Reliance Jio builds in-house 5G, IoT; replaces tech to lessen dependence on foreign gear
The company owned by Mukesh Ambani has replaced 4G voice technology for Nokia and Oracle with its own. The move is perhaps a global first, where an in-house technology developed by a mobile phone company to replace suppliers of third-party apps.
Telecom service provider Reliance Jio has developed its own 5G and other technologies, to cut costs and reduce dependence on foreign vendors.
Company have now developed everything end-to-end around 5G technology,”. Company is more scalable than these vendors and are fully automated since company has their own Cloud-native platform. Jio has designed its own hardware for the 5G technology, which could be made in India once 5G trials are successful
Company can give the design, layouts and board support packages to third-party manufacturers to have their gear made. The telco sought Telecommunications Department (DoT) permission to perform 5G trial based on its own technology. It had sent DoT a separate presentation recently to clarify the technology and potential use cases.
Reliance's technologies will support both financially and offer flexibly. Company may customize use cases and adapt them to specific needs of India. Together with Ericsson, Nokia, and Chinese giant Huawei, Vodafone Idea and Airtel have submitted plans, while BSNL is tying up with another Chinese manufacturer, ZTE.
Jio is actively looking to build 5G and IoT technology capability in-house through a mix of organic and inorganic approach. The move is unprecedented, not only in India but also globally, as most operators have relied on technology vendors for network equipment
Rancore Technologies, previousely a subsidiary of Reliance Industries, was merged with Jio and the acquisition of Radisys further builds upon its 5G and IoT technology capability.
These acquisitions have enhanced Jio’s in-house development capabilities around open source technologies, paving the way for development for its IoT platform and applications.
Jio's strategy will also help customize its technology according to the 5G and IoT standards that India will adopt. It'll also be important to see if this strategy still has cost advantages once Jio commercially deploys the 5G technology.
Since October 2019, Jio's own IMS (IP Multimedia Subsystem) solution (vIMS) has been live for VoLTE and VoWiFi. Previously, it used IMS and related technologies from Nokia and Oracle to provide 4 G voice service.
