India's richest man is rolling out a US$20 billion mobile network that could bring lightning-fast Internet to hundreds of millions of people.

    Indian consumers are already celebrating the arrival of Mukesh Ambani's new Reliance Jio service, seizing on the billionaire's promise to deliver rock bottom prices and download speeds that will enable streaming video.

    The 4G network, which reaches more than 80 percent of the country, officially went live last week with a set of generous introductory offers. Indians will be able to use Jio for free until the end of 2016, and pay as little as 149 rupees (US$2.25) a month for data after that.

    "Anything and everything that can go digital is going digital -- at an exponential rate," Ambani told investors at his company's annual general meeting recently. "Life is going digital."

    Only one fifth of adults in India have access to the Internet. Few public Wi-Fi spots exist, and fast broadband connections require infrastructure that is rarely found in poorer urban areas, much less rural ones.

    But that is changing fast. If the Jio network succeeds, Ambani will be able to capitalize on a seismic shift that could see hundreds of millions of Indians come online in the coming years -- in most cases via a smartphone.

    It's a market that tech industry giants desperately want to crack. Google has installed free Wi-Fi at train stations across India, and Facebook tried to offer a free version of its platform.

    Ambani has invested billions constructing nearly 100,000 telecoms towers across India. He estimates that Jio already covers some 18,000 cities and 200,000 villages. By March 2017, his aim is to reach 90 percent of the population.

    Rival networks have responded to the launch of Reliance Jio with special offers of their own, making a price war a near certainty. Airtel has slashed its prices for 3G and 4G service by 80 percent, and Vodafone has boosted the amount of data in its plans by nearly 70 percent.

    Words to Learn 相关词汇

    越来越快的

    yuèláiyuèkuài de

    exponential

    rising or expanding at a steady and usually rapid rate

    提高

    tígāo

    boost

    increase, raise

    印度首富给全国提供免费4G网

    印度首富正斥资200亿美元建设移动网络，或可使十亿人高速连接互联网。

    印度消费者已经在欢庆穆克什?安巴尼新推出的瑞来斯Jio网络服务。这位亿万富翁承诺，该网络会以最低价格提供满足流媒体使用的下载速度。

    这个覆盖印度超过80%地区的4G网络上周已正式开通，同时慷慨附送试用套餐。印度人到今年年底都可免费使用Jio网络，之后的网费也只有每月149卢比（2.25美金）。

    安巴尼最近在公司年度大会上对投资者说：“所有一切能数字化的都在以指数级速度数字化。生活正走向数字化。”

    印度只有五分之一的成年人有网可用。几乎没有公共无线网络。较贫穷的城区很难找到接入高速宽带所需的基础设施，农村地区则更难。

    但这一情况将很快改变。如果Jio网络成功，安巴尼将在未来几年从这场使数亿印度人上网的巨变中获益。大多数印度人都将通过智能手机上网。

    印度是科技巨头极度垂涎的市场。谷歌已在印度各大火车站设置免费无线网络，脸书也试图向印度提供可登陆其平台的免费服务。

    安巴尼已投资数十亿美元在印度全境建设近10万座电信塔。他预计Jio网络已覆盖约1.8万座城市和20万村庄。他的目标是在明年三月覆盖印度90%的人口。

    与其竞争的网络运营商已针对瑞来斯Jio网络推出了自己的特惠活动，一场价格战势必打响。印度巴蒂电信已将其3G和4G服务降价80%，而全球通信巨头沃达丰在套餐价格不变的情况下将流量提高了近70%。