Reliance Jio aims to be among first scalable token service providers

Targets were based on having made voice service free and data costing 9 cents/GB in India. This is among the largest markets globally.

Reliance Jio is aiming to be one of the first scalable token service providers in the world by deeply adopting and integrating artificial intelligence (AI) into its operations, said Jio Platforms group chief executive officer (CEO) Mathew Oommen at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.

The AI era

He added that the AI era was not an upgrade but a reset and telecom service providers who adopt AI will succeed, while others will struggle.

“The telecom currency is going to be rapidly changing from minutes to bytes to tokens.

"And, we sincerely believe at Jio, we will be one of the first scalable token services providers,” Oommen said.

The top executive of the company, which is expected to go public by July, said targets were based on having made voice service free and data costing 9 cents/GB in India.

This is among the largest markets globally.

“We delivered as Jio, with now over 525 million subscribers and 9 cents a GB.

"We are determined to deliver the lowest cost of dollar per token per watt.

"Let me reiterate: we do not want to be the largest token pipe, beyond being the connectivity pipe, because AI is going to fundamentally change Jio networks and your devices,” he added.

Tokenomics

He added that the telco had certain levers which could enable it to become the fabric of that AI infrastructure and become the owner of ‘tokenomics.’

“And that is the opportunity, so that we can become the largest token generator opportunity and not just be another token pipe,” he said.

He underscored the importance of the telecom sector which was going to be the foundational layer for building intelligence infrastructure at scale across the energy, finance, transportation, defence and security sectors.

The top executive said with AI infrastructure, the telecom infrastructure was going to change and the Intelligent endpoints were going to be a key pillar.

However, a trusted intelligence infrastructure will be the fundamental building block of the seven-layer intelligence architecture that the company will be building, he said.

“This is not going to be built by a set of tools that is kind of broken and fragmented, but from a unified, integrated architecture.

"This is about integrating workflows and delivering outcomes.

"This is what I call the AI command architecture framework,” he said.

Traditional interfaces were going to disappear

He added that traditional interfaces were going to disappear and all connected systems would think, coordinate, and act in real time.

Oommen said the industry was going through a multi-generational shift not just in telecom but in the economy and geopolitical balances of society.

“For telecom, this is a great opportunity.

"Whether you call it the tokens, whether you call it the four pillars of transformation, that I talked about or I am calling this Intelligence Grid that we will own,” he said.

“In some minds, it (AI) could be a big anxiety, but I also believe it is the biggest opportunity, and the outcome is going to be determined by the choices we make,” he added.

Oommen also outlined the shift from connectivity to intelligence, highlighting the transformative role of innovation, collaboration, and resilient digital infrastructure in shaping a more connected world.

AI era is not an upgrade cycle

In 2026 over $3 trillion is going to be put into AI, and of that about $810 billion is just for a few of the hyperscalers, he said.

He also said that this was completely different from the industrial and the internet era.

“This is clearly a generational transformation.

"The AI era is not an upgrade cycle. It is completely resetting the economic and business equation.

"Because we are going to be creating a new business of trillions of dollars and that to me is the biggest opportunity,” he added.