Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL)'s wholly owned subsidiary Reliance Strategic Business Ventures Ltd has invested Rs 20 crore (about $2.7 million) in Neolync Solutions.
A further investment of Rs 40 crore, subject to Neolync achieving agreed milestones, is expected to be completed by March 2023, RIL said in a stock exchange filing.
"The aforesaid investment is part of group’s overall 5G initiatives and commitment to Government of India’s ‘Made in India’ initiatives for fostering indigenous manufacturing especially in next-gen 5G technologies," RIL said.
Incorporated in October 2019, Neolync along with its subsidiaries and associate companies is engaged in India-based manufacturing of electronic products such as mobile phones, telecom products and computing devices.
It is currently an early-stage company with an income of Rs 3.26 crore, the stock exchange filing said.
Late last year, Reliance Industries chairman Mukesh Ambani said the company’s Jio subsidiary will roll out its 5G services in India by the second half of 2021.
Jio, in partnership with investor Google, is also planning to roll out low-cost entry-level 5G smartphones in India as part of its push.
5G technology is increasingly picking up steam in India and globally, with several leading telecom players collaborating with information technology companies to ramp up their 5G game.
Last month, telecom major Bharti Airtel entered into a collaboration with Intel for 5G network development by leveraging vRAN / O-RAN technologies.
Intel also partnered with Reliance Jio to help the telco with its 5G network development, including in the areas of 5G radio, core, cloud, edge, and artificial intelligence.