In a landmark collaboration, Google and Reliance Jio have announced that over 500 million Jio users in India will soon receive free access to Google’s premium AI service, Gemini 2.5 Pro.
The 18-month offer, valued at around ₹35,100 (approximately $396) per user, marks one of the largest consumer rollouts of advanced artificial intelligence tools worldwide.
The partnership is being implemented through Reliance Intelligence, which aims to make India an AI-empowered nation.
The offering includes full access to Gemini 2.5 Pro, NotebookLM for research and study, image and video generation models, and 2 TB of integrated cloud storage across Google services.
Reaching India’s growing digital generation
The rollout begins with Jio’s 5G users aged between 18 and 25, a demographic representing the most digitally engaged segment of the country.
Early access will be available to this group for 18 months before the service is extended to Jio’s entire customer base.
Users can activate the plan through the MyJio app, provided they are subscribed to Jio’s unlimited 5G plans.
India’s digital landscape presents a powerful opportunity for global AI adoption.
The country hosts over 377 million Gen Z consumers, contributing around $860 billion to national spending, with projections to exceed $2 trillion by 2035, according to the Boston Consulting Group.
Platforms such as WhatsApp, Instagram, and YouTube already dominate Indian internet usage, with each hosting hundreds of millions of users.
For AI providers, this demographic concentration represents fertile ground for mass engagement and feedback loops essential for model refinement.
Strategic move in the telecom-AI race
The Google-Jio alliance extends beyond consumer access.
Reliance Intelligence will collaborate with Google Cloud to strengthen India’s AI infrastructure.
This includes integrating enterprise-grade tools such as Gemini Enterprise and AI hardware accelerators to support large-scale deployments by Indian businesses.
By merging Jio’s extensive telecom network with Google’s AI stack, the collaboration creates a foundation for both consumer and enterprise adoption.
It also places India among a handful of nations where cutting-edge AI is available at scale, supported by a domestic data and cloud ecosystem.
For Google, this partnership represents a crucial step in localising its AI ecosystem.
India is one of its fastest-growing markets, and the partnership allows Gemini to reach a wider audience while leveraging Jio’s reach and infrastructure.
Competitive momentum among AI providers
The announcement comes amid intensifying competition among AI companies to capture the Indian market.
Earlier this week, OpenAI announced plans to offer a year of free access to its ChatGPT Go plan in India, starting November 4.
The plan, which previously cost ₹399 per month, will now be available at no cost for a limited period.
In July, Bharti Airtel, India’s second-largest telecom operator, partnered with Perplexity AI to provide 360 million customers with free access to Perplexity Pro, a subscription that typically costs $200 annually.
These partnerships highlight the telecom sector’s growing role as the primary channel for distributing AI technologies to the public.
With telecom operators controlling the country’s digital gateways, alliances like those of Jio-Google and Airtel-Perplexity give global firms unparalleled access to hundreds of millions of users.
The result is a democratisation of advanced AI tools that were once restricted to premium users in developed markets.
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