‘Jio’s 5G rollout to be fastest in the world’

New Delhi: India’s largest telco, Reliance Jio, will clock the fastest rollout of 5G services in the world, said chairman Akash Ambani at a post-budget webinar of the ministry of electronics and information technology.

Jio has launched 5G services in 277 cities so far in India, with the largest deployment of over 40,000 sites and 250,000 cells in the 700 Mhz as well as in the 3500Mhz band, he said. “We are on the path to achieve the declared goal to increase Jio 5G footprint month after month and are aiming to cover every town, every taluka, and every tehsil across the nation by December 2023. This will be the world’s fastest 5G rollout,” he added.

The impact of 5G on India’s growing economy is expected to be immense, Ambani said, adding that 5G will transform healthcare, education, agriculture services, disaster management and make cities smarter and societies safer.

5G ambulances will not only allow remote consultation it will also save precious time for critical patients by transiting data and video to hospitals in real time. “5G will make our cities smarter and the society safer, utilities stable and emergency services more responsive and the industry more efficient. In short, 5G technology will have profound impact on modern societies,” he said.

“Many novel use cases are finding their way to the market across sectors such as healthcare, education, agriculture, smart cities and infrastructure, including entertainment and productivity,” he added.

It will also enable ultra-low latency services and manage disaster response scenarios like search and rescue missions with high resolution cameras in disaster recovery zones and timely and accurate aid supply.

5G technology would also support the development of new educational applications, improve agriculture productivity, and aid search and rescue missions with high resolution cameras in disaster recovery zones.

Talking about what 5G can achieve, he said that use of 5G technology would allow precision farming by providing farmers with real-time data on weather patterns, soil moisture levels, and crop growth while also helping them monitor health or livestock in real-time.

Autonomous farming, where drones or robots perform tasks such as planting, spraying, and harvesting crops, can also be enabled by 5G technology, which in turn can increase efficiency and dramatically reduce labour costs, he said adding 5G technology can be used to create smart irrigation systems that adjust water usage based on real-time data on weather patterns and soil moisture levels. This can help farmers in conserving water and reduce their environmental impact.

In education, 5G allows students access to educational materials and resources from anywhere, at any time.

It enables students and teachers to collaborate in real-time and in a variety of ways, such as through virtual reality (VR) or augmented reality (AR) experiences while also supporting development of new educational applications and tools that leverage student capabilities.

He said the integration of 5G technology in smart cities has the potential to revolutionize lives by providing improved connectivity, enhanced data collection and analysis, increased efficiency, better public services and improved quality of life.

5G technology is expected to revolutionize the way entertainment is offered and consumed through cloud gaming, 8K UHD streaming video, and immersive content.