In a major move to become an integrated telecom player, Reliance Industries has applied for a mobile service license in India. This will boost Reliance Jio Infocomm’s 4G expansion.
This is the most vital strategic move for the billionaire Mukesh Ambani-promoted Reliance Industries which has a pan-India 4G license.
The development will assist Reliance Jio Infocomm to compete with Sunil Mittal-promoted Airtel, another 4G operator, Vodafone, Idea Cellular, etc. Airtel, Vodafone and Idea Cellular compete with Reliance Jio to get a pie of data growth in India.
Telecom industry analysts believe that Reliance Jio will spear head its data strategies with a national fiber backbone and last mile FTTH connection through Wi-Fi. The mobile license will compliment its 4G investments. Without a mobile license, it would have been difficult to RIL to succeed in the Indian telecom market.
Two weeks back, Airtel said it would launch 4G in Delhi, the most lucrative mobile market in the country. Airtel has 4G presence in Kolkata, Bangalore, Chandigarh and Pune. But its main presence is through 4G dongles.
There will be a strategic shift in Reliance Jio’s 4G plans because it will look at offering 4G on the mobile phone. This is besides through the traditional dongles. 4G on the mobile phone will trigger the LTE growth in India though there are wide spread concerns about lack of budget smartphones.
Reliance Jio, which is planning to invest $10 billion in its telecom venture, has already signed tower sharing agreement with Anil Ambani’s Reliance Communications.
The company’s move came three days after DoT issued migration guidelines for Unified Licence under which Internet service providers (ISP) such as Reliance Jio Infocomm that have broadband wireless access (BWA) spectrum can offer mobile telephony service by paying an extra fee of Rs 1,658.57 crore, PTI reported.
The company is rolling out its network in select cities as Reliance Jio Infocomm has already firmed up its plans to launch TD-LTE services in four key cities — Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and Jamnagar – during the current financial year. Reliance Jio earlier indicated that it will have a 10,000 member team next year from the current 3,000.
