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Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) is gearing for the launch of fourth-generation (4G) service, with the capital allocated by the company towards telecom increasing by Rs 2,000 crore quarter-on-quarter, according to a Credit Suisse report. This capital, the report said, was used to purchase equipment from vendors.
“Reliance Jio has finalised the key vendor and supplier partnerships required for the launch of our services and is making rapid progress in building the critical infrastructure needed to launch its services,” RIL had said in a press release of its quarterly results announced three days ago.
Reliance Jio, RIL’s telecom venture, has faced delays in launches. Bharti Airtel, India’s largest telecom operator, has already launched 4G services in Kolkata, Pune and Bangalore. RIL is the only company to have pan-India licences for WiMax spectrum, through which it can provide high-speed data-only services.
RIL has said it has already increased its 4G workforce by more than four times —from 700 to 3,000 employees — at its Navi Mumbai campus. Through the next year, it would increase the strength of the team to about 10,000 across the country, RIL Chairman and Managing Director Mukesh Ambani had said on June 6, at the company’s annual general meeting in Mumbai.
Reliance Jio and Reliance Communications (RCom), headed by Anil Ambani, have joined hands to hasten RIL’s telecom launch. Both the companies had signed a definitive agreement to allow Reliance Jio to use RCom’s inter-city fiber optic network. Reliance Jio had also said it would share 45,000 of RCom’s telecom towers.
