Qualcomm doubles down on 5G with Jio to connect 100 mn Indian

HAWAII: With the initial roll-out of 5G in India, global chip-maker Qualcomm has bolstered its efforts with Reliance Jio to help it fast connect 100 million homes through its 5G fixed wireless access including the millimetre wave (mmWave), a top company executive has said.

Qualcomm is working very closely with Reliance Jio to provide its chipset platforms for the 5G fixed wireless access and the Open RAN 5G network.

"Reliance Jio is taking the benefits of 5G at scale to the people in India that will help rural population get faster access to health and education in a seamless way. Qualcomm is currently working with Jio on various components of 5G innovation as its roll-out takes concrete shape," Ignacio Contreras, Senior Director, Product Marketing at Qualcomm, told IANS.

He said that India has impressed the world on 5G roll-out and will become a case study for several countries to follow on how to roll out a new technology in a faster, seamless way.

"India has a significant advantage in terms of engineering and software skills. The country has a highly-educated technical population and our research and development teams there are also very strong for emerging technologies like 5G," said Contreras who leads a product marketing team responsible for 5G modem-RF and infrastructure, AI, gaming, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and other technologies.

The country has its own sets of challenges and with 5G, people in the remote parts of the country can connect with health-care providers in Metro cities, without any lag for quicker online diagnosis and treatment.

"Reliance Jio, with its vast network and a strong user base, can help such people when it reaches almost every part of the country. This is just the beginning and Qualcomm is there to push the boundaries with Jio," said Contreras.

Reliance Jio is building the 5G network indigenously, including the core and the 5G radios.

Both the companies recently achieved over a 1 Gbps milestone on the Jio 5GNR solution using Qualcomm's 5G RAN platforms.

In August, Reliance Industries Chairman and Managing Director Mukesh Ambani announced the collaboration between Jio Platforms and Qualcomm for local manufacturing of critical equipment to boost the 5G ecosystem in the country.

Qualcomm CEO Cristian Amon had said that with Reliance Jio, "we're committed to developing the digital infrastructure that enables the success of citizens and businesses, and achieves the New India".

At the Indian Mobile Congress (IMC) 2022 last month, Mukesh Ambani announced that Jio will bring 5G services to all parts of the country by December 2023.

To build a pan-India true 5G network, Jio has committed a total investment of Rs 2 lakh crore.

After the successful beta launch of Jio True 5G services in six cities, Jio last week extended 5G to Bengaluru and Hyderabad.

According to the company, Jio users are currently experiencing speeds anywhere between 500 Mbps to 1 Gbps on smartphones, using very high quantities of data seamlessly.

Neil Shah, Vice President of Research, Counterpoint Research, told IANS that India's current household broadband penetration is close to 13 per cent with majority of them not even getting 100Mbps speeds.

"5G fixed wireless access (FWA) will become one of the key technologies to close this digital divide. The 5G rural coverage will be key to driving this adoption and connecting the unconnected households to internet," Shah explained.

Players such as Qualcomm and Jio will be key to drive 5G as the key technology for ubiquitous wireless broadband in India, he added.

Reliance Jio offers stand-alone 5G architecture with advanced 5G network and has the largest and best mix of 5G spectrum across 700 MHz, 3500 MHz, and 26 GHz bands.

By utilising the untapped frequency bands above 24 GHz, the abundant spectrum available at mmWave can deliver the fastest available 5G speeds and premium mobile experiences.

According to Qualcomm, 5G mmWave devices powered by Snapdragon can deliver speeds 16x faster than regular 5G (sub-6).

With blazing fast data transfers of up to 10 Gigabits per second, one can stream, share, backup and enjoy mobile content with super speed and quality.

"A few years from now, we will see India as a key example on how 5G could be transformational for billions of people. It is going to an an impressive journey as we are glad to be part of this," said Francesco Grilli, VP, product management, Qualcomm.