Quick adoption of technology can contain future pandemic waves, says Mukesh Ambani

Reliance Industries Limited chairman Mukesh Ambani said that India will be able to contain future Covid pandemic waves and stage rapid economic recovery on the back of quick adoption of technology which has kept aided lives and livelihoods afloat. 

Talking at the India Mobile Congress 2021 on Wednesday, Ambani called for migration of Indian subscribers to higher technology platforms of 4G and 5G from legacy networks, affordable data and devices for driving digital inclusion, while batting for national rollout of 5G on priority and countrywide fibre connectivity. 

“I am supremely confident that India will not only succeed in containing any future wave of Covid, but also stage a rapid economic comeback that will astonish the world,” he said. 

“During Covid, when the chips were down, it is the chipsets that kept us going. When Covid-induced lockdowns rocked our boats, it is technology that kept our lives and livelihoods afloat,” he added, emphasising on the role of technology in India’s recovery path. 

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Chairman of India’s largest carrier said that keeping millions of Indians at the bottom of the socio-economic pyramid confined to 2G was depriving them of benefits of the digital revolution. “India must complete the migration from 2G to 4G to 5G at the earliest,” he said. 

Reliance Jio is the sole carrier that offers only 4G services while its rivals Airtel and Vi offer 2G services as well, which are used for feature phones, and smartphones in low data-connectivity areas. 

Jio has a 100% home-grown and comprehensive 5G solution which is fully cloud native, digitally managed, converged and future-proof, Ambani said, noting that Jio's network could be quickly and seamlessly upgraded from 4G to 5G. “Roll-out of 5G should be India’s national priority,” he said. 

Arguing for affordability for services as well as devices and applications, Ambani said that policy tools such as the Universal Services Obligation (USO) Fund should be used for subsidising devices, and therefore can help in digital inclusion. 

“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. Jio has launched an affordable smartphone called JioPhone Next in partnership with Google. 

Adding that Jio was able to bring fibre to more than 5 million homes, Ambani further noted the importance of fibre for being future-ready given the ability of fibre to carry almost unlimited data capacity. 

“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 said. 

He further said that India should focus on critical components of the digital eco-system which are necessary for India’s digital transformation. 

Ambani added that India’s energy systems were in need of radical transformation through technology.