Reliance Jio - Pan India 4G / LTE network

[Arun 795]

Ambanis Join Hands: Reliance Communications to Partner Reliance Jio in 4G Services

Thomson Reuters | Last Updated: September 30, 2015 16:12 (IST)

Terming it as a "virtual consolidation" in the highly-competitive telecom space, Anil Ambani on Wednesday said his group firm RCom is tying up 'trading and sharing' of spectrum with Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Jio including for the much-awaited 4G services.

Addressing shareholders at the Annual General Meeting, Reliance Communications Chairman also said he was "grateful" to his elder brother for "unstinted support and guidance".

The two brothers have begun collaborating with each other in certain businesses over the past few years, after a long period of cut-throat rivalry following a much-publicised split of 2005 of the erstwhile Reliance empire founded by their father late Dhirubhai Ambani.

"This strategic cooperation and partnership between RJIO and RCom is a virtual consolidation in the telecom sector and I'm grateful to my elder brother Mukesh bhai for unstinted support and guidance," Anil Ambani said. He added that both the companies are at "an advance stage of discussion" for finalising a nationwide trading and sharing arrangement, which will be followed up with reciprocal arrangements between Reliance Jio and Reliance Communications for letting customers roam on each others' networks.

"I believe this will be a true gamechanger for the sector and we will see benefits in coming years," he said, adding that they will be able to jointly offer "gold standard" services.

This will facilitate RCom customers to access RJio's 4G network on an "asset light" and "minimum capital expenditure" model, he said.

RJIO will also substantially benefit from access to RCom's entire portfolio of 800-850 MhZ spectrum in all circles to supplement it is holding, he added.

Anil Ambani added that their father Dhirubhai, whose death resulted in the two brothers splitting businesses and the younger one getting the telecom business, would have been very happy for such a partnership. It can be noted that in 2010, both the brothers ended a non-competitive pact, which paved the way for Mukesh to enter the telecom space.

Immediately afterwards, Mukesh Ambani's company bought over a company, which had bagged a pan-India 4G spectrum. The company, RJio, is slated to roll out its business soon. Welcoming the government's move to come out with guidelines on sharing of spectrum and trading which is expected soon, Anil Ambani said, at present, Rcom's partnership with RJio includes sharing of towers, optic fibre and ducts among others. The partnership was signed in 2013, he said.

Meanwhile, on the sale of its 95 per cent stake in the tower company Reliance Infratel, Anil Ambani said there is "excellent progress" in a strategic process to create an independent tower company. "We expect to sign and announce this new independent tower company formation and transaction by end of this year," he said. Apart from this, the company is also in talks to sell some of its realty assets, he said. The transactions will help reduce RCom's overall debt and strengthen the balance sheet, he said.

Stating that there is a need to reduce the number of operators in the telco space, Ambani said RCom's discussions to merge SSTL/MTS Indian operations through a stock swap are at an advance stage. "We are expecting to finalise this and announce this in the course of next few weeks," he said, adding that the merger will help it in eight circles and add to spectrum it holds.

[KanagaDeepan 1,084]

Well, I have mixed feelings on seeing this announcement... This deal is more good for RCom than RJio, imho...

First I expected voice on RJio will be 100% based on VoLTE [very difficult but NOT impossible], without the need for legacy 2G/3G spectrum separate for voice calls and stup!d fallback from 4G to 3G/2G for voice calls.. I have missed few voice calls in Airtel 4G, due to this fall-back (and luckily got MCAlerts).. After this announcement, it looks like even RJio 4G is based on legacy networks for voice calls and even bad news is those legacy 2G/3G network is from RCOM..

Since 4G coverage of RJio is as good as 2G coverage of AirTel in TN, the fallback network must be BETTER than Coverage of Airtel 2G to avoid missing of calls frequently... But coverage of RCom (esp in TN) is very bad (even worse than Idea) and even in 100% signal the voice clarity is HORRIBLE.. RCom 2G coverage is OK in MP+CG and HP circles only.. It has lost 2G spectrum in WB, Assam and Bihar circles, where they have just 3G license..

But there exists a simple solution and that is using CDMA network of RCom.. But then again the handsets issue arises.. So we are back to square one.. Let us hope RJio don't mess with the handset issues like RCom did GREEDILY in shop dot rcom dot co dot in.. Let us pray that RCom bring back MEID reg for everyone's reach and NOT force everyone to roam shop to shop madly looking for RECRU or REGRE or REBRE or RUKUKU sim to have as simple task as data to work on their smartphones.. Else RJio sims will be people's third connection and that too for data cards only..

