Reliance promises AI to everyone, everywhere in its 46th AGM

Mukesh Ambani, Chairman, Reliance Industries Limited at its Annual General Meeting held on August 28, 2023 promised his shareholders that his company Reliance Jio would deliver AI to everyone, everywhere.

Key highlights from the presentation at the AGM.

On RJio performance

Mukesh Ambani, Chairman and Managing Director, Reliance Industries Limited.

“Jio, our digital services business has witnessed another year of outstanding growth, posting an all-time high revenue of ₹1,19,791 crore and an EBITDA of ₹50,286 crore.

Jio’s overall customer base has now crossed the milestone of 450 million subscribers, reflecting a year-on-year revenue growth of over 20%. Per-user data consumption on Jio’s network has also surged, with the average user now consuming over 25 GB every month. This translates to a monthly data traffic of 1100 crore GB, representing a 45% year-on-year growth. My congratulations to the entire Jio team for this exceptional achievement.

Jio was launched seven years ago with an ambitious mission: to transform India into a Premier Digital Society, where technology would bring positive change in every sphere of our lives and in every sector of the nation’s economy. It has been our great privilege to contribute to this revolution, and we have invested our heart and soul into building a Digital Public Infrastructure which the entire world has begun to admire. Jio has indeed been the main catalyst of New India’s spectacular digital transformation. Now our ambitions are even higher ─ and they go beyond the shores of India, as I shall explain.

Let’s first discuss Jio True 5G, our pioneering 5G broadband offering. We began our 5G rollout last October. In just nine months, Jio 5G is already present in over 96% of the census towns of our country. And we’re on track to cover the entire country by December this year. This makes Jio 5G the fastest-ever 5G rollout of this scale anywhere in the world.

Today, nearly 85% of the total 5G cells operational in India are in Jio’s network. At our current pace, we are adding one 5G cell to our network every 10 seconds, and we will have nearly one million 5G cells operational in our network by December.

With this massive reach and capacity, here is our promise: We know that every home, small and medium businesses, factories, schools, and hospitals across India would like to have 5G. From December this year, we will be able to promptly fulfil each and every demand for Jio 5G broadband connection across the country.

Last year, I highlighted several advantages that differentiate Jio 5G from other Indian operators, including our Comprehensive Spectrum, our Standalone 5G Architecture and Carrier Aggregation. Recently, we used our own 5G stack to become the first operator in the world to launch commercial services on millimetre-wave spectrum, using Standalone 5G. This high-capacity, low-latency layer will significantly enhance private 5G, home broadband, and enterprise use cases.

We have also built our own low-power small cells to go deeper into specific pockets of high consumption, like tourist spots and temples, in a highly energy-efficient manner. These advantages, along with our massive scale of deployment, mean that the best 5G coverage, capacity, and experience is possible only with Jio 5G.

With over 50 million 5G customers, we’re already leading in 5G adoption in India. And we are the only company with the capacity to smoothly transition our entire 4G customer base to 5G, with minimal additional capital expenditure. With the growing adoption of Jio 5G, we are also seeing an increasing trend of high-ARPU, post-paid customers choosing Jio as their preferred network.

And Jio is the operator of choice for mobile users. Our net port-ins via Mobile Number Portability was five times than that of our nearest competitor. We truly appreciate the confidence placed in us by our customers. We are inspired by their trust to reach a new Gold Standard of Excellence in customer service by leveraging AI and cutting-edge CRM tools.

Jio is also the only company that offers its 5G customers the complete ecosystem of connectivity, devices, support services, and value-added services. Through Reliance Retail, we have the most expansive sales and support network for 5G devices and services across India. And we have plugged all leading 5G Smartphone OEMs into this network to ensure nationwide availability, and adoption, of the widest range of 5G devices. Taken together, this comprehensive ecosystem makes Jio the prime mover and undisputed leader in India’s 5G evolution.

There is one important aspect of the Jio journey that I am especially proud of. And that is how we have transformed ourselves from mere implementers to original creators of cutting-edge technologies.

When we launched our 4G services in 2016, we relied on global partners for equipment. Today, our 5G rollout is powered by Jio’s own 100% in-house developed 5G stack, which perfectly aligns with our Prime Minister’s Atmanirbhar vision. It features advanced technologies like Standalone 5G architecture, Carrier Aggregation, and Network Slicing, with advanced AI/ML capabilities that optimise our vast network for unparalleled quality, reliability and user experience. And it is designed to seamlessly integrate with the 4G and 5G equipment from other global vendors.

