By
Steve Muchoki
April 25th, 2024
Reliance Jio will soon unleash the largest blockchain network in India targeting its 330M customers as announced by the company’s chairman, Mukesh Ambani, at the Annual General Meeting in Mumbai on August 12.
Indian telecoms provider giant Reliance Jio Infocomm Limited (Jio) has pledged to develop the biggest blockchain network in the world. The company made an official statement explaining that it plans to install a pan-India blockchain network for industries. The installation of these networks will start by the end of the year. It will then extend into 2020.
According to the Chairman and Managing Director of Reliance Industries, Shri Mukesh D. Ambani, incorporating blockchain technology will enable the company to deliver unprecedented trust, security, automation, and efficiency to most of its transactions. He believes that blockchain technology forms one of the key areas of expansion for Jio.
Ambani was speaking at the company’s 42nd Annual General Meeting in Mumbai on August 12. During that event, he also said that the project is an important capability for India. The chairman pointed out that the Jio, a software company, has developed various technologies. Some of these technologies include Edge computing and Blockchain together with virtual and mixed reality content.
The company has recruited at least 6,000 software engineers. Additionally, it is continuing to attract technology talent from India and around the world.
Nodes Will Start Working from Day One
Ambani is convinced that blockchain technology will greatly assist in modernizing the company’s supply chain for agricultural produce and most other goods that form the backbone of India’s economy.
Since its debut in 2015, Jio has grown to rank among India’s major mobile networks. Currently, it has a user base that surpassed 330 million people. The chairman promised:
“Over the next 12 months, Jio will install across India one of the largest blockchain networks in the world, with tens of thousands of nodes operational on day one.”
His comments came just as India encounters a backlash for its plan to ban cryptocurrency. But, the country is simultaneously championing blockchain technology at the state level. All this fuzz came about amid warnings from the central bank that stated it could criminalize interaction with unsanctioned tokens like Bitcoin in the future.
Customer Data Controlled and Owned by the Locals
Ambani focused primarily on blockchain’s role in empowering Indian consumers. He further stated:
“And using blockchain, we also have an opportunity to invent a brand-new model for data privacy where Indian data, especially customer data, is owned and controlled through technology by the Indian people and not by corporates, especially global corporations.”
Joi’s blockchain infrastructure will power industries and provide all the users with data privacy as well. The company will kick off this mega project by developing a blockchain network of Edge Computing and Content Distribution throughout India.
Nonetheless, the exact nature of Jio’s blockchain installation has not yet been elaborated. Ambani did not dive into the specifics about how users can potentially use and even monitor their data. Reliable estimates have pegged the potential value of the global blockchain telecoms industry beyond India as reaching $1 billion by 2023.