Reliance On The Roll: 4G To Connect By 2015
Reliance On The Roll: 4G To Connect By 2015
Reliance Industries is set to launch its 4G telecommunications services by 2015, according to Chairman Mukesh Ambani. The energy major is aiming to boost revenue from new areas of business. Reliance Industries Limited is currently India's third most valued company. It gets a king's share of its revenue from an energy empire.
Reliance has also expanded into new businesses such as media, retails and telecommunications. Growth in the core energy business is currently slowing down. This is a good move considering that the earth's natural resources are getting depleted fast and renewable energy is on the roll.
Reliance also made a comeback to the telecommunications sector in 2010 by giving birth to Reliance Jio Infocomm. This company has won nationwide 4G airwaves in a governmental auction. It has yet to start services as business is built on technology which is still developing.
Ambani has informed shareholders that Reliance has started with an investment of 700 billion rupees which is around $11.7 billion in the telecoms area. The company is also set to launch 4G services in phases in the year 2015. Reliance aims to provide “future-proof” and “world-class”services for broadband in the country. Limited field trails are already underway, according to announcements made in the Reliance's annual shareholder meeting.
Reliance is going to invest more than $30 billion or 1.8 trillion rupees over a 3 year span ending in March 2016 across all its businesses. The company has also announced plans last year to invest 1.5 trillion rupees over a period of 3 years.
Reliance Industries is banking on technology which is still under development. But with field trials underway, signs are imminent that India's largest company is set to do something big. Reliance Jio Infocomm which is the digital services initiative of this corporate giant's telecom arm, is moving on to initiate a phased launch in the coming year.
There is much excitement as this is one of the “most transformational initiatives” of RIL wherein network and broadband services will cover 5,000 towns and cities in urban India and a staggering 215,000 villages in rural parts of the country.
Reliance Jio is planning to encompass 600,000 villages ultimately. It has more than 10,000 full time employees alongside 30,000 professional partners and vendors from all parts of the world. Additonally, there are 100,000 people across the country working hard to strengthen the digital infrastructure backbone. With Reliance Jio birthing a new 4G service, as far as the rural telecom connectivity in India is concerned, 2015 is a year when “acche din aane walein hain”. Internet for all is on the roll.