Jio’s own portfolio of 5G radios range from small cells to large tower-based radios, addressing the entire spectrum of outdoor and indoor usage scenarios. And our focus on continuous innovation has positioned us to be among the first globally to develop 6G capabilities.

In fact, we have become one of the largest filers of global patents from India for digital technologies, affirming our transformation from a telecom operator to a technology company. Therefore, in the coming years, I can see Jio leveraging our Made-in-India tech stack to drive value creation and revenue growth, both at home and abroad.

As India embraces 5G, let’s not forget those who still await their chance to join the Digital Revolution. Even today, 250 million feature phone users in India remain stuck in the 2G era, unable to access digital services.

To eliminate this digital divide in India once and for all, we have recently launched Jio Bharat, a revolutionary, ultra- affordable 4G phone. Priced at ₹999, which is less than the price of a 2G featurephone, Jio Bharat has smartphone-like features such as live TV, streaming video and music, digital photography, and even UPI payments. We expect a bulk of 2G users to join our network.

On JioFiber, its optical fibre-based home broadband service.

In just a few years, despite COVID-19 disruptions, Jio Fiber has crossed 10 million subscribers, each of whom consumes, on an average, over 280 GB of data per month which is over 10 times higher than our per-capita mobile data consumption.

Today, Jio’s optical fibre infrastructure spans over 1.5 million km across India. This immense scale puts us in a league of our own, far ahead of the competition. Our extensive optical fibre presence puts us in close proximity to over 200 million premises. Yet, providing physical last-mile connectivity is a painstaking process in most parts of our country. This leaves millions of potential customers without home broadband due to complexities and delays involved in extending optical fibre to their premises. This is where JioAirFiber, our fixed-wireless broadband offering, comes in.

JioAirFiber uses our pan-India 5G network and advanced wireless technologies to bypass the need for last-mile fibre. Through optical fibre, we can currently connect around 15,000 premises daily. But with JioAirFiber, we can supercharge this expansion with up to 150,000 connections per day which is a 10-fold increase, expanding our addressable market over the next three years to over 200 million high-paying homes and premises.

And through fixed-mobile convergence, we can foster greater engagement and loyalty among Indian households, especially premium households where home broadband usage is growing the fastest. This also lays the foundation for widespread adoption of various Smart Home solutions, which Akash and Kiran will describe in their demo section.

Today, I’m delighted to announce that JioAirFiber will launch on the auspicious occasion of Ganesh Chaturthi on 19th September, giving us another avenue for customer value and revenue growth in the untapped Indian home segment.

With Jio 5G, we are renewing our promise to build a brighter and more inclusive digital future for every Indian.”

On JioAirFiber

Akash Ambani, Chairman, Reliance Jio. “Over the past seven years, Jio has revolutionised India’s digital landscape. Over this period, we’ve become a trusted provider of an end-to-end suite of digital solutions for every Indian home, offering unrivalled convenience, affordability and customer experience. More than 80% of data consumption in India happens indoors, and through our home offerings, we meet our customers where they consume most of their data. Today, I’m thrilled to introduce Jio Smart Home services, which is poised to redefine how we experience and manage our homes.

Jio Smart Home is anchored by our robust and extensive home broadband offerings. Our extensive JioFiber service already serves over 10 million customers, with hundreds of thousands more getting connected each month. And now, with JioAirFiber, we are expanding our addressable market to over 200 million homes and other premises.

JioAirFiber is an aspirational service that will touch the lives of every Indian, becoming an integral part of every Indian household. Through a combination of JioFiber and JioAirFiber, our turnaround time to fulfil a customer order will be among the fastest in the world.
You can share your home address through the jio.com website or the MyJio app from the comfort of your homes. From that point, we step in as your trusted partner – delivering not only broadband to your doorstep but also guaranteeing uninterrupted Wi-Fi throughout your home. And we won’t stop there. We will also guide you step-by-step to transform your home into a Jio Smart Home.”

Kiran Thomas, President, Reliance Industries Limited

“Jio Smart Home services provide you with multiple services for simplifying, enriching, and securing your life within your home.

