Reliance Infocomm plans presence in 4,00,000 villages

The expansion drive is part of the company's Rs 24,000 crore plan to establish a nationwide footprint.

Reliance Infocomm today announced plans to launch services in 400,000 villages and 5,700 towns to provide services to 650 million people by December 2005.

The expansion drive is part of the company's Rs 24,000 crore plan to establish a nationwide footprint. It has invested Rs 15,000 crore for service roll-out, said Reliance Infocomm chief operating officer (wireless business) Kamal Nanavaty.

Reliance, which had a subscriber base of 10.3 million at the end of December 2004, has estimated that the current expansion drive will help it double its subscriber base by the end of March 2006.

He also said that Reliance would reduce long distance tariff from February 1 to pass on the benefits of the reduction in the access deficit charge (ADC).

Nanavaty, however, did not specify details of the new tariff plans. "We are working at reducing our post-paid tariffs. Our pre-paid tariffs are already lower than that of our competitors. The tariff cuts will be announced on February 1,'' he said.

On Reliance's expansion plans Nanavaty said, "The company's 80,000 km of terabit optic fibre, of which 70,000 is already in place, will form the backbone of the countrywide expansion. The drive will also include the setting up of 8,500 base transceiver stations, and will cover 92 per cent of the national highways, 60 per cent of the state highways and 85 per cent of the railway routes.''

On the launch of Reliance's broadband services for individuals, Nanavaty said the company had started a test run in some localities in Mumbai, and the services would be made available "very soon".

Reliance executives added that the service provider was continuing its testing of Wi-Fi and WiMAX platforms, while the e-video platform was ready for launch.

"The e-video facility is already available in certain campuses in Mumbai. We are waiting for the Department of Telecommunication to allot spectrum to launch this service," said a company executive.