The telecom venture of Reliance Industries, Reliance Jio Infocomm Limited is in a dialogue with mobile device manufacturers of China for a tie up between their products and its 4G service. It is seeking to sell low cost phones to its customers.
Aim of the deals
With the deals, the company wants to repeat its feat of 12 years ago. In 2003, Reliance led a revolution by offering cheap phones in India. The mobile market in India was in its initial stage when Reliance gave phones as cheap as $11. This made mobile phones affordable for a larger population and the company was also able to get around 10 lakhs customers in just 10 days.
Reliance Jio is talking with companies like Xiaomi, Huawei and Gionee. A senior official of a Chinese cell phone company informed that a non-disclosure agreement between the two has been signed. Another company informed that they are in talks with Reliance Jio and may soon sign a deal.
The spokesperson of Reliance Jio said that the organization has chalked out a program to deal with varied major mobile device makers. The program will also help to ensure that in future, any phone will be released only after certification and the phones will be in complete accordance with Reliance Jio’s 4Gservice. Reliance Jio will attract customers with an upfront payment of Rs. 2,000 to 3,000 or around $30 to $45, will offer its 4G service and buy the customer’s existing mobile phone.
At present only 10% of Indians use smartphone, but a majority of them access internet through mobile phones. As per Boston Consultancy Group, internet users will grow three times in the next three years.
Reliance Jio’s preparations for 4G
Reliance Jio will be rolling out its 4G service in all the states of the country, this year. Focusing on 5,000 towns and cities, the company will cover more than 90% urban India. Besides, the company will launch its 4G service in more than 215,000 villages, as well.
Any company that bagged Broadband Wireless Access (BWA) spectrum in 2010 will have to launch its service before 31st August, 2015, covering minimum 90% of its service areas. Only Reliance Jio had won pan-India BWA in 2010. According to the rule, Department of Telecom has the authority to withdraw the radiowavesif any company missed the deadline.Spectrum auction was held in March, this year. During this period, Reliance Jio bought spectrum band of 800 MHz in 10 regions and additional 1800 MHz in 6 regions. This will benefit the company to offer efficient 4G service and voice calling services.
Last week, the company acquired loan of USD 750 million that is approximately Rs. 4,500 crores. Reliance Jio will be using the money to fund goods and services from Korean companies, Ace Technologies Corp and Samsung Electronics which are being tapped for its upcoming 4G venture.