To foster a strong and viable infrastructure for its 4G venture, Reliance Industries Limtied (RIL) has struck yet another deal with Reliance Communications. Reliance Jio Infocomm (RJI), the telecom arm of RIL will share fibre optic network, owned by Reliance Communications, spread in many cities across the country. This will be consecutively the third telecommunication infrastructure deal between the two companies.
According to a speculation, the estimated value of this deal is about Rs 3,000 crore. Reliance Jio will be affiliated with this intra-city fibre optic cable network (OFC) to offer the latest generation broadband services. Previously, there have been two infrastructural deals between the two companies. The first deal was to lease RComm fibre optic cable network connecting cities, while the second deal was for a multi-year lease of 45,000 telecom towers. RJI’s 4G wireless service will run in synchronization with the towers and fibre rented from RCom. RIL will have to install its own equipment on top of the towers to offer high-speed broadband services. These services will offer broadband speeds up to 100 Mbps.
RJIL has been formulated to provide broadband access to people that can truly transform lives of the consumers. It will give access to Internet, email, voice and video communications, news, social networking, games , education, health and fitness ,finance, travel, e-commerce, e-governance and homeland security services.
This collaboration with RIL has been very bountiful for RComm, as the latter company has reduced its debt level from Rs 37,000 crore to Rs 31,000 crore. Furthermore, even if this deal materializes with RIL, RComm will remove more debt burden from its sheets. These deals have brought in much-needed cash for RCom, the former telecommunication brand which was launched under the banner of Reliance headed by Dhirubhai Ambani then.
For Reliance Jio, these deals ease the launch of its 4G services. This new telecommunication required an ecosystem of its own. With RIL striking deals on multiple levels with technology partners, device partners, infrastructure providers, Reliance Jio will face no issues to cater to its customers spread across the nation.
At the annual general meeting, Mukesh Ambani on throwing some light on the upcoming venture said, “India has a unique opportunity to surpass the world and become a leader in delivery of digital content.” He also said that in addition to fast Internet connectivity on a pan-India basis, RJI will also offer end-to-end solutions that address the entire value chain across various digital services like education, healthcare, security, financial services, government-citizen interfaces and entertainment.