Akash Ambani-led Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd today unveiled a satellite-based giga fiber service, India’s first, offering high-speed broadband services to inaccessible areas in India, on the first day of the 7th edition of the India Mobile Congress 2023 in New Delhi.
Jio says its new satellite broadband service called JioSpaceFiber will be available “across the country at extremely affordable prices.”
Currently, Jio claims to offer high-speed broadband landline and mobile services to over 450 million Indian consumers. “To accelerate digital inclusion for every household in India, Jio has added JioSpaceFiber to its leading offering of broadband services, JioFiber and JioAirFiber,” a company statement said.
Reliance Jio Chairman Akash Ambani said at the India Mobile Congress 2023 event that India is now among the top three 5G-ready countries with over 125 million 5G users. “Jio’s 5G rollout is based on a 100% proprietary 5G stack designed, developed and manufactured entirely by Indian talent,” said Akash.
Also Read: Jio Financial Services’ second-quarter profit doubles quarter-on-quarter to ₹668 crore; Sales increase by 48%
He adds that the transformative power of 5G will provide new employment and entrepreneurship opportunities to millions of Indians. “In the words of our Prime Minister, it will help both job seekers and job creators!”
He says the satellite network will also support additional mobile backhaul capacity, further improving the availability and scale of Jio True5G in the most remote parts of the country.
For JioSpaceFiber, Jio has partnered with SES for Medium Earth Orbit (MEO) satellite technology, the only MEO constellation capable of delivering unique fiber-like gigabit services from space.
Jio will have access to a combination of SES’s O3b and new O3b mPOWER satellites, providing scalable and affordable broadband with high reliability and service flexibility.
Also Read: Reliance Jio AirFiber Launched; Plans start at ₹599
Jio says that to carry out the project, four of the most remote locations in India have already been connected to JioSpaceFiber – Gir Gujarat, Korba Chattisgarh, Nabrangpur Odissa and ONGC-Jorhat Assam.
“Jio has enabled millions of households and businesses in India to enjoy broadband internet for the first time. With JioSpaceFiber, we are expanding our reach to cover the millions who still need to be connected,” said Akash Ambani.
“Together with Jio, we are honored to support the Government of India’s Digital India initiative with a unique solution aimed at delivering multi-gigabit per second throughput to every location in India,” said John-Paul Hemingway, Chief Strategy Officer at SES.
The India Mobile Congress event is jointly hosted by the Department of Telecommunications and Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI). This year’s theme of the event is “Global Digital Innovation”. Over 1 lakh participants including 5,00 executives, 350 guest speakers and 400 exhibitors are expected to attend the event.
