Reliance to spend $25 billion to start 5G in October: Mukesh Ambani

Reliance Industries Ltd is committed to invest Rs2 trillion ($25 billion) to roll out its 5G services in October across the largest Indian cities, its billionaire-chairman Mukesh Ambani said as he continues to expand and diversify the $221 billion empire.

Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd, the telecom unit of the retail-to-refining conglomerate will deploy “standalone 5G” version which doesn’t depend on the earlier 4G network and hence delivers speedier connectivity, Ambani told investors in the annual shareholder meet on Monday. Reliance Jio 5G can connect 100 million homes and even accelerate the roll out of fixed broadband services, he said.

Ambani, Asia’s second-richest person who built Reliance into India’s largest company by market value, has been diversifying the powerhouse conglomerate beyond its fossil fuel-led businesses and towards technology and renewable energy. He has used the annual shareholder speech in the past as a platform for announcing new initiatives, a big-ticket global investment or rolling out services.