Jio aims to export high-speed fixed wireless access internet as managed service

Reliance Jio aims to export its high-speed fixed wireless access (FWA) internet as a managed service rather than entering overseas markets directly as a telecom services provider, senior company officials said.

Having already deployed nearly 1 million 5G sites across the country since October 2022, the Mukesh Ambani-owned telecom operator views FWA as the biggest use case for 5G not only in India but also in other global markets.

“India market is extremely large and we’re yet to tap into its full potential. FWA will be the biggest use case for 5G and we already have set a 100 million homes target for it. We’re thinking of FWA as a managed service which we can supply to other markets,” said one of the officials cited earlier, all of whom spoke on the condition of anonymity.

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FWA is a technology that delivers high-speed internet without the need for copper or fibre connections using point-to-point connections on 4G or 5G networks. Jio, India's largest telecom company, has launched this service called JioAirFiber, which has 2.8 million connections of the total 6 million in India.

Rival and second-largest carrier Bharti Airtel has also launched this service called AirFiber on its network which now covers 1,300 cities. The country's third-largest telecom service provider Vodafone Idea is also evaluating offering FWA to its consumers, its top executives told Mint.

Ericsson’s head of south east Asia and India market Andres Vicente told Mint recently that FWA had the potential of reaching 100 million connections by 2030 in India. However, Jio has set an even more aggressive target of adding 1 million FWA users every month.

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According to US-based market research firm Global Market Insights, global FWA market was valued at $32 billion in 2023 and is projected to grow at a CAGR of 13.4% between 2024 and 2032.

“We have two options, operator model or give the technology to players in non-competing markets. We don’t want to be an equipment maker, we would prefer to be a digital services company which has the tech, connectivity and integrated apps,” the official added.

The company has already made a foray in Africa as an infrastructure provider through a partnership between Radisys, a subsidiary of Jio Platforms, and Ghanian government initiative Next-Gen Infra Co. (NGIC) to establish shared 4G and 5G fixed broadband network infrastructure in Ghana. NGIC is a public-private partnership between the government of Ghana, US-based telecom infrastructure provider Radisys, digital infrastructure provider Ascend Digital, Finnish tech and telecom firm Nokia, Swedish telecom firm Ericsson and IT services major Tech Mahindra.

As an infrastructure provider, Jio will provide its expertise in large-scale, high-volume and low-cost core telecom infrastructure, a space that it has perfected in India since 2016 when it launched mobile and data services in the country.

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“Our operating model is where we focus the most on in order to derive value from investments,” the second official said. To be sure, Jio isn’t completely ruling out the possibility of entering other global markets but the officials said that there was more than enough opportunity in India before it sets its sights on overseas markets.