8.6.13

Of RIL's 4G foray....

Thirteen years back, Mukesh Ambani’s ‘Monsoon Hungama’ unleashed India’s telecom revolution.
He’s set to change the game again starting next year -- by offering ultra-futuristic 4G services at “one-hundredth of current costs”, firing a warning shot at telecom incumbents.
Ambani plans to offer ultra-cheap data too — cheaper than 3G and 2G available today.
“The Reliance Jio initiative will radically transform the lives of 1.2 billion Indians. Our vision for India is that broadband and digital services will no longer be a luxury item — a scarce commodity — to be rationed amongst the privileged few. We envision an India where these are basic necessities to be consumed in abundance by consumers and small businesses alike, as much in far-flung villages as in our largest cities,” Mukesh Ambani, chairman of Reliance Industries (RIL) told shareholders at the company’s thirty-ninth annual general meeting (AGM) on Thursday.
RIL is hopeful of many consumers migrating to its telecom network, when it becomes a standalone telecom operator offering 4G voice and data services next year.
Another revolutionary plan is to launch a 4G wi-fi card the size of a visiting card, which becomes a personal wi-fi hotspot.
With this card, one doesn’t need a 3G or 4G-enabled handset to access internet, nor switch the operator to avail of RIL’s 4G services.
All these would be part of Reliance Jio’s 4G offerings, that also includes 4G handsets, SIM cards, chipsets and dongles.
Reliance Jio has already invested Rs.18,000 crore to buy pan-India 4G spectrum, and will be trebling employee base from 3,000 now to 10,000 in a year – which is what the big telcos in India have.
Last year, Reliance Jio had 700 on rolls.
RIL has also paid Rs.1,200 crore to lease Reliance Communications’ 120,000 kms of inter-city optic fibre network for 20 years.
Industry sources confirmed Reliance Jio would not be buying any tower assets, preferring to remain an asset-free company and would instead only take them on lease.
While it is expected that Reliance Jio will launch 4G services in a pilot stage in Delhi and Mumbai in December this year, full-fledged operations are expected to take off by March 2014.

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