Google will offer 18-month free access to its Gemini AI service for all 505 million telecom users of India’s Reliance Jio, a tie-up that follows similar freebies from rivals including OpenAI to boost adoption in the world’s most populous nation.

The move also comes weeks after Google committed to invest $ 15 billion in AI infrastructure capacity in India, its biggest investment yet in the critical South Asian market, a Reuters report stated yesterday.

AI apps have exploded in popularity in recent months in India, prompting authorities this month to propose sweeping rules for AI and social media firms to clearly label AI-generated content to tackle the spread of deepfakes and misinformation.

With nearly one billion internet users, India has been a go-to market for global tech firms to boost their subscriber base and harvest data for improving their services.

The Gemini offer will give Jio users free access to the advanced model of the AI app, two terabytes of cloud storage, and its image and video generation models, in an 18-month offering that is otherwise priced at 35,100 rupees ($399). The companies yesterday also announced AI partnerships that targeted Indian businesses.

The free AI plan rollout will begin with early access for 18-to-25-year-old users on certain telecom plans, and will expand to include every Jio customer nationwide “in the shortest time possible”, Reliance said in a statement.

Google already offers Gemini AI Pro free for a year for students in India, while rival Perplexity is offering free access to its premium plan to Indian users through a tie-up with mobile carrier Bharti Airtel. On Tuesday (oct. 28), OpenAI too offered year-long free access to its ChatGPT Go plan to users in India starting November.

Such moves mirror the early playbook of streaming firms to boost adoption in India, when the likes of Netflix and Amazon Prime partnered with telecom players to bundle their paid offerings with monthly data plans.

Meanwhile, a RIL media statement also quoted Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai as saying that Reliance was a longstanding partner in Google’s goal of advancing India’s digital future. “Ttogether we’ve brought affordable internet access and smartphones to millions. Now, we are bringing this collaboration into the AI era,” he added.