When Reliance Jio 4G service will hit 880 towns

Reliance Jio Infocomm is rolling out office infrastructure across 880 cities / towns across India – ahead of its much awaited 4G LTE launch.

The company, which has invested more than Rs 20,000 crore for infrastructure and Capex (capital spending), is yet to announce the official date for rolling out 4G services that can take on established players such as Bharti Airtel, Idea Cellular, Vodafone India, etc.

Billionaire Mukesh Ambani-promoted Reliance Jio Infocomm said it continues to hire talent for various positions across all locations, said Reliance Industries (RIL) in its annual report for fiscal 2015.

Reliance Jio is trying to tap the huge, untapped broadband market in India. TRAI says India has more than 961 million mobile subscribers as of February 2015, while the number of broadband users is around 18.7 million broadband connections as of September, 2014, excluding internet access by wireless phone subscribers.

The pan India 4G operator plans to provide fast internet connectivity via the 20 MHz BWA spectrum. RJIL has also acquired 1800 MHz spectrum across 14 key circles in February, 2014. In March 2015, RJIL acquired the right to use spectrum in 800 MHz band or 1800 MHz band or both in 13 key circles across India.

Reliance Jio 4G
With this acquisition, in addition to the pan-India 2300 MHz spectrum, RJIL has spectrum in either 800 MHz or 1800 MHz or both, in 20 out of the total 22 circles in the country. RJIL’s total equivalent spectrum footprint has increased from 597.6 MHz to 751.1 MHz.

“RJIL is working aggressively in achieving the minimum rollout obligations as specified in the notice inviting application for the spectrum auction in 2010, as per the Test Schedule Test Procedure (TSTP) issued by DoT in March, 2015,” said RIL annual report.

RJIL was allotted Mobile Switching Centre Code (MSC), Mobile Country Code (MCC) and Mobile Network Code (MNC) for mobile access services across all 22 circles by the DoT, hence providing it with about 22 million mobile phone numbers across India to provide mobile access services.

The telecom operator has been allotted crucial Signalling Point (SP) codes by DoT for launching National Long Distance (NLD) and International Long Distance (ILD) services. RJIL has also received clearances to set up international internet gateways by Centre for Development of Telematics (C-DoT) and DoT.

In addition to LTE and its future versions, it will continue to evaluate and deploy other technologies, both wireless and wire-line, to offer comprehensive broadband solutions to consumers, small businesses, enterprises, government and other entities.
RJIL plans to provide 4G voice calling using VoLTE.

The company is also planning to offer high speed broadband over fibre to the x (FTTx). It is in the process of implementation of the detailed plans for the infrastructure needed in few selected markets and has also started field operations on a pilot basis.

RJIL has been involved in developing the ecosystem for India’s LTE phones, working with renowned OEMs, Original Design Manufacturers (ODMs) and chipset vendors on end-to-end device design and engineering.

RJIL is currently conducting field tests in Navi Mumbai, Jamnagar and other locations on integration RJIL is involved in setting up of robust sales and distribution network through a chain of distributors and retailers across the country. RJIL is already working on creating better customer support experience.

Baburajan K
[email protected]