印度首富百億美元建4G網(wǎng) 免費(fèi)向全國提供

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

印度首富正斥資200億美元建設(shè)移動(dòng)網(wǎng)絡(luò)，或可使十億人高速連接互聯(lián)網(wǎng)。

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.

印度消費(fèi)者已經(jīng)在慶祝穆克什•安巴尼新推出的瑞來斯Jio網(wǎng)絡(luò)服務(wù)。這位億萬富翁承諾，該網(wǎng)絡(luò)會(huì)以最低價(jià)格提供滿足流媒體使用的下載速度。

The 4G network, which reaches more than 80% of the country, officially went live Monday 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 ($2.25) a month for data after that.

這個(gè)覆蓋印度超過80%地區(qū)的4G網(wǎng)絡(luò)于周一正式開通，同時(shí)慷慨附送試用套餐。印度人到今年年底都可免費(fèi)使用Jio網(wǎng)絡(luò)，之后的網(wǎng)費(fèi)也只有每月149盧比(2.25美金)。

印度首富百億美元建4G網(wǎng) 免費(fèi)向全國提供

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

安巴尼在上周的公司年度大會(huì)上對(duì)投資者說：“所有一切能數(shù)字化的都在以指數(shù)速度數(shù)字化。生活正走向數(shù)字化。”

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.

印度只有五分之一的成年人有網(wǎng)可用。幾乎沒有公共無線網(wǎng)絡(luò)站點(diǎn)。城市較貧窮的地區(qū)很難找到接入高速寬帶所需的基礎(chǔ)設(shè)施，農(nóng)村地區(qū)則更難。

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.

但這一情況將很快改變。如果Jio網(wǎng)絡(luò)成功，安巴尼將在未來幾年從這場(chǎng)使數(shù)億印度人聯(lián)上網(wǎng)的巨變中獲益。大多數(shù)印度人都通過智能手機(jī)上網(wǎng)。

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.

印度是科技巨頭們極度垂涎的市場(chǎng)。谷歌已在印度各大火車站設(shè)置免費(fèi)無線網(wǎng)絡(luò)，臉書也試圖向印度提供可登陸其平臺(tái)的免費(fèi)服務(wù)。

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% of the population.

安巴尼已投資數(shù)十億美元在印度全境建設(shè)近10萬座電信塔。他預(yù)計(jì)Jio網(wǎng)絡(luò)已覆蓋約1.8萬座城市和20萬個(gè)農(nóng)村。他的目標(biāo)是在明年三月覆蓋印度90%的人口。

Building a national 4G network from scratch represents a major risk for Ambani, who got out of telecoms about 15 years ago after a dispute with his brother, Anil Ambani, who controls Reliance Communications.

從零開始建設(shè)全國4G網(wǎng)絡(luò)對(duì)安巴尼也是一大風(fēng)險(xiǎn)。自從與兄弟阿尼爾•安巴尼產(chǎn)生分歧后，他已離開電信業(yè)約15年。而瑞來斯電信就由其兄弟掌舵。

The brothers, who together are estimated to be worth $26 billion, have patched things up in recent years. Jio will be able to use radio frequencies owned by Reliance Communications.

據(jù)估算，安巴尼兄弟身家共計(jì)260億美元，近年雙方和好，Jio網(wǎng)絡(luò)將可以使用瑞來斯電信的無線電頻率。

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%, and Vodafone has boosted the amount of data in its plans by nearly 70%.

與其競(jìng)爭(zhēng)的網(wǎng)絡(luò)運(yùn)營(yíng)商已針對(duì)瑞來斯Jio網(wǎng)絡(luò)推出了自己的特惠活動(dòng)，一場(chǎng)價(jià)格戰(zhàn)勢(shì)必要打響。印度巴蒂電信已將其3G和4G服務(wù)降價(jià)80%，而全球通信巨頭沃達(dá)豐在套餐價(jià)格不變的情況下將流量提高了近70%。

If Jio, which means "live life" in Hindi, is to become another mega business in Reliance's stable of energy, media, chemicals and retail operations, the network will have to be able to handle the load from millions of new customers.

Jio在印地語中意為“直播生活”。如果Jio網(wǎng)絡(luò)要成為橫跨能源、傳媒、化工和零售業(yè)的瑞來斯集團(tuán)的另一大主業(yè)，那它還需承受數(shù)百萬新用戶的加載。

On Tuesday in New Delhi, a device on the Reliance network was showing impressive download speeds of 21 megabits per second. With $20 billion at stake, that kind of performance needs to be replicated across India.

周二，瑞來斯網(wǎng)絡(luò)的監(jiān)測(cè)設(shè)備顯示其在新德里的下載速度很不錯(cuò)，達(dá)21兆每秒。關(guān)乎200億美元的投資，這樣的網(wǎng)速需要讓印度全境都享受到。