Bhubaneswar: Announcing his company’s future plan in the state, Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) chairman Mukesh Ambani Monday said his firm is committed to making Odisha one of the most digitally developed states in the country and the world.
“We are taking another step to propel Odisha further into the digital future. With JioGigaFiber, we have now begun an ambitious push in fixed broadband through Fiber-to-the-home and premise,” he said at the plenary session of the MIO Conclave.
“Our aim is to take the power of digital life to every nook and corner of the state, particularly in the rural areas. To improve the quality of education and healthcare, light up the lives of the people, provide large number of newer livelihood opportunities, empower and enable every citizen by connecting them to each other and the world, Jio has connected all cities and towns, and 43,000 villages in Odisha,” he said.
Stating millions of villagers in the state have got affordable smartphones in the past eight months, Ambani said, “Their lives are being digitally transformed and thus, they are empowered. For most of these villagers, it is their pehla (first) phone, their pehla radio and music player, their pehla TV, their pehla camera, also, their pehla introduction to the internet and artificial intelligence in their lives.”
He added that RIL is working with the state government on an initiative to integrate several lakh women in the digital mainstream under the Mission Shakti Scheme.
“We are partnering with the state government to set up the Reliance Foundation – Odisha High Performance Athletics Centre. This Centre will train local talent under world renowned experts to develop them into Olympic Medal winners of tomorrow,” Ambani said.
“My aim is to ensure that India rises from the present 135th rank to be amongst the top three nations in fixed broadband within the next three years, he said.
Lauding Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, the industrialist said, “Under his able leadership, Odisha is fast becoming an ideal investment destination. Today, Odisha is growing at 8 per cent per annum which is higher than the national average.”
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