Reliance Jio Infocomm will use Viom Networks’ 42,000 telecom towers across the country. Earlier this month, it signed a similar deal with Bharti Infratel.

The deal is expected to assist the Mukesh Ambani-promoted 4G service provider to speed up roll out of LTE services and reduce capital spending (Capex), said Viom Networks, a Tata Teleservices and SREI Infrastructure joint venture.

Viom Networks did not financial details of the tower deal.

Reliance Jio Infocomm acquired the broadband wireless access (BWA) license in 2010. Due to lack of preparedness and availability of a strong eco-system, it could not launch LTE services in the last four years. Bharti Airtel, though launched the 4G services in four cities, is lagging in customer acquisition. Airtel recently tied up with Apple to boost revenues from 4G services in its Bangalore circle.

“This agreement is in line with our mission of a Pan India launch spanning next-generation voice and data services and leveraging existing telecom infrastructure,” said Sanjay Mashruwala, managing director, Reliance Jio.

Also read: Reliance Jio Infocomm to offer voice services besides 4G data

Viom Networks is not the first telecom tower vendor to sign an agreement with Reliance Jio Infocomm.

Also read: Reliance Jio signs telecom tower deal with Bharti Infratel

On 4 March, Reliance Jio announced its telecom tower deal with Bharti Infratel.Bharti Infratel, which also supports operators such as Bharti Airtel, did not share the pricing details and the number of towers. Bharti Infratel has more than 82,000 telecom towers, which includes over 35,000 of its own towers and the balance from its 42 percent equity interest in Indus Towers.

Also read: Reliance Jio sources 4G LTE BTS from Samsung in Rs 7,500 crore deal

Reliance Jio, which is planning to launch 4G services on the TD-LTE technologies in the second half of the current year, is sourcing 70,000 BTS in a deal valued at an estimated Rs 7,500 crore. Of these, 14,000 stations (20 percent) have already been handed over to Reliance Jio Infocomm, at the start of December.

Also read: Reliance Jio to use FD-LTE, TD-LTE integrated technology for 4G launch

On 14 February, Reliance Industries (RIL) Chairman and Managing Director Mukesh D Ambani said Reliance Jio Infocomm will offer 4G LTE services using FD-LTE on 1800 MHz and TD-LTE on 2300 MHz band through an integrated ecosystem.

Reliance Jio Infocomm bought spectrum in the 1800 MHz band for Rs 11,054 crore during the spectrum auction. Its rival Vodafone has emerged as the number one telecom operator during the spectrum auction, ahead of Sunil Mittal-promoted Bharti Airtel.

Baburajan K
[email protected]