Reliance Jio would launch its 5G home broadband service, JioAirFiber, on September 19, RIL Chairman Mukesh Ambani said on Monday as he also outlined aggressive plans for AI terming it the “most exciting frontier of growth” for Jio. 

Other major takeaways from Reliance Industries’ (RIL) 46^th AGM included announcement of Jio True5G Lab, where technology partners and enterprise customers can develop, test and co-create multiple industry-specific solutions; and Jio True5G Developer Platform, a comprehensive platform combining 5G network, edge computing and a spectrum of applications and services. 

The RIL chief said that JioAirFiber, a fixed wireless broadband offer, uses pan-India 5G network and advanced wireless technologies to bypass the need for last-mile fibre. In other words, it is a 5G broadband service that does not need wires. 

While optical fibre can currently connect around 15,000 premises daily, JioAirFiber will supercharge the expansion with up to 1,50,000 connections per day, marking a ten-fold increase that expands the company’s addressable market over the next three years to over 20 crore high-paying homes and premises. 

“Today, I am delighted to announce that JioAirFiber will launch on the auspicious occasion of Ganesh Chaturthi on September 19, giving us another avenue for customer value and revenue growth in the untapped Indian home segment,” Mr Ambani said. 

According to him, the fixed mobile convergence will foster greater engagement and loyalty among Indian households, especially premium households where home broadband use is growing the fastest. 

“In the ’70s, Reliance’s dream was to make the colourful, long-lasting and aspirational polyester textiles available to all Indians. In the ’80s, Reliance dreamt of a largely self-sufficient India in the wonder materials of that era – polyester, polymers and petrochemicals. In the ’90s, Reliance dreamt of eliminating India’s dependency on imported fuels refined abroad. In the first decade of the 21^st century, Reliance was focused on enhancing India’s energy security by exploring hydrocarbons in the depths of oceans. In the last 15-odd years, Reliance has pursued two big dreams – bringing the power of digital technology to every Indian and creating an omni-channel retail network, aimed at benefiting hundreds of millions of consumers,” he said.