01/10/26, Jio TechCo, Mr Danish Khan's Report

 Jio Platforms is looking to turn the technology powering its digital infrastructure into products for the global market, as it expands into 5G network technology, AI, cloud infrastructure, devices and enterprise software. A decade after transforming India's telecom market, Jio is now seeking to build businesses beyond traditional telecom.

"Jio is the only operator globally to have developed its own end-to-end technology stack across core, radio, network software and OSS/BSS and deployed at nationwide scale," said Ashwinder Sethi, a partner at Analysys Mason. "This vertical integration provides greater control over technology development and innovation cycles, while supporting an efficient operating model.”

That marks a shift from Jio's initial years, when the focus was largely on adding users, expanding its network and driving down the cost of mobile data. The company is now developing more of the technology that powers its businesses, from network software and intellectual property to digital platforms and AI.

The ambition is to build a technology platform spanning connectivity, digital services, and computing. Industry experts see scope for Jio to take technologies developed for its own operations to a wider market, as India's digital economy is projected to reach $1.4 trillion by FY31, according to Analysys Mason.

From buying technology to building it

Jio developed its own 5G core and the software used to manage network operations and customer services, then built an end-to-end 5G stack covering the core network, radio equipment and network software. It achieved pan-India 5G coverage within 15 months of launch and had more than 268 million 5G users by March 2026.

The scale of Jio's network matters because it gives the company a live environment to test and improve its technology.

Jio Platforms and its units had filed 6,817 patent applications as of March 31, covering areas such as 4G, 5G, 6G, AI and cloud, with 1,009 patents granted globally. Its engineering and technology organisation comprises 11,303 people, around 40% of its workforce.

Neil Shah, vice president at Counterpoint Research, told Moneycontrol that Jio's strategy is to transform from a traditional telco into a vertically integrated “TechCo” that develops and controls the technology stack from infrastructure to services.

Jio's technology architecture reduces vendor dependence and creates an opportunity for Jio to package and eventually export its technology stack to other telecom operators, Shah said.

Jio has indicated that its mobile connectivity stack, home broadband stack and managed autonomous connectivity stack are ready for global monetisation. Technology developed initially for Jio's own requirements could therefore become products for other operators and enterprises.

AI could be Jio's next disruption

The biggest change, however, could come from artificial intelligence. In an interview at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona in March, Reliance President Mathew Oommen said the company wants to make AI tokens as affordable and accessible as it once made voice and mobile data. Tokens are the bite-sized data that an AI model uses to read, think, and write.

Jio does not see the future telecom network as being defined only by minutes and bytes. Instead, “the telecom fabric will be natively embedded with the AI fabric.” Jio's ambition is to become a “token value” company rather than simply a connectivity provider.

The company is building what Oommen described as a seven-layer intelligence architecture spanning the physical and chip layers, models, applications, orchestration and device integration.

The idea is to move AI inference closer to users rather than relying entirely on large, centralised data centres. AI workloads could run across edge data centres, enterprise premises, homes and eventually devices.

For Jio, the opportunity is to control more of that AI infrastructure — from the network that carries the workload to the computing and devices where intelligence is ultimately delivered.

Jio's biggest advantage is not simply its scale, but where that scale exists.

The company has a subscriber relationship both “in the hand” through mobile devices and “in the home” through fibre, AirFiber, routers and set-top boxes. This gives Jio the physical and digital touchpoints it can use to distribute AI services.

Rather than relying solely on hyperscale data centres, Jio's model is to distribute intelligence across the network, enterprise premises, homes and devices. The objective is to reduce latency and potentially lower the cost of delivering AI.

Building an AI and cloud business

Shah said Jio's investments in sovereign computing and AI platforms could further reduce its dependence on traditional hyperscalers.

“Its sovereign compute investments, which are anchored by the 1-Gigawatt Jamnagar green datacentre roadmap and NVIDIA high-density architectures, alongside software platforms like JioBrain, significantly reduce dependence on traditional hyperscalers,” Shah said.

Over time, he said, this could position Jio as an Indian “neocloud” player, with its content, cloud and commerce services creating a monetisation layer around its infrastructure.

Shah said Jio could use platforms such as JioVyapar and JioIQ, powered by Jio Cloud, to bring cloud, commerce and AI capabilities to India's more than 60 million MSMEs.

Report by Mr Danish Khan

Source: Network18 

Disclaimer: Network18 is controlled by Independent Media Trust, of which Reliance Industries is the sole beneficiary.