RIL's Infotel Broadband renamed Reliance Jio Infocomm

NEW DELHI: Billionaire Ambani brothers on Tuesday struck a Rs 1,200 crore deal wherein Mukesh will use his younger sibling's optic fibre network for launch of his telecom venture.

Under the pact, Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries' telecom arm will hire nationwide optical fibre network of Reliance Communications for the roll-out of 4G services.

"Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd and Reliance Communications Ltd today announced the signing of a definitive agreement for approximately Rs 1,200 crore as one-time indefeasible right to use (IRU) fees for sharing RCom's nationwide inter-city fibre optic network infrastructure," RCom said in a statement.
Under the terms of the agreement, Reliance Jio Infocomm will utilize multiple fibre pairs across RCom's 1,20,000 kilometres inter-city fibre optic network to provide the backbone for rolling out its 4G services.

As per the agreement, RCom will in turn have reciprocal access to optic fibre infrastructure to be built by Reliance Jio Infocomm in the future.

"The agreement provides for joint working arrangements to be put in place immediately for upgradation of the optic fibre network, to ensure seamless delivery of next generation services," the statement said.

This agreement is the first in an intended comprehensive framework of business co-operation between Reliance Jio Infocomm and RCom to provide for optimal utilisation of the existing and future infrastructure of both companies on reciprocal basis, including inter alia, inter-city fibre, intra-city fiber, towers and related assets.

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Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Jio Infocomm gets 10,000 numbers to test 4G services

MUMBAI: Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Jio Infocomm has been assigned the 10,000 mobile numbers it needs to test its 4G services on a non-chargeable basis, a person familiar with development said.
The Reliance Industries' unit has been given 4,000 numbers in Delhi and Mumbai each and 2,000 in Jamnagar. Telecommunication Engineering Centre (TEC), the technical arm of the department of telecommunications (DoT), has been excluded from the trial records, the person, who did not wish to be named, said.
DoT, however, has guarded the right to publish Reliance Jio's trial findings on its website in case it deems fit to do so in consumer interest, the same person said. RILBSE 0.99 % did not respond to an emailed query sent by ET seeking information on the development.
ET had reported in December that DoT was mulling allocation of the Mobile Switching Centres (MSC) codes, based on which cellphone numbers are allocated. At the time the TEC had suggested that testing be restricted to a geographic area at a time, and the same infrastructure be used at different circles. It had suggested that the government set a time frame for the test and not allow the company to offer commercial services during this phase.
The DoT had said that since RIL's is the only firm to hold fourth generation airwaves on a national basis, it should be allowed to connect its networks with other telecom companies for testing purposes. Hence the 10,000 people can make and receive calls from existing mobile customers.
Other telecom companies have contested the amendment in regulations that allows Reliance Jio to offer voice services on LTE (long-term evolution), or 4G, technology, which is largely associated with faster mobile Internet connectivity.
RIL won airwaves and a licence to rollout 4G services in a government-conducted auction in May 2010. The launch of its services, however, has taken more time than vendors and analysts had hoped.
The potential of its offering voice when it launches high-end data services, currently scheduled towards the end of this year, is likely to unsettle competitors, as RIL proposes to shake up the telecom market in the same way as it did about a decade ago when it rolled out low-cost mobile services. The company that is now Reliance CommunicationsBSE 4.87 % was founded by the current promoter and management group of Reliance Jio in 2002-03.
It was widely credited for the sharp decline in mobile call rates and free incoming calls.
Reliance InfotelBSE -2.78 % is expected to first roll out 4G services in Delhi and Mumbai. It has been laying fibre optic cable networks in these cities along with a perpetual backbone fibre lease deal with Reliance Communications worth 1,200 crore. RIL has also entered into contracts with Ericcson, Samsung, IBM, and Microsoft for building networks, providing security solutions and for IT integration.

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