“Strategic initiatives” to be rolled out by the digital unit Jio in partnership with US majors - Facebook and Google will further improve its consumer service offerings, says Reliance Industries.

Jio is committed to democratizing digital services and enhancing customer experience through innovative platforms and services, for further growth” RIL said in its annual report on Wednesday.

Facebook-owned WhatsApp is collaborating with JioMart, Reliance’s retail venture, while Jio Platforms, the digital unit of the refining-to-retail-to-telecom conglomerate, is collaborating with Google to develop affordable 4G and even 5G smartphones.

In the previous year, Facebook and Google bought 9.99% and 7.73% stakes in Jio Platforms for nearly Rs. 43,574 crore and Rs. 33,737 crore respectively.

Qualcomm has invested $97 million in Jio Platforms last year for a 0.15% stake.

It added that Jio Platforms is also working with Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) on standardizing 5G device configurations.

RIL also adds that Jio Platforms has collaborated with US chipmaker Qualcomm technologies for local manufacturing of "critical equipment" to push the 5G ecosystem in India.

"With 5G technology, Indian subscribers will experience the benefits of higher data rates, low latency communications, and enhanced digital experiences across a wide array of connected devices, from 5G-enabled smartphones,

enterprise laptops and AR/VR products to vertical IoT solutions," RIL said.

Reliance Jio is currently preparing for 5G field trials, having received spectrum for the purpose from the Department of Telecommunications (DoT). The telco will test its own 5G technology yet will continue to work with its 4G partner Samsung along with Ericsson and Nokia.

"Its Global revolution of Digitalization in India now”. Jio is accelerating the rollout of digital platforms and indigenously developed next-generation 5G stack, making it affordable and available everywhere," RIL said.

Also, Jio has made over $50 billion investment since its inception to create the largest and the most advanced digital and connectivity ecosystem in India. Building a sufficient network capacity for the next 300 million mobile broadband subscribers, over 50 million fiber homes, and 50 million micro, small and medium businesses with 426 million users, as of the whole.

Source: ET