Anil Ambani's Reliance Communications to acquire European WiMax company

Mumbai: Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group company Reliance Communications (RCom) is planning to to move into the global telecom market by setting up WiMax networks for wireless internet connectivity across 50 countries, in the next three years.

RCom has set up WiMax networks in 18 Indian cities. Reports indicate that the group is close to acquiring a company in Europe, which  has WiMax licences for over 20 countries across Eastern Europe, Africa and Latin America.

Amongst other countries, reports suggest that the possible acquisition would allow RCom access to a fibre optic network of 50,000 kilometres in China, connecting around 40 Chinese cities.

In India, Tata Communications and Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd. (BSNL) are the other major players in the WiMax arena.  The worldwide interoperability for microwave access (WiMax) is a  telecommunications technology that provides wireless data over long distances in a variety of ways.

If it were to happen, this would be RCom's second acquisition in the WiMax space, the first being in February, when it had acquired a chunk of French WiMax chip manufacturer Sequans Communications.

Reports say that this acquisition, and the move into overseas markets, is part of RCom's `Vision 2012', a plan that will see the company use undersea cables and WiMax-enabled last mile access across a number of geographies. The reports predict the group moving into high-speed broadband services, voice, video and data suite and 4G services, one inroads into the global market are in place, and is looking at connecting more than 2.5 billion people over WiMax networks.