Reliance Jio, the telecom arm of the Mukesh Ambani-promoted Reliance Industries (RIL) will offer broadband internet services in 900 cities and towns using optical fiber (FTTx).
The company does not talk about the timeframe for the pan-India roll out. The FTTx service is in addition to its earlier planned 4G LTE services.
Reliance Jio, which has both TD-LTE and FD-LTE spectrum, is yet to officially launch 4G services. Media reports suggest that high speed Internet on LTE network will be available from September. It is currently facing lack of availability of budget devices for Indian telecom market.
Recently, Bharti Airtel announced Apple iPhone 5c and iPhone 5s and LG LTE smartphones to offer voice services on its 4G network. But these phones are costly. Reliance Jio’s plan to bring fiber based broadband will enable it to ensure seamless Internet to Indian mobile users. This will reduce its dependence on 4G spectrum as well.
The company in a report said that it has completed a detailed planning for pan-India implementation of the infrastructure needed for the project, PTI reported.
Besides data offerings, Reliance Jio, which entered the telecom market by bagging BWA license in 2010, will be providing voice calling service using voice over LTE (VoLTE) technology on its 4G network. The company has already showcased technology with China Mobile in Barcelona during the GSM 2014 Congress.
Reliance Jio has also finalized some vendors for 4G devices at affordable rates and is in process of selecting some more.
The company in its report said it has already launched free Wi-Fi spots in 8 locations at Ahmedabad and 9 locations at Baroda and Surat.
Reliance Jio has provided high speed internet trials to over 55,000 unique devices since the launch. Users are provided 72 hours of free usage which can be extended through reactivation.
RJio recently won spectrum in 1800 Mhz, widely known as 2G spectrum, for Rs 11,054 crore in 14 service area. This spectrum can now be used for 4G services.
RJIL plans to provide seamless 4G services using FDD LTE on 1800 Mhz and TDD LTE on 2300 Mhz through an integrated ecosystem.
Pix source: Wikipedia
TelecomLead News Team
