Gearing up for its pan-India 4G services launch in coming months, Reliance Jio Infocomm has approached the Department of Telecom for a network test conducted along with security agencies.
The deal follows Facebook picking up a 9.99 per cent stake in the firm that houses India's youngest but largest telecom firm on April 22 for Rs 43,574 crore. Within days of that deal, Silver Lake -- the world's largest tech investor -- bought a 1.15 per cent stake in Jio Platforms for Rs 5,665.75 crore. On May 8, US-based Vista Equity Partners bought 2.32 per cent stake in Jio Platforms for Rs 11,367 crore.
Reliance Industries Chairman Mukesh Ambani on Monday said his company is open to joining hands with Bharti Airtel for improving telecom network for 4G services in Punjab.
Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) and Association of Unified Telcom Service Providers of India (AUSPI) have opposed the proposal to compensate consumers.
The amount from securitisation has been utilised to repay rupee debt, saving significant interest costs for the company.
Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd on Friday tested its 4G network at the Techfest event in IIT Bombay campus by running trials of video calls and Jio television service, among others.
JioFiber, India's first 100 per cent all-fiber broadband service, will start from 100 Mbps and go all the way up to 1 Gbps. This will propel India to top 5 broadband nations globally.
For the full 2016-17 fiscal, the company generated its highest ever annual profit at Rs 29,901 crore. The annual profit was 18.8 per cent higher than the previous year's.
Officials of Reliance Jio Infocomm claimed to have achieved broadband speeds on their networks that are 10-12 times faster than 3G services.
Bharti Airtel is the largest mobile phone operator in the country.
Reliance Industries on Friday announced the sale of 2.32 per cent stake in its digital unit to US-based Vista Equity Partners for Rs 11,367 crore, the third deal in a little over two weeks that will inject a combined Rs 60,596.37 crore in the oil-to-telecom conglomerate to help it pare debt. The US-based private equity firm will buy a stake in Jio Platforms, which houses the country's youngest but biggest telecom firm Jio, at an equity value of Rs 4.91 crore and an enterprise value of Rs 5.16 crore.
Events to keep an eye out for...
The sharing agreement will provide more bandwidth for RJIL to provide its high-speed 4G services.
Isha and Akash, 23, were appointed to the boards of Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd and Reliance Retail Ventures Ltd, the company said.
Trial offer is only by invite as of now, but is expected to be extended soon to select customers of Reliance Digital Express.
Reliance Industries Ltd is expected to invest Rs 30,000 crore (Rs 300 billion), of the total Rs 70,000 crore (Rs 700 billion) announced, in its telecom arm Reliance Jio Infocomm over the next two years, credit rating firm Moody's said on Monday. The investment in the telecom business is a credit negative for RIL because RJio will not generate any EBITDA (an indicator of cash flows) for at least next 12 months, it said. Moody's added however that RJio will be a formidable competitor in the sector making it a credit negative for top telecom operators already in the field. "Based on RIL's March 2014 annual report, we estimate that it has already invested about Rs 400 billion (Rs 40,000 crore) in Reliance Jio, and we expect RIL to invest the next Rs 300 billion in Reliance Jio over the next two years," Moody's Investors Service said in a statement. RIL recently announced that it will launch commercial 4G telecom service of RJio in 2015 entailing investment of Rs 70,000 crore. RIL has said that RJio will initially cover about 5,000 towns and cities accounting for over 90 per cent of urban India, as well as over 215,000 villages in India and the target is to expand this to over 600,000 villages. Moody's said RJio will be a "formidable competitor in India's telecom sector" as it will enter the business with financial muscle. RJio's entry into highly competitive telecom sector is also credit negative for incumbent mobile operators and market leaders Bharti Airtel and Vodafone India because "it will undoubtedly result in intensified competition that will lead to declines in average revenue per user and margins". But, it also said that strong spectrum holding of incumbents; existing large subscriber-bases and well- established brand equity; offering 2G and 3G services (apart from 4G services being launched) as well as marketing and distribution architecture mitigate much of the near-term competitive threat from Reliance Jio for them. "Furthermore, given issues of language and literacy, large parts of rural India remain a substantially voice-based market where near-term demand for 4G services may be muted," Moody's said.
Infrastructure for all-IP next-generation, wireless broadband infrastructure across all the 29 states in India is being laid, says Mukesh.
Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd is expected to use between 30,000 and 45,000 mobile towers when it starts offering 4G services in the third or fourth quarter of this financial year, according to Credit Suisse.
DoT though failed to implement TRAI's recommendations to levy spectrum usage charge
The call failure rate, Jio said, has been worsening rapidly in the last few days, while augmentation of interconnection capacity is still awaited
The latest deal would give Facebook deeper access to India, the second largest internet market after China.
The deal, as well as some other strategic and financial investments in works, will help Ambani cut debt at RIL.
Strategic direction post-COVID-19 and further details on asset monetisation are key expectations from the 43rd AGM of RIL, analysts said.
Jio has accused incumbent telecom operators for not providing the required number of equipment to connect its mobile network with theirs
Ending Paytm's monopoly as the only wallet payment option on Uber, the ride-hailing service has decided to allow payments through Jio Money. Alnoor Peermohamed reports.
Airtel has pitched for a hike in mobile and data tariffs.
Spectrum auction on Thursday entered the 10th day of bidding and started off from Rs 61,091.83 crore (Rs 610.91 billion) in terms of value.
Telecom companies have put in bids worth Rs 58,332 crore (Rs 583.32 billion) in spectrum auction at the end of 49 rounds on the 7th day of bidding on Monday.
The auction started off with the 36th round this morning. At the end of 35 rounds on Friday, bids worth around Rs 54,600 crore had been received by the government.
Telecom operator Reliance Jio Infocomm has arranged credit facilities worth $1.5 billion with lenders, including Bank of America and Barclays, to refinance existing loans.
Company has plans to launch its latest 4G enabled phone Lumia 830 priced at around Rs 26,000 before taxes by Oct.
Reliance joins a number of large companies, including the Essar and Adani groups, which are raising loans abroad as interest rates in India remain high.
Bharti Airtel customers can now avail its 4G data plans starting from Rs 450, down 31 per cent from Rs 650 earlier in Bengaluru, Kolkata, Pune and Chandigarh circles.
Reliance Jio to take over mobile business assets of troubled RCom at an estimated value of Rs 24,000-Rs 25,000 crore.
The licensee will have to ensure that at least half the areas under rural telecom exchanges gets the required street level coverage.
Spectrum trading will happen in 9 circles.
Experts say going ahead data price will fall further due to competition
The launch of Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd last September, particularly the tariff war it has unleashed on its competitors, has deepened the crisis facing India's telecom sector. One offshoot of this is the major drop in earnings reported by industry leaders Bharti Airtel and Idea Cellular with each passing quarter. Aslam Hunani/Rediff.com tells the story in numbers.
Says spending $3 billion every year on networks alone
Airtel, Vodafone, Idea, RCom, Reliance Jiosubmitted applications.
© 2026 Rediff.com - Advertise with us - Disclaimer - Privacy Policy - Sitemap - Feedback - About us - Terms of use - Grievances