Support Telecomtalk
Andrew Bonwick
Vice President of Product Development at Relm Insurance
Madhav Sheth
CEO of Ai+ Smartphone
Varun Kashyap & Sridevi Reddy
Co-Founders, Zithara.ai
Transforming Indian Offline Retail and Customer Engagement Using AI
Reliance Jio is running trials on a new technology that could change the way mobile networks handle coverage gaps. The company is testing Intelligent Reflecting Surfaces (IRS), panels designed to bounce 5G signals into areas where coverage is weak, especially indoors. 5G in India has grown fast. Towers are up, cities are connected, and outdoor speeds are strong. But step inside an office or a flat, and the story changes. Signals dip. Calls drop. Users complain that the network they see outside doesn’t follow them indoors.
- Make Telecom Talk My Trusted Source
The problem is worse with mmWave, the high-frequency band that carries huge amounts of data but can’t pass through walls or glass. Operators usually fix this with extra radios or small cells. That’s expensive, slow, and not always practical.
What Jio IRS Brings
IRS is different. The panel doesn’t transmit. It reflects. Think of it as a signal mirror. Hundreds of tiny elements on the surface can be tuned to catch a wave and push it in the right direction.
Mount it on a wall, a window, or a street pole. The panel redirects the signal from the base station into corners and rooms that were earlier dead spots. It’s simple in design but powerful in effect.
Why Jio Wants It
Reliance Jio has invested heavily in 5G, but the operator knows coverage is where user satisfaction often breaks down. Adding more sites is one solution, but each tower comes with costs approvals, fiber, power. IRS, on the other hand, is light, uses very little energy, and can be placed quickly.
Jio is also testing whether these panels can work in Indian environments where construction is dense and usage is heavy. If the results are positive, IRS could sit alongside towers and small cells as part of Jio’s coverage toolkit.
