On a day when Reliance Industries Chairman and India's richest man Mukesh Ambani wrote to his company shareholders saying, "Reliance Jio would play a key role in the development of the 5G ecosystem in India", elsewhere in the USA, a leading official of Trump government lavished praise on Reliance Jio as being one of the "trusted 5G vendors".
These two events, on the face of it, may seem unconnected, but there may be more than what meets the eye. And Jio, which has now got a good international brand recognition thanks to its spate of chart-busting deals, may want to play an international role in telecom business by dislodging Chinese companies like Huawei that have run into global trouble.
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Ambani's ambitions
First up, this is what Ambani said: "Jio with its 5G-ready network and extensive fiber assets, would play a key role in the development of the 5G ecosystem in India, based on market dynamics."
In his letter to shareholders, Ambani also said "over the past two years, Jio Phone has successfully transitioned approximately 100 million erstwhile feature phone (2G) users to the 4G network".
Ambani noted that Jio's success in building technology specifically for India and its ability to proliferate across the country has attracted global technology leaders – Facebook and Microsoft — to forge partnerships with it.
Ambani further said that rollout of the digital commerce initiative will open up further growth opportunities for the organised retail business, leveraging the strength of consumer and digital platforms.
"Reliance Retail and WhatsApp have entered into a commercial partnership agreement to further accelerate Reliance Retail's Digital Commerce business on the Jio Mart platform using WhatsApp and to support small businesses on WhatsApp," he said.
The tide is turning toward trusted 5G vendors and away from Huawei. The world’s leading telecom companies—Telefonica, Orange, Jio, Telstra, and many more—are becoming “Clean Telcos.” They are rejecting doing business with tools of the CCP surveillance state, like Huawei.June 24, 2020
America's approval
Elsewhere, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo described Reliance Jio as a ‘clean telco’, even as he waded into the Chinese communications technology infrastructure provider, Huawei.
Pompeo, one of the powerful and visible faces in President Donald Trump’s cabinet, listed out the global telecom companies that have emerged as viable and bankable alternatives to the Chinese telecom giant, who in the eyes of the USA, is discredited.
In a tweet, the US Secretary of State said that leading global telecom companies have been shunning the infamous Chinese company Huawei and are now moving on to partner with more ‘trusted 5G vendors’.
"The tide is turning toward trusted 5G vendors and away from Huawei. The world’s leading telecom companies—Telefonica, Orange, Jio, Telstra, and many more—are becoming “Clean Telcos.” They are rejecting doing business with tools of the CCP surveillance state, like Huawei," Pompeo said in a tweet.
Around the same time, a Pentagon report has also described 20 Chinese companies, including Huawei, as being "Chinese military-controlled corporations."
It is well known that Huawei, the world's leading telecom supplier and second largest phone manufacturer, has run afoul of Trump administration and is now being elbowed out of the market.
US has already banned its companies and its allies from working with Huawei.
It is in this backdrop, the rise of Jio has to be seen.
Indian tiger on the prowl
Of the total ten recent investments in Jio Platforms, seven US-based companies have bought over 19% share in Jio for over Rs. 90,000 crore.
The biggest slice of investments has of course come from the social media giant Facebook, which bought 9.99% stake in Jio for $5.7 billion.
And Mukesh Ambani has repeatedly claimed that Reliance Jio is the only network in the world that doesn't use a single Chinese equipment.
So just as Chinese companies are getting the short shrift, it cannot be just coincidence that Jio, which is looking to spread wings internationally, is being talked of highly by the US government.
Also, very specifically, when Jio's chairman talks of becoming a big player in 5G technology, the company gets praised as a "trusted 5G vendor".
All these suggest that Jio may be all set to grow as big as Huawei did before it has been brought down by the US.
Jio, as a telecom infrastructure player, has both the heft and heave to become a major international name. It is building up its telecom infrastructure slowly but surely. It has practically conquered the Indian market. Some of the marquee investment funds have put their money in it. It just needs a nudge or two to get global momentum.
And that seems to have arrived with that seemingly innocuous Pompeo Tweet.
