In India, Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance to develop Google smartphone in US$25 billion 5G push

India’s telecoms leader Reliance said on Monday it is working with Alphabet Inc’s Google to launch a budget 5G phone as it laid out a US$25 billion plan for introducing the next-generation wireless services within two months.

Speaking at the company’s annual general meeting, Reliance Chairman Mukesh Ambani said Jio’s 5G network will be the world’s largest, launching in main cities including New Delhi and Mumbai before being expanded across India by December next year.

“Jio has prepared an ambitious 5G roll-out plan,” the billionaire tycoon said, adding that the phone being developed with Google would be “ultra-affordable”.

Reliance’s 5G service “will connect everyone, every place and everything with the highest quality and most affordable data”, Ambani said at the online event. “It will be world’s largest and most advanced 5G network.”

Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd., the telecoms unit of the retail-to-refining conglomerate will deploy “stand-alone 5G” version which does not depend on the earlier 4G network and hence delivers speedier connectivity, Ambani told investors in the annual shareholder meet on Monday. Reliance Jio 5G is expected to provide country wide services by December 2023, he said, adding that the service has the potential to connect 100 million homes as well as accelerate the adoption of fixed broadband services.

Reliance Jio is trying to develop a 5G network that can boost revenue, attract high-end users and bolster its e-commerce and media ambitions. 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 toward technology and renewable energy.