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India has entered the era of “free AI”, where some of the world’s most advanced artificial intelligence systems are now bundled with telecom plans at zero additional cost. But this is not charity , it’s strategy, said a report by the Economic Times. From Free Basics To Free AI A decade ago, Facebook tried to bring India online through Free Basics with Reliance Communications , a move ultimately blocked under net neutrality rules. Today, Reliance is again at the centre of a tech shift, but this time the stakes are far bigger: intelligence, not internet access. On October 30, Reliance Jio announced one year of Google Gemini Pro (worth Rs 35,100) free for its users, starting with young subscribers on its Unlimited 5G plan. This signals a powerful new model: telecom networks becoming AI distribution engines. A New AI Race: Jio–Google, Airtel–Perplexity, OpenAI–India Global AI giants are aligning with India’s networks: Reliance & Google: Gemini Pro free for Jio usersAirtel & Perplexity: 18-month Pro AI access for 360M usersOpenAI: ChatGPT Go free for Indian users for a year; 5 lakh licenses for teachers & studentsGoogle: Gemini Pro free for students in India India is now the fastest-growing AI user base outside the US, according to Business Insider. Telcos are the fastest path to scale , nearly 80% of Indian internet users can be reached instantly through these partnerships. Why India Is Ground Zero For AI India has 1 billion+ internet users, massive smartphone reach, and unmatched linguistic diversity , ideal for AI training and adoption at scale. Tech firms want: Data diversity for training modelsMassive adoption poolsEarly mind-share in a future $1T AI economy As The Ken put it, India offers companies “the largest data collection exercise in modern history.” Telcos’ New Business Play: AI Bundled Like Netflix Telecom growth is flattening. ARPUs are rising slowly (Jio ~ Rs 211, Airtel ~ Rs 250), and big 5G investments need payback. AI bundling offers: Premiumisation of plansHigher retention and engagementFuture monetisation via usage tiers Crisil expects telco operating profits to rise 12–14% in FY26, partly driven by AI-enabled premium plans. Think of this as the OTT bundling era , but for intelligence. The ‘AI Access Layer’: The Real Power Whoever controls user access to AI owns: The interfaceThe user relationshipThe dataThe monetisation channel Telecom operators aren’t just selling data anymore , they are becoming gatekeepers to intelligence. If they win, they sit atop India’s AI economy. If they lose, Big Tech takes the wallet, the eyeballs, and the operating system of the future. Who Truly Benefits? India is the largest free-AI experiment in history. It aligns with national digital goals , but also trains global AI models on a billion Indian voices. Today, the AI is free. Tomorrow, the habit , and the data , will be monetised. The Real Question The first digital wave democratized internet access. The second democratized high-speed connectivity. The third seeks to democratize intelligence. But as India enters the age of free AI, one question echoes from the Free Basics era: When technology is free, who gains more , the user, the telecom giant, or the AI model training on a billion lives?