If RJio has to compete with Airtel/Vodafone/Idea in 2G/3G for voice, then it will be an uphill battle, imho.. They can't reach down the pyramid with just RCom's pathetic network for sure.. Looks like Airtel will be numero uno for years to come...

I would personally prefer if they have bought some dying small operator with bad coverage, but good voice clarity (like TataGSM) and improve their coverage for voice calls.. May be their debts stopped them..

Let us wait and see...

Edited October 1, 2015 by KanagaDeepan

[Suviraj 3]

don't worry friend, Rcom will add more antennas on to new towers created by Jio. This will significantly improve their 2g/3g network

[dskumar 13]

Kanaga Deepan Maybe this partnership will facilitate RCOM to follow the Sprint or Verizon Footsteps where the base is EV and major network coverage is LTE.

So we get good LTE coverage outside buildings and in building basements and other places we get the CDMA signal which is rock solid.

Its not so rare for LTE with EVDO . Infact most of the models like HTE E One 8 and other such High end models being sold on Rcom online store is all LTE compatible. So most of us on CDMA already have these LTE Handsets. But it won't connect to Airtel LTE.

AFAIK it only connects to an LTE which has a base on CDMA.

If I am wrong , please Educate me Gurus.

[KanagaDeepan 1,084]

@Suviraj yes the quantity of towers can be improved with deep pockets of RJio and that is the reason I expected them to buy small players and improve coverage.. But RGsm's quality of voice calls??? RGsm has the worst call clarity even in full coverage.. Even BSNL's voice call quality is less horrible than them...

@dskumar Its all about the LTE Band 5 support (800MHz used in India for CDMA NOT Band20 as many people believe), apart from the Band 3 (1800MHz) and Band 40 (2300MHz)..

[SUDYEcaZ 67]

so if RCOM CDMA will be used for 4g

What will happen to the existing Data Card customers, Bread and butter of RCOM?

Dont think with 5Mhz one can support CDMA Voice, EVDO and 4g LTE all together

In Near future what i believe is 4g will only be on 2300/1800 bands.

800 is only a fall back for Jio. in return RCOM Customer may get access to Jio 4g network.

Will be interesting to see the handsets that Jio brings in

[kuduku 24]

lets hope they start selling Handsets like Verizon

Too good to be true

GSM/CDMA/LTE all compatible ........

Wont happen .

[jambui 0]

imo rjio should also buy tata CDMA for ample 850mhz spectrum

[KanagaDeepan 1,084]

^^^^^

That's NOT possible.. The spectrum limit per circle for 800MHz is 10MHz, for which the GSM biggies are arguing to further reduce the limit...

[Venkatagiri 53]

Reliance Jio May Bring Ultra-Cheap LTE Mobile Hotspot Devices to Aggressively Push 4G Services!

http://trak.in/tags/business/2015/10/06/reliance-jio-lte-mobile-hotspot-device-4g/

[inception 75]

MiFi devices make sense to Jio strategy.

1. Can integrate all lte band supporting chipset

2. No need to upgrade handsets

[amitnsonu 72]

it looks like that before Rjio get launched, govt announced another round of 4G auction, operators who win the auction, will launched the service.

[csmart 472]

Anil and Mukesh Ambani shake hands; intend to share airwaves, offer 4G

Source: Economic Times

KOLKATA | MUMBAI: The Ambani brothers took a giant step towards operating their telecom businesses together, intimating the telecom department (DoT) about their intention to share airwaves and offer 4G services in 10 key markets from December, people familiar with the matter said.

In the first flush, Anil Ambani owned RCom and Reliance Jio, owned by elder brother Mukesh, will launch 4G LTE services using the historical CDMA band of 800-850 MHz in Mumbai, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, UP-East, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Odisha, Assam, Northeast and Jammu & Kashmir, which collectively make up more than 35% of overall pan-India telecom revenues. "With spectrum trading norms also being announced, RCom and Reliance Jio will extend cooperation and 4G LTE offering to all 22 circles soon," one of the people told ET.

RCom did not reply to ET's queries on the spectrum sharing pact with Jio, which did not respond to queries.

The spectrum sharing and trading pacts signal the increasing cooperation in the telecom space between the two brothers. With such pacts, and with a complete passive infrastructure sharing pact in the bag, which involves sharing towers and optic fibre, RCom and Jio are operating as all but one company.

"This overall strategic cooperation and partnership between Reliance Jio and Reliance Communications is a virtual consolidation in the telecom sector," Anil Ambani had recently said at his company's most recent annual meeting.

