How to bring 30 crore ‘trapped’ 2G users to 5G; Mukesh Ambani promises revolution next year

Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) chairman Mukesh Ambani has called for urgent policy steps to shift 30 crore 2G users to 5G in India. While addressing the India Mobile Congress event, Mukesh Ambani said that as many as 30 crore mobile subscribers in the country are still trapped in the 2G era. He pitched for policy interventions so that these 2G users can be benefitted from ‘Direct Benefit Transfer’ into their bank accounts and actively participate in the digital economy.

Mukesh Ambani said that India is among the best digitally connected nations in the world, adding that RIL’s digital arm Reliance Jio will pioneer the 5G revolution in India in the second half of 2021. “In order to maintain this lead, policy steps are needed to accelerate the early rollout of 5G, and to make it affordable and available everywhere,” Ambani said. He further said that Reliance Jio will be powered by the indigenous-developed network, hardware and technology components. “Jio’s 5G service will be a testimony to the inspiring vision of Atmanirbhar Bharat,” Ambani said.

Mukesh Ambani said that even as COVID-19 pandemic posed life-threatening challenges, the high-speed 4G connectivity infrastructure has proved to be India’s digital lifeline. Thanking Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Mukesh Ambani said that the Digital India Mission has made the country highly resilient in the face of the toughest of adversities. RIL chief said that throughout 2020, India thrived online, as people worked, studied, shopped, received healthcare, socialised and played online.

Reliance Jio is creating home-grown solutions in Education, Healthcare, Agriculture, Infrastructure, Financial Services and New Commerce, he said. “Each of these solutions, once proven in India, will be offered to the rest of the world to address global challenges,” he added.