GROWING BIG ON TECH

Across its businesses, Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries - India's largest company by market cap - is harnessing the digital medium and technology to boost productivity and make it future-ready

- KRISHNA GOPALAN

WHEN RELIANCE INDUSTRIES Ltd (RIL) launched its Jio mobile telephony service in September 2016, it was like a cyclone making landfall. Existing rivals had no strategy (read: money) to stand before its initial free-for-six-months offer or its astute decision to go for a nationwide launch of the latest 4G VoLTE. The rivals were stuck with 3G, for which they had paid a bomb to get spectrum, or still testing 4G VoLTE in pockets.

Then, at the commercial launch in March 2017, when the “free” period ended, Jio offered rock-bottom tariffs for data. All this for the convenience of pre-paid connections, meaning no fixed monthly rentals. (Jio launched its first post-paid service only in June 2021.)

It was a rout.

RIL had been putting together a strategy for the group’s second entry into telecom for quite some time. It was fascinated by the story of China, where China Mobile had launched 4G services across the nation. When RIL launched 4G VoLTE nationwide, it did not give customers the 3G option. Rivals were still offering a choice of 3G or 4G SIM cards, which required users to upgrade their handsets.

VoLTE, or voice over long-term evolution, sends voice calls over the internet in packets, which makes it great for video calls or just talking while your social media apps refresh content.

For RIL, the Jio gambit was just another way it leveraged technology across businesses. In its traditional polyester business, it worked with DuPont to understand the nuances. If it was VoLTE for telecom, taking the standalone 5G (a network that stands alone without depending on existing infrastructure) was intentional since it leads to lower latency, better use of spectrum, and wider coverage.

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