The cooperation would entail maintenance and servicing of infrastructure, common network operating centres, data centres, content and retail outlets, people familiar with the plans said.

ET had reported about the expanse of the cooperation between the two companies back in June 2014.

The architects of the Jio telecom plans majorly overlap with founding team of Reliance Communications, which was started under the patriarch Dhirubhai Ambani. Subsequently, during the split of the RIL empire in 2006, many members of the founding team joined Mukesh Ambani, who had signed a noncompete agreement in the businesses he ceded to his younger brother. The non-compete agreement was revoked in 2010, the year when Reliance Industries re-entered the telecom space.

The pacts now done, one important piece in the plan is RCom's talks to merge Sistema Shyam Teleservices, which is a pureplay CDMA operator, with itself, discussions for which are at an advanced stage and could even close in a couple of months, one of the people said.

Sistema, with its 10 million subscribers across nine service areas, has airwaves in the 800MHz band, which are considered ideal for 4G services. The bandwidth that RCom is using for its CDMA and ones that Jio has bought in the 800MHz band are largely continuous. This means that the RCom must free as much of that for the two companies to have a better 4G rollout.

That's where the frequencies of Sistema will come in handy," said a person familiar with plans. Reliance Communications has 110 million mobile subscribers, of which 26 million are using CDMA service, and can be shifted to Sistema's airwaves, he added.

RCom has 3G (2100 MHz) airwaves in 13 circles, 800 MHz in 19 and 1800 MHz (traditionally used for 2G) in all 22 circles.

For the entire combination to work involves more careful stitching up of networks. A person said this has translated into Jio focussing on fewer number of cities for its initial launch likely in December. The company had earlier intended to start in 200 cities, but is now focusing on around 50.

But there are challenges and, insiders say, it will still take time for the combine to start working seamlessly. "First, they will need liberalisation approval (for RCom airwaves), then Sistema (merger) approvals will come through, then they need to make the spectrum contiguous, so it could take two years," said an expert.

RCom has already applied with DoT to liberalise its old 800 MHz spectrum holdings in eight of the 10 circles that they will share with Jio, which will cost nearly.`2,000 crore. It already has liberalised 800 MHz airwaves in Assam and Northeast. It will shortly apply for liberalising its balance old 800 MHz spectrum holdings in the remaining 12 circles.

[amitnsonu 72]

what exactly this mean?

can the existing users of RCDMA use 4g on unlimited plans like 949 Prepain or 1299 postpaid?

Or the service will be launched differently from current RCDMA.

why no circle like Delhi NCR and UPwest?

[digitalnirvana 646]

It means that the existing rcdma 800mhz will be used to give 4g also. Basically it is an interconnect and a defacto merger. Ultimately it will be in all circles where they own bandwidth.

Sent from my SCH-R530U using Tapatalk

Edited October 17, 2015 by digitalnirvana

[nitink 279]

Reliance to Start Selling Its 'Lyf' 4G Smartphones From Diwali

Reliance Industries today said it has already pumped in close to Rs. 93,000 crore into its telecom venture under the 'Reliance Jio' brand and will start selling its 4G handsets under the Lyf brand from Diwali.

"We've substantially completed our network expansion now having already completed 2.5 lakh route kilometers. We are on course to begin distribution of the handsets under the Lyf brand name from Diwali.

"We have already tied up with 1,200 primary distributors for this," Reliance Jio president for devices Sunil Dutt told reporters here this evening.

When asked about how much the company has spent out of its Rs 1 trillion capital into the telecom venture, Reliance Group deputy CFO V Srikanth said it has almost completed the capex by spending close to Rs. 93,000 crore so far.

But, he ruled out any fresh capital infusion into the telecom venture saying the company is well-capitalised now.

Anshuman Thakur, head of business strategy development at Reliance Jio said, the company has tied up with five OEMs for handsets and the company will begin by offering 4G services through its own Lyf brand smartphones that will allow customers to make Internet-based calls.

He also said going forward the company will start manufacturing the handsets locally and the work is on in this regard.

The second leg of the roll-out will have MiFi handsets, Thakur added.

"Though we wanted to have the first batch of handsets to be locally made, things could not progress as planned. But our commitment to local manufacturing is not negotiable," Dutt said.

"Reliance Retail will soon launch its own brand of 4G LTE smartphones under the brand Lyf. The brand built on the premise of unmatched user experience will offer high-performance handsets that deliver a true 4G experience comparable to the best in the world," Thakur said.

