Reliance Communications In Agreement With Ditech Networks

[Arun 795]

Economic Times

13 Feb 2009, 1417 hrs IST

Reliance Communicationsty (RCOM) has entered into an agreement with US-based Ditech Networks to deploy the latter's voice enhancement solution on its recently unveiled GSM network. The deal is estimated to be worth Rs 50 crore.

The company said 'this deployment is expected to enhance voice clarity on Reliance Mobile by approximately 30 per cent'.

"The agreement value between RCOM and Ditech Networks is in the region of Rs 50 crore. RCOM is undertaking Ditech trial runs on its network starting February 12, 2009. RCOM will initially deploy Ditech's voice enhancement solutions across Top 10 towns and then extend coverage across other locations," the company said.

Ditech Networks is a global telecommunications equipment supplier for communications networks. Ditech Networks' voice processing products serve the needs of mobile and wireline operators for circuit- and packet-based networks.

RCOM has also unveiled a series of network enhancement initiatives for urban areas. These include plans to increase its Base Tower Stations (BTS) from current 25,000 stations to over 36,000 stations.

The deployment of 11,000 additional BTS is expected to be completed by the end of current fiscal, the company said. The company is also planning to triple its IBS (In-Building Solutions) from current 800 stations to over 3,000 stations and this is expected to be completed by end of first quarter of next fiscal, it added.

As for rural India, the telco plans to enhance its network by deploying high gain antennas, which are specialized equipment which helps optimize network in remote areas without requiring to set-up mobile towers.

"These High Gain Antennas will help enhance network coverage in remote areas by optimizing coverage footprint of existing tower infrastructure by over 20%. Since revenue contribution of such remote areas is limited and may not necessarily justify setting up mobile towers in these locations, high gain antennas help in optimizing existing network to enhance its overall footprint," the company added.