After a successful run with Jio which decimated the rival telecom players and has empowered 28 crore users in India till date, Reliance Industries Chairman and Managing Director Mukesh Ambani now wants to become India's first Internet tycoon, according to The Economist. "With his service Jio, he has upended Indian telecoms and changed his country. Now he wants to go further and become Indian Jeff Bezos or Jack Ma, using Jio as a launch pad," said The Economist in its latest January 26 edition.
India's mobile phone customer base reached 1.17 billion in November last year, according to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI). The broadband user base crossed 500 million users and nearly 97 per cent of them are on wireless connections. Jio alone has created a mega base of 28 crore subscribers with ultra-cheap data plans.
"His ambition to become a tech tycoon goes beyond making money in telecoms. RIL has already invested in content creation, and has bought rights to distribute cricket matches and Disney films on its 'Jio TV' platform," added the report. Addressing the "Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit 2019" on January 18, Mukesh Ambani announced that Reliance would double its investment and employment numbers over the next decade.
Urging Prime Minister Narendra Modi to lead a fight against "data colonisation," he said Reliance Jio and Reliance Retail would soon launch a new commerce platform for small retailers -- a mega mission which will first be launched in Gujarat and then across the country. Reliance Jio Infocomm last week reported a 65 per cent increase in its standalone net profit for the October-December 2018 period.
Its standalone net profit stood at Rs 831 crore in the third quarter of the financial year 2018-19, against Rs 504 crore reported in October-December 2017-18.
Disclaimer: Reliance Industries Ltd, which owns Jio, is the sole beneficiary of Independent Media Trust which controls Network18 Media & Investments Ltd.
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