Let’s start with the foundation inside your home – your Wi-Fi network. Our next-generation Jio Home Router ensures seamless Wi-Fi coverage within your home. And with the Jio Home smartphone app, you can easily manage your home network. You can set parental controls, strengthen network security, troubleshoot issues, and even receive suggestions for Wi-Fi extenders if parts of your home have poor Wi-Fi coverage.
Our AI-driven Proactive Quality Monitoring feature automatically optimises your Wi-Fi based on your usage patterns and prevents most issues even before they occur. We are not just fixing problems; we’re pre-empting them.

We are also committed to digital security, and we prevent untrusted traffic from entering your home network. And using the Jio Home app, you can easily manage, grant, or restrict Wi-Fi access, both for people in the home and also for visitors.

Next is the Jio Set-top Box.

The Jio Set-top Box is your gateway to a world of entertainment, from TV channels to immersive streaming content, to large-screen games, to digital applications and much more. And the Jio Smart Home app includes an eRemote for your Jio Set-top Box, giving you another convenient option alongside the traditional physical remote control. Plus, it lets you use your smartphone as a gamepad for your Set-top Box, removing the need for a separate game controller.”

On Jio True5G Developer Platform

Akash Ambani. “We want to share a glimpse of the digital ecosystem that Jio True5G is looking to create in India. We are building a transformative platform that will change the way Indian enterprises, small businesses, and technology start- ups interact with the digital world.

Today, we are announcing the Jio True5G Developer Platform, a comprehensive platform combining our 5G network, edge computing, and a spectrum of applications and services. It gives enterprises the control and options to activate network slices on demand, deploy applications on Jio’s multi-access Edge-compute locations, and access a diverse ecosystem of partner applications – all within a single platform.

This fusion of 5G network, Edge computing, and service orchestration is transformative for Indian businesses. Gone are the days of multiple tools. Jio True5G Developer Platform enables secure, quick deployment of 5G Edge compute and low-latency applications, enabling faster autonomous decisions, immersive experiences, and real-time Edge AI.

And enterprises can instantly unlock advanced Network Slicing capabilities, allowing them to independently establish and optimise network slices with regularity, thus enhancing their network resource management.

This accelerates innovation, improves time-to-market, and reduces cost. Plus, our platform offers access to partner solutions, empowering enterprises to effectively deliver 5G use cases. And through the Jio True5G marketplace, our partners can integrate their offerings and develop tailored solutions that cater to specific needs.

On Jio True5G Lab

Akash Ambani. “Today, we are also announcing the Jio True5G Lab, a facility designed to accelerate industry transformation using Jio True5G. In this facility, our technology partners and enterprise customers can develop, test, and co-create multiple industry-specific solutions. The inaugural Jio True5G Lab will be located at the Reliance Corporate Park, acting as the nerve centre for shaping India’s 5G future.

In conclusion.

Mukesh Ambani. “As I gaze ahead, I see four exciting frontiers for Jio’s growth.

1. The consumer segment, powered by Jio 5G and Jio Bharat.
2. The home segment, turbo charged by Jio AirFiber.
3. The Business segment, with its large untapped potential.
4. Jio Platforms’ opportunity for global expansion.

Collectively, these frontiers provide Jio an opportunity for multi-fold revenue and EBITDA growth in the coming years.

But there is also a fifth – and most exciting – frontier of growth for Jio. A global AI Revolution is reshaping the world around us, and sooner than we think, intelligent applications will redefine and revolutionise industries, economies, and even our daily life. To stay globally competitive, India must harness AI for innovation, growth, and national prosperity.

Within the RIL Group, we are rapidly augmenting our talent pool and capabilities to swiftly assimilate the latest global innovations in AI, especially the recent advances in Generative AI. Looking ahead, Jio Platforms wants to lead the effort in developing India-specific AI models and AI-powered solutions across domains, thereby delivering the benefit of AI to Indian citizens, businesses and government alike.

India has the scale. India has the data. India has the talent. But we also need digital infrastructure in India that can handle AI’s immense computational demands. As this sector expands, we stand committed to create up to 2000 MW of AI-ready computing capacity, across both Cloud and Edge locations. And we will do this while adopting sustainable practices and a greener future.

Over the next five years, we plan to shift most of our energy footprint in connectivity and digital services to Green Energy, which is not just eco-friendly but also lower cost. Here is my promise to our countrymen. Seven years ago, Jio promised broadband connectivity to everyone, everywhere. We have delivered. Today Jio promises AI to everyone, everywhere.

And we shall deliver.”

CT Bureau