5G roll out should be India’s national priority

Roll-out of 5G should be India’s national priority, said Mukesh Ambani, Chairman & Managing Director, Reliance. He said that India must complete the migration from 2G to 4G to 5G at the earliest.

Delivering keynote address at the inauguration of India Mobile Congress 2021, Ambani said, “To keep millions of Indians at the bottom of the socio-economic pyramid confined to 2G is to deprive them of the benefits of the digital revolution.”

Ambani listed five ideas related to the theme of the conference ‘Connectivity for the next Decade’.

“We should not lose sight of the fact that affordability has been a critical driver of the phenomenally rapid expansion of the mobile subscriber base in India. India should move towards greater digital inclusion, and not greater digital exclusion,” he said.

Also, fibre connectivity should be completed across India on a mission mode, said Ambani.
He also pitched for the 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.

“India needs to ensure affordability not only of services, but also of devices and applications.”

Further, ubiquitous fibre connectivity should be completed across India on a mission mode.
“The world is now transitioning into a digital first era, when almost everything will be done in the digital space first, and then translated into the physical world. Virtual will become as important as real or Actual.”

He said “fibre has almost unlimited data carriage capacity. Therefore, to be future-ready, India has to be fibre-ready”.

Listing his fifth idea, Ambani said focus should be on the critical components of the digital eco-system which are necessary for India’s digital transformation. Moneycontrol