Mukesh Ambani unveiled a multitude of services, including a fifth generation wireless network (File)
After securing more than $ 20 billion in investment from Google and Facebook, billionaire Mukesh Ambani has presented a vision for his digital business as he seeks to build a local tech titan who could compete with global giants.
Describing Jio Platforms’ plans at the annual meeting of shareholders of his conglomerate Reliance Industries Limited on Wednesday, the richest man in Asia spoke mainly of technology. It unveiled a multitude of services, including a fifth generation wireless network next year and a mega video streaming platform that will bundle Netflix, Disney + Hotstar, Amazon Prime and dozens of other TV channels under one same roof.
“I believe the time has come for a truly global digital product and service company to emerge from India and be counted among the best in the world,” said the tycoon to the more than 300,000 people who have been connected to the virtual conference for 41 years. countries.
Mukesh Ambani, 63, who inherited an oil refining and petrochemical empire after his father’s death in 2002, is now betting on technology for future growth in a hub away from inherited activity. Jio Platforms, unveiled last year, is now at the center of its ambitions to tap into a market of more than a billion people, who are increasingly embracing mobile devices and data plans for online shopping. Jio is considering an opportunity to disrupt retail, content delivery, digital payments, education and healthcare.
Giant rivals
These plans would put Jio in direct competition with e-commerce giant like Amazon.com and local Walmart operations. The growth potential in India has helped Jio attract some of the biggest names in Silicon Valley as investors. Google Alphabet is the latest to be integrated, with the announcement Wednesday of an investment of $ 4.5 billion for a 7.7% stake that values the digital business at around $ 58 billion.
“Each of the new hyper growth engines has a strong customer acceptance opportunity on a large scale and will be evaluated several times in progress, which means that traditional oil and gas activities contribute less than 20% to the evaluation in the future, “said Chakri Lokapriya, chief investment officer. at TCG Asset Management in Mumbai.
Reliance has sparked strong investor interest in its retail unit and plans to integrate global partners in the coming quarters, said Mukesh Ambani without sharing further details.
Here are some of the plans presented by Mr. Ambani:
Google and Jio are teaming up to create an operating system that could power an inexpensive 4G / 5G smartphone.
JioMart, the online shopping portal and WhatsApp will work closely to create growth opportunities for millions of small Indian merchants and allow customers to transact seamlessly with mom-and-pop stores
Jio Glass to bring together teachers and students in 3D virtual rooms and animate holographic lessons through our Jio Mixed Reality cloud in real time
Broadband for businesses and small businesses; Narrowband Internet of Things (NBIoT)
According to Mukesh Ambani, Jio, who started out as a wireless operator as the first building block in 2016, will roll out his 5G network once the airwaves are available. Unlike other operators, Jio will use locally developed technology for 5G, said Ambani, leaving him immune to political conflicts related to Chinese equipment suppliers in which global telecommunications companies are involved.
Ambani’s speech touched the oil sector closer to the end and confirmed that the transaction to sell shares in its petroleum and chemicals division to the Saudi Arabian Oil Company had not progressed as planned. The eagerly awaited deal update triggered a fall in Reliance shares.
Reliance shares fell 3.8% on Wednesday, the largest drop since May 14, reducing gains from a rally spurred by investment in Jio. The shares were even more than double their value when they bottomed out on March 23.
