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Reliance Jio is committed to roll out affordable satellite services to complete broadband access for all in India, its said President Matthew Oommen, adding that satcom will have a big role to play in this regard. In an exclusive interview with ET’s Danish Khan and Muntazir Abbas, Oommen also talked about Jio’s strategy for network providers, where it outsources 5G deals to European providers, along with Jio’s role in private 5G capabilities. Edited excerpts:
How are Reliance Jio’s satcom plans progressing?
We await the final approval of the GMPCS (Global Mobile Personal Communications Satellite) license. We are committed to launching satellite services to complement our terrestrial network and service. In India, once you have 5G everywhere at the right speeds, then satellite will have its own role. Our ubiquitous 5G will actually give everyone affordable 5G. There are nations in this world where 4G or 5G or even 3G is not everywhere and Satcom will have a bigger role in those markets.
For its 5G network, Jio is now also working with Nokia and Ericsson, apart from Samsung. Why Jio went from single provider in 4G (Samsung) to multiple providers in 5G?
The whole world is starting to talk about Open RAN (radio access network). The first step is the ability to cover multiple technologies and multiple OEMs (Original Equipment Manufacturers). So part of that is getting them to sit together on the same network to leverage the best capabilities and innovations from each of these vendors. We know that we offer specific innovations and Made in India with our products and we are very proud of these achievements, as well as our partners bring innovation, and when we provide services to our customers, we want to use all
co-innovate to deliver the best experience and value proposition.
What is the update on Jio’s own Open RAN based 5G stack? Is it already part of Jio’s 5G network?
The reason for building technology is that you want to make something very accessible and provide some unique capabilities. You also want to make sure you’re not stuck with one technology player. And whether it’s achieved through Open RAN or whether it’s achieved in the multi-vendor environment that we’re talking about, everything has to eventually scale.
How far is Jio’s ambition to take its 5G stack global? Have you started discussions with global players about your technology?
We are working on it.
What is Jio’s corporate strategy for private 5G?
5G provides a great opportunity for private network capabilities and we will definitely support large enterprises with their requirements. We believe that 5G in the enterprise requires unique technology skills and toolsets that must come from a combination of system integrators and telcos and not necessarily found in enterprises today. So I think carriers and system integrators collectively will play a big role in realizing the true value of private 5G.
Do you think net neutrality will be a big issue with 5G?
We are very committed to it. Whenever policy is created, it must evolve with technological change. And net neutrality is a very classic example of that because 5G brings a lot of unique capabilities. So net neutrality and the capabilities of 5G must co-exist. And that’s what we need to work with policymakers to achieve so that no one misses out on the inherent opportunities of 5G.
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