5G network will use Ericsson’s energy-efficient 5G Radio Access Network (RAN) products and solutions from Ericsson Radio Systems as well as E-band microwave mobile transport solution.
changing the digital landscape
Reliance Jio Chairman Akash Ambani said that Jio has changed the digital landscape India With the launch of LTE services in 2016.
“We are confident that Jio’s 5G network will accelerate India’s digitization and serve as the foundation for achieving our country’s vision of ‘Digital India’,” he added.
Additionally, Jio recently said that it has selected Nokia as a key supplier to supply 5G RAN equipment from its extensive AirScale portfolio across the country in a multi-year deal.
Meanwhile, regarding the latest Jio-Ericsson deal, Borje Ekholm, President and CEO, Ericsson said that India is building world-class digital infrastructure that will spur innovation, job creation and entrepreneurship across the country.
Ericsson CEO said, “We are delighted to partner with Jio on those ambitions through Ericsson 5G standalone connectivity, which will be a key catalyst in meeting those digital transformation goals across society, enterprise and industry.”
With these collaborations, for the first time, Jio has brought in European vendors to supply network equipment, unlike its 4G network, which was entirely provided by South Korean giant Samsung.
However, Samsung is still involved in Jio’s 5G network strategy.
If we look at the history of India’s digital revolution, then the contribution of Jio is major.
For example, 1GB of mobile data in India cost Rs 225 in 2015, shortly after India got high-speed 4G internet for the first time, and data prices declined since the launch of Mukesh Ambani’s 4G mobile network in September 2016. Started, Reliance Jio.
Customers were also attracted by Reliance’s offer of 4GB data per day for free.
Within 6 months of the launch of Reliance Jio, India overtook China as the world’s leading mobile data consumer, consuming 1 billion GB of data per month, up from 200 million GB earlier.
Now as India has entered the 5G era, it is expected that Jio will launch its 5G service across the country by 2023.
As reported earlier, RIL Chairman Mukesh Ambani said at a recent AGM: “By December 2023, we will be supplying Jio 5G to India’s 33.7 million square kilometer area.”
5G India
Ericsson earlier this month released a report on the ‘promise of 5G’ in India stating that consumer 5G readiness is high in the country.
According to the report, in urban India, the intention to upgrade to 5G is twice as high in markets where 5G has already been launched, such as the UK and the US.
It also noted that in the last two years, India has witnessed a three-fold increase in the number of smartphone users owning 5G handsets.
The study also revealed that 100 million+ users with 5G-ready smartphones are looking to upgrade to a 5G subscription in 2023, while more than half of them are ready to upgrade to a higher data tier plan in the next 12 months.
After the 5G launch at the India Mobile Congress (IMC) 2022 conference, all the top telcos including Jio have started the process of recharging the country with 5G speed.
However, with reference to the 5G roll-out in India, the Union Minister of State for Electronics and Information technology Rajeev Chandrashekhar recently said during an interview that “the 5G era has begun in India” and it will take some time for 5G to be available uniformly across the country at the same level and at the same quality.
“This kind of scale and magnitude and the roll-out of a new technology takes time,” he said.
However, the minister also said that 5G represents the fifth generation of person-to-person communication, but it is also the first generation that is going to profoundly replace the Internet.
Manish Godha, CEO and Founder of Advaiya told News18 that the 5G roll-out in India will definitely change the way people consume digital content and services.
“Low latency can encourage better delivery of field services, as in developed countries. As far as the software and IT sectors are concerned, this is a welcome step.”
Another industry expert, Santhosh Reddy, Co-Founder and CTO, ShakeDeal, said: “Apart from the significant interest for 5G adoption among consumers, Indian enterprises consider 5G to be the most important technology for their digital strategies.”
Meanwhile, Id8 Media Solutions co-founder Aman Sweta believes that the presence of 5G in India could result in a sudden boost to digital advertising as well as digital marketing in the marketing and advertising industry.
Referring to Ericsson’s deal with Jio, he also said: “The partnership to build India’s first standalone 5G network is a major step towards digitalizing India as an economy.”
read all latest tech news And today’s fresh news Here