Telecom Lead India: Reliance Jio Infocomm, the 95 percent subsidiary of Reliance Industries (RIL), has invested Rs 8 crore in fiscal 2013.
Reliance Jio Infocomm, which is gearing up to launch 4G using TD-LTE technology in Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata and Jamnagar during the current fiscal (2013-2014), has capital of Rs 7,822 crore.
Reliance Jio Infocomm, one of the most challenging projects for the billionaire Mukesh Ambani, has assets worth Rs 18,761 crore.
The 4G service provider has made a net loss of Rs 5.75 crore on revenue of Rs 0.05 crore during fiscal 2013.
Mukesh Ambani, chairman and managing director of RIL, is looking after the progress of the broadband venture. The company says it has finalized key agreements with telecom equipment vendors, application companies in order to launch 4G services.
Reliance Jio Infocomm is trying to speed up its roll out and finalize the business plan at a time when Sunil Mittal promoted Bharti Airtel is going slow with its 4G venture. After getting the BWA license in 2010, Airtel launched 4G in select parts of 4 circles.
Reliance Jio Infocomm recently said it would offer 4G services in eastern and northeastern states. Reliance Jio will invest about Rs 7,000 crore through the next two to three years. It will invest Rs 3,000 crore in West Bengal and Rs 3,000-4,000 crore in other eastern and northeastern states. In West Bengal, the company plans to lay optical fiber cables across 5,500 km. It would use 3,500 telecom towers to support its 4G services in the state.
Considering the fact that the company has not started investing heavily in networks, it will be tough to roll out fool proof 4G networks in these four cities. India’s telecom sector is looking for consolidation. The telecom industry is looking for some action from Mukesh Ambani and team. If they buy an existing venture, it will be easy for them to roll out 4G and become an integrated telecom operator in the Indian mobile market.
Since Indian broadband market has 15 million broadband connections against 800 + million mobile users, there’s huge potential to be tapped. With the assistance of telecom equipment vendors such as Samsung, Nokia, Ericsson, Nokia Siemens, etc. Reliance Jio can bring cheers to the market. The question: how long we need to wait?
Pix: intomobile.com
Baburajan K
editor@telecomlead.com
