Reliance Jio to launch 4G mobile services in 2015

Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd, the wireless arm of Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL), will introduce 4G services in a phased manner, starting next year.

''The year 2015 will see the phased launch of Reliance Jio across India. Limited field trials with our initial set of services for the broadband services are already underway. Expanded field trials will commence in August this year across multiple cities,'' RIL Chairman Mukesh Ambani said at the company's shareholders at its 40th annual general meeting here in Mumbai.

''These trials would continue through the end of 2014 and early part of 2015,'' he added.

Terming it as RIL's ''most transformational initiatives'', Ambani said the network and broadband services will cover 5,000 towns and cities accounting for more than 90 per cent of urban India and over 215,000 villages.

''Eventually, the network will encompass each of our over 600,000 villages,'' he said.

RIL said, Reliance Jio has more than 10,000 full-time employees working alongside nearly 30,000 professionals from its partners and vendors from all parts of the world.

In addition, there are more than 100,000 people working across the country to create the digital infrastructure backbone.

The acquisition through an Open offer of Network18 Media & Investments Ltd and its subsidiary TV18 Broadcast Ltd by Independent Media Trust, the sole beneficiary of which is Reliance Industries Limited, is one aspect of the digital services play, he said.

''This will differentiate and strengthen our 4G business at the unique intersects of telecom, web and digital commerce, and the media through a suite of premier digital properties,'' Ambani added.

Gearing up to launch its 4G services in the country, Reliance Jio Infocomm had entered into tower-sharing agreement with tower companies. These include independent tower company Tower Vision India, Bharti Infratel, Viom Networks and Reliance Communications (RCom).

The company has 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 have 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.

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 fiber-pair kilometres, across the top 300 cities and towns in India.

RJIL, 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.