Even as Prime Minister Modi launched 5G services in India on Saturday, and Jio and Airtel announced availability of services from Diwali and Oct. 1, respectively in select cities, a media report said on Sunday that Jio will launch soon a budget laptop with embedded 4G sim card.

According to Reuters, which quoted two unnamed sources, Reliance Jio will launch a budget laptop priced at $184 (Rs. 15,000) with an embedded 4G sim card, aiming to replicate the success of its low-cost JioPhone in India’s highly price-sensitive market.

The Mukesh Ambani-led conglomerate has partnered with global giants Qualcomm and Microsoft for the JioBook, with the former powering its computing chips based on technology from Arm Ltd, and the Windows OS maker providing support for some apps.

Jio, India’s biggest telecom carrier with more than 420 million customers, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The laptop will be available to enterprise customers such as schools and government institutes from this month, with a consumer launch anticipated within the next three months, sources said, according to the Reuters report.

As with the JioPhone, a 5G-enabled version will follow.

“This will be as big as JioPhone,” one of the sources with direct knowledge of the matter told Reuters.

Since its launch late last year, the handset has been India’s top-selling sub-$100 smartphone, accounting for a fifth of the market over the last three quarters, according to Counterpoint.

The JioBook will be produced locally by contract manufacturer Flex with Jio aiming to sell “hundreds of thousands” of units by March, one of the sources said.

Overall PC shipments in India stood at 14.8 million units last year, led by HP, Dell and Lenovo, according to research firm IDC.

5G Services Launched in India: Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched 5G services in India on Saturday, calling it a “step towards the new era.”

The launch in select cities will cover the entire country over the next couple of years, a government statement said.

Modi launched the much-awaited services that aim to provide seamless coverage, high data rate, less delay in internet connectivity and highly reliable communications in presence of India’s telecom leaders in New Delhi, an Associated Press report said on Saturday.

“This event will be etched in history,” Modi said at the launch, adding it was a “step towards the new era in the country” and “the beginning of infinite opportunities”.

Bharti Airtel is rolling out its 5G services in eight cities on Saturday and has set March 2024 as the deadline for countrywide coverage for as many as 5,000 towns.

Reliance Jio telecom company plans to start from four metropolitan areas in October and hopes to reach most cities and towns in 18 months.

The government said that the cumulative economic impact of 5G on India is expected to reach $450 billion by 2035.

Research agency OMDIA projects that with 369 million 5G subscriptions — over half the total global 5G subscriptions currently — India will be just behind China and the US in world rankings by 2026.