Jio Platforms, which has committed itself to 5G services launch in India by the latter half of this year, has reportedly begun advance tests to prepare the fifth-generation, high-speed network. The company had earlier claimed to have achieved high speed of 1Gbps during the initial testing stages.
"Indigenously developed 5G Radio integrated with Jio’s 5G Core Network and 5G Smartphones have achieved over the air throughputs in excess of 1 Gbps. In-house Massive MIMO (multiple-input and multiple-output) and indoor 5G small cell are under advanced stages of development," the company said in a press statement.
The statement was part of the Reliance Jio announcement of its quarterly results in which it reported a 15.5% jump in profit for the three months ending December 2020.
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All eyes on govt auction of 5G spectrum
The company will announce the rollout of 5G services in India after the government gets down to auction the 5G spectrum.
The Indian government is still talking to the vendors and partners to host 5G trials in the country. Only after the successfully completed trials and 5G spectrum sales that again is subject to the government and telecoms arriving at an agreement around the spectrum price, India can expect a successful 5G rollout.
But Jio has already set much store by 5G. Its head honcho Mukesh Ambani has never held himself back while expressing his company's ambitions on the front.
In the latest press statement, Ambani was quoted as saying: "India is today among the leaders driving the Digital Revolution in the world. In order to maintain this lead, Jio will continue to accelerate the rollout of its digital platforms and indigenously developed next generation 5G stack and make it affordable and available everywhere. Jio's 5G service will be a testimony to the vision of AtmaNirbhar Bharat."
Jio Platforms and US-based Qualcomm Technologies, which has taken a stake in the former, are fast-tracking the indigenous 5G network infrastructure and services in India.
Jio 5G can be bad news for Chinese companies
Jio is also looking to launch affordable 5G smartphones. This ambitious plan of offering affordable 4G and 5G phones will offer stiff competition to the Chinese vendors like Xiaomi, Realme and others who’ve been ruling the Indian smartphone market for a long time.
Jio has sought government support on the policy front to create an affordable smartphone market for those people who were still on the 2G network.
This indigenous 5G network augurs well for India as it need not have to fall back on equipment from Chinese companies such ZTE. This development effectively shuts the doors on the companies from China in the 5G infrastructure market. With relationship between New Delhi and Beijing frosty now, the efforts of Jio and Qualcomm would be greatly welcomed by the powers that are.
