Reliance Comm plans to expand GSM service

Reliance Communications is undertaking a major expansion of its GSM-based services in its eight operations spread across the country. This is apart from its plans to start new operations in cities like Delhi and Mumbai.

The company plans to add between 10-12 million GSM lines. The total outlay for the expansion is pegged at over Rs 1,500 crore, of which a significant portion will be spent on purchasing equipment.

The new gear will be installed in Assam, West Bengal, the Northeast, Orissa, Bihar, Himachal Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh to cater to higher number of users, expected to grow rapidly from the present two million users.

Reliance Telecom was in talks with five major telecom equipment vendors, including Motorola, Nokia, ZTE among others, for this order, company sources said.

With this it is clear that Reliance Communication Ventures Ltd is making serious bid to increase its market share and presence in the country.

The company has already moved the department of telecom (DoT), seeking allocation of 4.4 Mhz spectrum in the 1800 Mhz frequency band.

It recently approached the DoT's wireless planning and coordination (WPC) wing for operating a GSM service in Mumbai and Delhi. Under the unified access service licence for telecom, companies can use either GSM or CDMA or a mix of this and other technologies like CorDECT to offer services.

Recently Bharti Airtel had also sought CDMA spectrum some time back to use in its existing five fixed line operations in states like Madhya Pradesh and Haryana.