Reliance Communications To Place $5.6 Bn Gsm Order

[@ksh@T 20]

MUMBAI: Reliance Communications Ltd, the country's No. 2 mobile services operator, plans to place an order for 70 million GSM lines which could be valued at up to $5.6 billion, according to a media report.

"We are already in discussions with equipment vendors for the GSM roll-out," the report cited a senior company executive as saying. The order is likely to be placed sometime next year, it said, citing analysts.

Reliance Communications, which last month received government approval to launch services on the dominant GSM platform nationwide, has begun talks with Ericsson, Alcatel-Lucent and Motorola Inc for the order, the paper said.

"RCom is talking about a contract that could be for as many as 70 million lines and it is a tough customer," the report cited a senior executive at a European vendor as saying.

A spokesman for Reliance Communications did not immediately return a call seeking comment.

While the contract could be worth $80 a line, Reliance Communications - which already operates CDMA services in 21 of India's 23 telecom zones - was pushing to keep the per line cost at around $50, it cited an analyst as saying.

[srk006 21]

But what will happen if Reliance did not get the required spectrum? Isn't this a big risk placing euipment order even before the raw material is not available.

[linuxguy 0]

srk006, ambani hai bhai. usko spectrum nai milega toh aur kisko milega?

[Arun 795]

more tie-ups for GSM !

Reliance invests in E-Band Communications

EE Times (12/04/2007 11:15 AM EST)

BENGALURU, India — Reliance Technology Ventures, the venture capital arm of the Mumbai-based Reliance ADA Group, has invested an undisclosed amount in E-Band Communications, a San Diego-based designer and manufacturer of multigigabit wireless communication systems.

The Reliance funds are part of a Series B funding round for E-Band, which builds wireless equipment for the 71- to 86-GHz millimeter wave band. Other investors includes an undisclosed U.S. telecom company, Investec and Hercules Technology Growth Capital.

"E-Band provides wireless last-mile access and backhaul, which is complementary to 4G, WiMax, distributed antenna systems and remote radio heads," said Harshal J. Shah, chief executive of Reliance Technology Ventures Ltd.

Another Reliance company, Reliance Communications, is India's largest CDMA-based wireless phone services provider. It is now moving into GSM-based services, hence the E-Band investment may be linked to Reliance Communications' plans.

Reliance said E-Band's technology enables wireless transmission speeds up to 10 gigabits per second. E-Band has a license to co-develop communication systems around the 71 to 86 GHz millimeter-wave radio technology along with Northrop Grumman Corp.

Just noticed this job ad posting by Reliance Communications:

http://jobs.monsterindia.com/details/4570831.html

GSM/GPRS/UMTS Handset Testers

posted right after they paid the GSM license fee !