Alphabet's (GOOGL) Google to Boost India Reach With Jio Deals
Alphabet’s GOOGL division Google has extended its partnership with Jio Platforms, the digital arm of a massive India-based conglomerate, Reliance Industries.
Notably, Jio has unveiled JioPhone Next, which has been developed in collaboration with Google.
The phone is going to be available from September and its price is undisclosed at present. Most importantly, JioPhone Next is supposed to be the most affordable smartphone inIndia with advanced features.
In addition to this, Google has struck a cloud partnership with Jio Platforms, per which it will support the later in the 5G push with technology solutions.
We believe that the latest moves bode well for Google’s strengthening efforts to bolster its presence in India.
Further, the moves strengthen Google’s existing relationship with Reliance. Last year, the search giant invested $4.5 billion in Jio Platforms.
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More Into JioPhone Next
Notably, JioPhoneNext’s operating system is an optimized one powered by Android.
Further, it comprises Google Assistant, smart camera with augmented reality filters and HDRsupport, language translation, automatic read-aloud of screen text feature and more.
With the latest move, both companies strive to offer an ultra-affordable mode to Indians to get connected to high-speed Internet, which has become the need of the hour amid the pandemic.
Moreover, the move will strongly benefit that part of the India demography, which still cannot afford to purchase a smartphone with robust features.
Additionally, JioPhone Next will expand Reliance’s as well as Google’s presence in India’s smartphone market, which is known to be the world’s second-largest mobile market.
According to a Counterpoint Technology Market Research report, the mobile handset market of the country exhibited year-over-year growth of 19% in first-quarter 2021.
Further, an IDC report states that the smartphone market of India delivered growth of 18% on a year-over-year basis in first-quarter 2021.
We believe that the introduction of JioPhone Next will intensify smartphone competition for the existing players like Apple AAPL, Samsung, One Plus, OPPO, Vivo, Motorola, Xiaomi and realme, owing to its smart features and affordable price.
Cloud Deal Holds Promise
Google’s latest cloud partnership strengthens its customer base with the addition of Reliance to it, which, in turn, will expand its share in the rapidly growing cloud market of India.
Notably, Jio Platforms will leverage Google Cloud’s AI, machine learning, e-commerce and demand forecast services for rolling out 5G services.Further, Reliance will migrate its core retail businesses to Google Cloud as part of the partnership.
Google’s 5G cloud partnership with Jio ramps up its efforts in the telecom space of India, wherein other U.S. tech giants are also leaving no stone unturned to boost their stakes.
Facebook FB invested $5.7 billion to buy a 10% stake in Jio Platforms, which is noteworthy.
Meanwhile, Microsoft’s MSFT partnership with Jio cannot be ignored. Jio intends to set up data centers across India by leveraging the Azure cloud platform.
Nevertheless, Google’s growing endeavors remain major positives. Apart from Jio, the company has a strong relationship with Bharti Airtel.
Airtel is one of the telecom operators on Google’s platform for operators that leverage the latter’s networking infrastructure, including its data centers, edge servers and Content Delivery Networks.
Further, Airtel has gained the authority to offer Google Cloud’s G Suite — a suite of cloud computing, productivity and collaboration tools, software, and products— to its business clients.
We believe that the strengthening momentum of Google among telecom operators is likely to aid its presence in the telecom market of India.
Currently, Google’s parent Alphabet carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.
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