Reliance Jio to Cover 80% of India in the Second Half Of 2016, reports EXIN Times

Reliance Industries chairman, Mukesh Ambani, has said the telecom unit is "ready" to roll out its fourth-generation (4G) services while launching Reliance Jio in New Delhi on Sunday. It is slated to cover 80 per cent of the country’s population of 1.3 billion by the second half of this year. 

Reliance Jio, the 4G service from the group had unveiled itself last December after Ambani’s return to the group. The telecom sector, therefore, with Ambani is hoped to see a new future.

Reliance Jio Infocomm Limited (R-Jio) is presently available to 120,000 employees of the group, their families and Reliance business partners. But after the first half of this year it will be ready for launch and use by a larger part of the Indian population.

Eighty per cent of the country’s population will have high-speed, mobile broadband internet by the end of this year. By 2017, Reliance expects to cover around 90 per cent while by 2018 — all of India would be covered by this digital infrastructure.  

Ambani said that digital India was one of his prominent dreams and the investment made upon the digital infrastructure is a ‘very good investment.’ Comparing his initiative with the launch of 4G services in the USA, he said that in spite of launching 4G service five years back the Americas have been able to cover only 80 percent of the market. But in India he thinks Reliance can do the same by the end of 2016.

Through the Jio initiative, Reliance wishes to empower the country’s youth and bring Internet within their reach. Ambani admitted that as the market is ‘new they have a higher risk’ but simultaneously they also expect to receive ‘pretty good turnaround business-wise.’