Reliance Jio enters into tower deal with Ascend Telecom

Gearing up to launch its 4G services in the country,  Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd  (RJIL), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Reliance Industries Ltd, has signed a tower-sharing agreement with Ascend Telecom Infrastructure Pvt. Ltd.

This is the company's sixth infrastructure agreement, as it readies to launch services before the end of year.

Under the agreement, RJIL will utilise pan-India tower infrastructure of Ascend to launch its 4G services.

Ascend, which is backed by New Silk Route Growth Capital, IL&FS and the TVS Group, has a portfolio of more than 4,500 towers across India.

The company has deployed solutions which reduce providers' operating costs and carbon footprints.

''Our partnership with Ascend Telecom is a continuation of our efforts to forge strategic partnership with key tower infrastructure companies with a view to build a formidable nationwide network. Ultimately it's our network coverage footprint that will give our customers the geographical freedom they need to avail our high speed services,'' Sanjay Mashruwala, Managing Director at Reliance Jio said.

''Our 12 years' experience in the market, coupled with strong relationships with mobile network operators and equipment suppliers, allows us to bring improvements right across the value chain. We are excited about the opportunity to partner with RJIL for the launch of their 4G services,'' said Sushil Kumar Chaturvedi, Director & CEO, Ascend Telecom Infrastructure.

''Our network of more than 4,500 towers across the country will make higher quality, higher speed coverage available to RJIL's mobile subscribers. Our focus on innovation has been recognised by the industry. At the same time, this agreement will benefit the environment by avoiding the impact of building new towers that duplicate existing infrastructure,'' added Chaturvedi.

In May, RJIL signed a tower-sharing agreement with independent tower company Tower Vision India (See: Reliance Jio, Tower Vision sign infrastructure sharing pact).

In April, RJIL signed a tower-sharing agreement with independent infrastructure provider ATC India. RJIL will utilise about 11,000 towers under the agreement as it gears up to launch its services across the country.

RJIL had earlier entered into similar agreements with Bharti Infratel, Viom Networks and Reliance Communications (RCom). The company also signed an inter-city optical fibre sharing agreement with RCom in April 2013 as part of a comprehensive framework of business co-operation between the companies.

In April 2014, RJIL and RCom signed their third infrastructure sharing agreement. Under the latest agreement, financial terms of which were not disclosed, RJIL will use RCom's intra-city optic fibre infrastructure (Reliance Jio, RCom sign third agreement).

The agreement is based on arm's length pricing at prevailing market prices, it said, adding RCom's intra-city optic fibre network extends to nearly 500,000 fibre-pair kilometres, across the top 300 cities and towns in India.

The company, controlled by India's richest man Mukesh Ambani, bought 4G airwaves in the 2010 spectrum auction. In February, RJIL won spectrum in the 1800 MHz brand across 14 circles for Rs 11,054 crore, which the company intends to use for digital services and enhance in-building coverage.