Mukesh Ambani is offering free 4G internet to India through the rest of the year, launching a mobile network that reached 80 percent of the country Monday.
Indian residents will pay $2.25 a month after the free service ends, according to the U.S. News & World Report. Ambani, India's richest man, hopes that his $20 billion 4G mobile network will reach about 90 percent of India by March 2017. Only a fifth of residents in India had internet service.
Ambani, who is worth $22 billion, will make the 4G service available through his new Reliance Jio service, according to CNN Money.
"Anything and everything that can go digital is going digital – at an exponential rate," Ambani told investors at his company's annual general meeting last week. "Life is going digital."
Ambani, 59, has maintained his spot as India's richest man even though shares of Reliance Industries, the country's oil and gas giant, hit a low because of dropping oil prices, according to Forbes.
"His telecom arm Reliance Jio, which has teamed up with once-estranged younger sibling Anil Ambani's Reliance Communications, launched its 4G services among Reliance employees in December, handing out 500,000 free connections," Forbes said. "It also launched its Lyf branded smartphones, the cheapest of which costs $80. Wife Nita, who sits on Reliance's board, is involved in Jio's marketing plan."
Other tech giants already have tried to tap into India's market, CNN Money noted. Google installed free Wi-Fi at train stations across the country while Facebook tried to offer a free version of its platform.
Ambani paid billions to construct almost 100,000 telecom towers in India, providing coverage to some 18,000 cities and 200,000 villages, CNN Money said.
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