Reliance Jio aims to reach 100 million 5G subscribers by end 2024

Reliance Jio currently offers 5G services in 257 cities across India

Indian operator Reliance Jio Infocomm aims to reach a minimum of 100 million 5G customers by the end of financial year 2024, local press reported.

The telco also said it aims to reach all Indian cities with 5G technology by December of this year.

Reliance Jio already offers 5G services in 257 cities across the Asian nation. Jio currently has a total subscriber base of 423 million including all mobile technologies.

The telco has just announced the launch of commercial 5G services in 17 new Indian cities. The cities where the 5G technology is now available are Ankleshwar, Savarkundla (Gujarat state), Bilaspur, Hamirpur, Nadaun, Shimla (Himachal Pradesh), Chhindwara, Ratlam, Rewa, Sagar (Madhya Pradesh), Akola, Parbhani (Maharashtra), Bathinda, Khanna, Mandi Gobindgarh (Punjab), Bhilwara, Sri Ganganagar, Sikar (Rajasthan), Haldwani-Kathgodam, Rishikesh and Rudrapur (Uttarakhand).

Jio is offering the 5G connectivity on an invitational basis, with users living in 5G-enabled cities who have 5G compatible smartphones receiving invitations.

The telco had initially announced the launch of the beta trial of its 5G services in Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata and Varanasi in October. Jio is offering 5G through a Standalone network architecture.

Last year, Reliance Jio Infocomm announced 5G contracts with Nordic vendors Ericsson and Nokia. The deal with Ericsson marked the first partnership between Jio and Ericsson for Radio Access Network deployment in the country.

Ericsson said that its energy-efficient 5G Radio Access Network (RAN) products and solutions and E-band microwave mobile transport solutions will be deployed in Jio’s 5G network.

Meanwhile, Nokia said that it has been selected as a major supplier by Reliance Jio to supply 5G Radio Access Network equipment from its AirScale portfolio countrywide in a multi-year deal.

Reliance Jio had previously secured a mix of wireless spectrum for 5G across 700 MHz, 3.5 GHz, and 26 GHz bands. Jio is the only operator with the 700 MHz low-band spectrum.

Rival operator Bharti Airtel Indian operator Bharti Airtel aims to provide 5G services in 300 cities across the country by March 2024, compared to the current 70, local press reported, citing the company’s CEO Gopal Vittal.

The executive also said that Airtel would use its 5G services as a pivot to grow its high-value postpaid business. To achieve this, the telco has already identified the top 150 cities that represent 40% of the domestic mobile market.

In October 2022, Bharti Airtel launched 5G services in Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Siliguri, Nagpur and Varanasi.

Airtel is currently using equipment from Ericsson, Nokia and Samsung to provide 5G services. The Indian operator had secured a total of 19,800 megahertz of spectrum in the 900 MHz, 1.8 GHz, 2.1 GHz, 3.3 GHz and 26 GHz bands in a previous auction carried out by the Indian government.