The Indian telecommunication giant Reliance Jio will partner with Google to build an Android-based smartphone operating system and launch a 5G smartphone for less than Rs 5,000 and gradually reduce the price to Rs 2,500-3,000 a unit when it scales up the operation. Currently 5G smartphones are available in India with the price range starting from ₹27,000.
The company is targeting 20-30 crore mobile phone users who use are currently using 2G connectivity. Jio was the first company that launched 4G mobile phones in India; free for consumers wherein they were required to pay a refundable deposit of Rs 1,500 for a Jio Phone.
At the 43rd Annual General meeting held virtually on July 15, 2020, Reliance Industries Chairman and Managing Director Mukesh Ambani had claimed to make India '2G-mukt' (free of 2G connections) and emphasised on the need to accelerate migration of 350 million Indians (currently using 2G feature phone) to an affordable smartphone.
Ambani told that Rs 33,737 crore investment was done by Google for a 7.7 per cent stake in Jio Platforms. Reliance Jio is also working on its own 5G network equipment and has asked the Department of Telecom to allocate it spectrum for testing before exporting these products. However, the government is yet to heed to the request of the telecom giant.
RIL chairman Mukesh Ambani had recommended the government to accelerate the effort to abandon 2G; since millions of users in India are still using feature phones, and are not able to enjoy even the most basic internet services while others in different parts of the world are embracing the 5G technology. He said this prevents users from taking advantage of the digital revolution.
Source - Mashable, Business Today
