RCom to offer ILD services in UK

Telecom service provider Reliance Communications (RCom) is to tap the retail international long distance (ILD) calling space in the UK. The company has entered into a tie-up with London-based TeleGlobal and has chalked a roadmap for its foray into the country.

The tie-up will enable the company to sell its 'Reliance IndiaCall', an international calling card across 20,000 outlets in UK. Reliance Communications would be targeting ethnic Asians in the continent, who comprise over 10 per cent of the total population in the UK.

Reliance Communications is already selling its calling cards in various countries across the world and has a customer base of 2.5 lakh subscribers. Immigrant Indians in the European continent and the US mainly use the card.

A Reliance Communications' spokesperson confirmed that the company has entered into a strategic tie-up with TeleGlobal.

While he declined to share the average revenue per user (ARPU) of the cards, industry sources estimates it to be in the range of $20 per month. According to a back of the envelope calculation, it contributes over $240 million annually to the company's revenues.

TeleGlobal, an online e-commerce platform, would work as its partner in the UK. Together, the companies intend to address around 2 million Asians in the country.

The London-based company sells an online pre-paid product called Snap Card that can be used as a debit or credit card for making online purchases.

Reliance Communications has recently entered the Fortune 500 list. The company was also in advanced stages of negotiations with global banking majors to raise $1 billion (about Rs 4,000 crore) in overseas debt that would be used to partly finance its capital expenditure in the current financial year.

It is in talks with several banks including ABN Amro Holding, Barclays, Calyon, HSBC Holdings, BNP Paribas, Mizuho Corporate Bank and Standard Chartered for the loan.