Corporate
TT Correspondent | 07 Feb 2019Reliance Industries (RIL) has lined up over Rs 10,000 crore of fresh investments in West Bengal for expanding telecom arm Jio’s 4G operations in the state, chairman Mukesh Ambani said.
“RIL has already invested Rs 28,000 crore in West Bengal, which is one tenth of the company’s total investments across India, and (telecom arm) Jio will invest a further Rs10,000 crore-plus to make the state a land of digital revolution” Ambani said at the fifth Bengal Global Business Summit in Kolkata on Thursday.
Jio, he said, has “become the largest investor in the digital space in this state”.
India’s richest man said West Bengal under “Mamata didi’s leadership is poised to be a leader in the 4th industrial revolution, and RIL would be its trusted partner in helping the state embrace the full blown power of digital revolution.”
Jio is in advanced stages of setting up its data centre in the state, which will be on par with comparable centres in the Silicon Valley, Ambani said.
Jio, he said, is also preparing to shortly roll out it’s much awaited high speed fibre to the home broadband services under the Gigafiber brand banner “that will transform all homes in West Bengal into smart homes”.
The RIL chairman also said 100% of the state’s population would be covered by the Jio 4G network by end-2019.
Jio will also establish 1000-odd Jio points across rural Bengal to undertake direct distribution of Jio services and boost 4G penetration in the state’s villages.
Ambani said Reliance Retail operates over 500 retail outlets and 46 Petro Retail Outlets spanning nearly 1 Million sq ft feet across 400 cities and towns of West Bengal.
Jio and Reliance Retail, he said, would shortly launch “a unique new commerce platform, which will bring win-win benefits to consumers, retailers and producers”.
Across the country, Ambani said this “platform will enrich and empower as many as 3 crore small shopkeepers”.