IPO-bound Jio maps out satellite, 5G and AI strategy for next growth phase

Jio Platforms Ltd, the digital arm of Reliance Industries Ltd, is investing in satellite communications and artificial intelligence to power its next phase of growth as it prepares to go public.

The company, which owns telecom operator Reliance Jio, plans to build a sovereign low earth orbit (LEO) satellite constellation for India and aims to move its entire subscriber base to 5G by 2030, chief executive Akash Ambani said on Friday.

In the near term, Jio will partner with global satellite operators and lease capacity to accelerate the rollout of satellite broadband services while building its own long-term satellite capabilities.

“This dual approach will enable Jio to meet India’s connectivity needs faster while also laying the foundation for the Indian satellite broadband platform on a global scale,” Ambani said at the 49th annual general meeting of Reliance Industries Ltd. he said.

Jio’s satellite move comes as satellite internet providers are expanding their presence in India. Elon Musk-owned Starlink and Eutelsat OneWeb have received licenses to offer satellite internet services in India and are expanding their satellite fleets. Jio Satellite Communications Ltd (JSCL), a wholly owned subsidiary of Jio Platforms, has also received license to launch satellite internet services and is awaiting spectrum clearance.

Ambani said satellite connectivity will enable Jio to extend services to remote villages, island communities and border areas that are inaccessible to terrestrial networks.

LEO satellites orbit closer to Earth than traditional satellites, enabling lower-latency, high-speed internet services such as broadband and video calls. But they require large constellations to provide uninterrupted coverage.

Jio’s satellite ambitions build on efforts already underway. The company formed a joint venture with Luxembourg-based satellite operator SES in 2022 to provide broadband services across India using a combination of geostationary (GEO) and medium orbit (MEO) satellite networks. The initiative is designed to deliver multi-gigabit connectivity to businesses, mobile backhaul providers and retail customers.

“Jio is also building its own ground station infrastructure in India. These ground stations will support our own future satellites as well as our partner constellations, creating an end-to-end satellite broadband ecosystem from space to ground,” Ambani said.

He said the initiative will strengthen India’s power. Atma nirbharta in space and position the country firmly on the map of global satellite broadband services.

Next growth stage

Apart from its satellite plans, Jio has set five priorities for the next phase of growth: switching subscribers to 5G by 2030, expanding home broadband usage through AirFiber, offering cloud computing services to businesses, incorporating AI into consumer technologies, and exporting its 5G stack, including fixed wireless access and AI services, to international markets.

“As we launch more value-added services such as premium 5G, AI bundled services and enterprise solutions, our ARPU will grow significantly,” Ambani said, adding that the company’s private network slicing will enable a new layer of high-performance connectivity for consumers and enterprises.

Ambani said Jio’s subscriber base has crossed 524 million. Of these, more than 268 million are using 5G services, making it the largest 5G subscriber base for any single country operator outside China. He also said that more than 90% of JioAirFiber installations were completed within 24 hours and home broadband connections increased by as much as 60,000 per day.

The satellite initiative is also in line with Reliance’s broader push into AI through Reliance Intelligence, which focuses on building independent AI infrastructure in India.

“This state-of-the-art infrastructure will be powered entirely by clean energy from solar power generation from Reliance’s Kutch renewable platform. The first 120 megawatts will be commissioned by the end of 2026,” Ambani said.

The company is also launching its first fleet of Nvidia GB300 graphics processing units, or GPUs. Ambani said the computing capacity will be equivalent to more than 75,000 H100 GPUs based on AI inference.

He added that once the initial 120-megawatt infrastructure is operational, this capacity can be scaled to more than 200,000 H100-equivalent GPUs.

The announcements came on the same day that Jio Platforms filed a draft red herring prospectus with the Securities and Exchange Board of India for a planned IPO. The proposed offering consists of a new issue of common stock with a par value of 270 million. ₹10 units each and there are no sales offers from existing investors.