Reliance Infocomm is to take a decision on Thursday to set a new date for the commercial launch of its limited mobile services.

The Reliance Infocomm spokesperson was not available for comment but sources in its management team confirmed that a delay in the commercial launch, slated for April 1, had become inevitable because the company was not fully interconnected with major telecom operators.

As a result, Reliance Infocomm has extended the Dhirubhai Ambani Pioneer offer to June 30, 2003, in 110 cities and to July 31 in the other 575.

Confirming the extension, a senior executive with Reliance Infocomm said the scheme was extended mainly for two reasons: problems related to connectivity with other operators and issues related to its own network. However, the official refused to comment on the postponement of the launch or the tentative new date for the commercial launch.

The executive, however, said, "The response to the offer is good and we have a good number of subscribers within the time-frame as compared with other operators". The Dhirubhai Ambani Pioneer offer, scheduled to close on March 31, included free CDMA handsets worth Rs 10,500 and attractive financing packages.

Following the extension of the offer, the free "on-net calls" from one Reliance Infocomm mobile to another will also be extended to April 30. The calls were to be charged from April 1.

Reliance Infocomm has also informed dealers under the Dhirubhai Ambani Entrepreneur plan that they will be able to relinquish their dealership and get their deposits refunded if they choose to.