Reliance Industries Limited (RIL), in its annual report, said Reliance Jio’s network assets will play a key role in the development of the 5G ecosystem in India. “Jio with its 5G-ready network and extensive fiber assets would play a key role in the development of the 5G ecosystem in India, based on market dynamics… the core and aggregation layers of the Jio network have been converged and 5G-ready from the time of inception,” RIL said in its annual report. Jio’s all-IP data network is built on 4G-LTE technology. The network built as a mobile video network carries more than 4 Exabytes of data monthly and is future-ready to transition to 5G and beyond.
One million homes connected with JioFiber services
The telecom operator is currently deploying its wireline broadband services across homes and enterprises. RIL chairman Mukesh Ambani said that that fiber services will help place a strong foundation for offering platform-based digital services. Jio connected about one million homes with JioFiber services until March 2020. The oil-to-telecom conglomerate said that dynamics in the telecom market have improved in the recent past as reflected by December tariff hikes by all three telecom operators. RIL said that during the year, Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) also initiated the consultation process on the feasibility of establishing a floor price for mobility services in the country. It added that Reliance Jio would continue to actively engage with the regulator and industry stakeholders to drive growth for all. The Mukesh Ambani-led telecom operator introduced a charge of 6 paise per minute on all off-net outgoing voice minutes to address the impact of change in regulatory stance on IUC in October 2019. The move led to a significant improvement in voice traffic mix as misusers of free voice services have left the network and Jio is now a net receiver of IUC. “ Jio continues to believe that transition to the BAK (Bill and Keep) regime will hasten the adoption of more efficient technologies like VoLTE, which have negligible cost for carrying and servicing essential voice services," Reliance Industries said in its annual report. Ambani informed its shareholders that there are still millions of 2G phone users, who cannot use the internet. “Over the past two years, JioPhone has successfully transitioned approximately 100 million erstwhile feature phone (2G) users to the 4G network,” Ambani said. Reliance Jio is currently the largest telecom operator by subscribers and is continuing to add subscribers at a rate unprecedented in the telecom world. It had 387.5 million mobile data subscribers as of March 31, 2020.
