Jio using drones for tower surveillance, upkeep ahead of 5G rollouts

Mumbai: Reliance Jio is using drones to run a pilot around tower surveillance and upkeep as part of its plans to use the technology to survey sites and plan the next wave of tower rollouts for its upcoming 5G network deployments.

The Mukesh Ambani-led telco is leveraging its stake buy in drone maker Asteria Aerospace—some three years ago—to test use cases for tower maintenance via drones to drive time and cost efficiencies. During the pilot, drones will be used to check the health of towers and Jio’s assets deployed on them.