Govt Approves Google & Jio Partnership Worth Rs 33,800 Crore; Rs 2500 5G Android Phones Coming Soon?

The mega partnership between Google and Reliance Jio has been approved by the Govt of India.

This means that Google can now invest $4.5 billion into Jio, and together, they can mass produce 5G Android phones which can cost as low as Rs 2500.

Here are the details..

Govt Approves Google-Jio Partnership

The Competition Commission of India or CCI has now approved the critical Jio-Google partnership.

As per this partnership, Google will invest $4.5 billion or Rs 33,800 crore in Jio to acquire 7.73% stake in the company.

Alphabet’s wholly owned subsidiary: Google International LLC (GIL) will make the investment into the digital arm of Reliance, making Google’s one of the biggest investments in recent times, globally.

What Does This Mean?

Google is world’s largest search engine, and owns the Android operating system, which has a 90% market share in the smartphones being sold in India.

While Jio is India’s biggest telecom operator with 40 crore users, besides having a substantial stake in the booming broadband market.

With this partnership, both Google and Jio will be able to leverage each other’s dominant positions, and introduce newer products and services for Indians.

5G Android Phone Coming Soon?

One of the primary reasons for Google to invest in Jio was their ambitious plan to launch cheap, mass-produced 5G Android phones, in association with Reliance.

Reliance has already announced the launch of their new products such as JioOS, JioGlass, new Jio 5G phones and more.

And Google and Android with their huge market share and expertise can provide help and guidance for the same.

While Google can provide expertise via Android OS, and their knowledge of the Internet world, Jio will use their expansive network and hardware capabilities to launch their phones, OS and more.

Overall, Jio has sold off 32.96% stake in their company to 13 investors, who have pumped in more than Rs 1.3 lakh crore into the company.

And this includes Facebook as well, besides Google, Silver Lake, Vista Equity Partners, General Atlantic, KKR, Mubadala, ADIA, TPG, L Catterton, Public Investment Fund, Intel Capital & Qualcomm Ventures.

We will keep you updated as more details come in.