Reliance (RIL) MAY form Joint Venture with Reliance Communications to launch cheaper tablets
NDTV Correspondent, November 2, 2011, (Mumbai)
Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries is likely to join hands with Anil Ambani’s Reliance Communication (RCom) in a bid to launch cheaper tablet devices for Rs. 6,000 a piece. Reliance may use RCom’s towers and fiber optic cables to offer high-speed data services. This will be the first major collaboration between the brothers after their spilt in 2005.
This deal, however, will not involve any equity investment by Reliance in RCom.
Besides using towers, Reliance will also use RCom’s transmission facilities like domestic and global long distance networks to carry its data traffic. The partnership will allow Reliance to access around 50,000 towers of Reliance Communications from 1,500 cities in the country.
Reliance is also planning to source GSM-based voice services from Reliance Communications in order to provide them through bundled deals to its data customers.
The Ambani brothers had terminated an incomplete agreement in May 2010, which had been in place for five years, permitting Reliance Industries to mark a re-entry into telecom. Later, Reliance became the only company to acquire licenses for wireless broadband services across the nation for Rs. 13,000 crore.
Shares of Reliance Communication were up 2.26% at Rs. 79.15 on the BSE.