Reliance Jio and Google announce 5G partnership, focus on cloud too

Reliance Jio will use Google Cloud to power Jio 5G solutions and its diverse in-house services such as JioSaavn, JioMart, and more, company chairman Mukesh Ambani announced at the 44th Annual General Meeting (AGM) today. Reliance last year announced its ambitious plan to move to an affordable 5G network with indigenous hardware to make India a “2G-free” (2G network-free) country. With the latest partnership, Reliance will also hope to accelerate digital services. Health and education industry in the country. Speaking more on development, Alphabet and Google CEO Sundar Pichai addressed the Reliance AGM and announced that the collaboration will also help the Mukesh Ambani-led company move its core retail businesses to Google Cloud’s infrastructure.

“Empowering businesses as they embark on their digital transformation is an important part of our mission in India, and I am excited for the innovations this partnership will help highlight. We are proud to play a role in India’s next wave of technological innovation,” Pichai said. At the moment, the timeline for the shift towards Google Cloud service is unclear and more details are expected soon. Notably, Reliance and Google also are partnering to launch India’s “ultra-affordable” 4G Android smartphone called JioPhone Next which runs on a compliant Android OS for first time internet users in the country. Jio has confirmed that JioPhone Next Will hit stores on September 10 on the occasion of Ganesh Chaturthi.