The company is likely to offer Lyf handsets with dual SIM facility and is expected to be available in the market from November.

On telecom mast sharing plans, Thakur said the company has already notified the DoT about its tie-up with Rcom in seven circles under which it will share Rcom towers in the 850 MHz band.

"We have tied up with Rcom for seven circles for the 850 MHz band spectrum, which takes care of about 35 per cent of the market. We are also in discussions with other operators for tower/spectrum sharing as well as spectrum trading, provided there is consensus on pricing," Thakur said.

The 4G smartphones will enable customers to make Internet-based calls like voice over LTE (VoLTE), voice over Wi-Fi (VoWi-FI), high definition voice and high definition quality video calling on Jio network.

The company holds the highest amount of liberalised spectrum among telecom operators which can be used for deploying any technology for mobile services. It has a total of 751.1 MHz spectrum across 800 MHz, 1800 MHz and 2300 MHz bands.

"Jio plans to provide seamless 4G services using LTE in 800 MHz, 1800 MHz and 2300 MHz bands through an integrated ecosystem," the company said, adding it has substantially completed its network rollout across the country and the network is currently being tested and optimised.

There are 10,000 testers doing quality testing across the country now. As we move closer to launch, we will add more testers, Thakur added.

Reliance chairman Mukesh Ambani in June had told the shareholders that the company would launch the much-awaited telecom services by December, offering high-speed data, digital commerce, media and payment services for about Rs. 300-500 per month, wherein it will sell smartphones at affordable rates of Rs. 4,000-5,000 apiece as well as high-end ones.

http://gadgets.ndtv.com/mobiles/news/reliance-to-start-selling-its-lyf-4g-smartphones-from-diwali-753733

[SUDYEcaZ 67]

RCOM/RJIO 4G @800 Mhz corresponds to which LTE BAND

is it band 5/20/26?

Also what all bands will be used in india for 4g,

Band 40(2300), 3(1800)

Edited October 18, 2015 by SUDYEcaZ

[KanagaDeepan 1,084]

Band 5 comes under the 850MHz CDMA spectrum to be used by rcom and Rjio for 4G.

Other bands that operators will use for 4g in future is band 1 [2100MHz currently used for 3G], band 8 [900MHz currently used for both 2g and 3g], band 12 [700MHz to be auctioned in 2017]. BSNL is going to use 2500/2600MHz but not sure about the technology [TDD or FDD] and so not sure about that band too..

sent from Lenovo K3 Note using tapatalk

[rajanmehta 4,056]

Reliance Jio Promo Video
Gives idea of so many areas Jio wants to dabble in!!
Let's hope all the hype don't turn into a damp squib.

[KanagaDeepan 1,084]

I repeat, all I want is a good stable fast yet cheaper wireless internet connection + reasonably priced Unlimited wire-line connection with min 2Mbps post FUP from them.. With OFC, What I am asking is very very very very little..

Reg voice, I hope they go for VoLTE from the beginning and NOT use RCom's WORST + horrible + useless + Good_For_Nothing + pathetic + Nightmare GSM network for voice fallback (CSFB)... Else God save them...

Edited October 19, 2015 by KanagaDeepan

[digitalnirvana 646]

@KanagaDeepan they will use VoLTE. LYF phones are VoLTE/VoWiFi capable

[KanagaDeepan 1,084]

Wow. This is like music for my ears...

sent from Lenovo K3 Note using tapatalk

[Arun 795]

According to Zauba, an import data tracker website, nearly 5 lakh sim cards have been imported by Reliance Jio in the last month, which confirms the impending launch of the 4G services in the country. The sim cards have been imported from China to Delhi and carry a per unit price of Rs 19. Majority of the units were imported in October itself, which proves that Reliance might have been conducting some tests before the actual launch.

Source: http://trak.in/tags/business/2015/11/28/reliance-4g-services-launch/

Since it says "GSM SIM CARD", will it be RCom's GSM network for fall back?

[Arun 795]

Reliance Jio will be using Small Cell Tower technology for enhancing coverage:

[Arun 795]

Reliance Jio begins trial, employees get services’ free run

The Financial Express - December 2, 2015 12:41 AM

Ahead of the launch of its mobile services, Reliance Jio Infocomm (RJIO) on Tuesday commenced the beta services of its 4G mobile services. With this the company employees will now use Jio mobile services during a trial period of two months.

According to industry sources, after successfully completing the trial run, RJIO is likely to roll out its 4G mobile services in selected circles. During the trial period RIL employees would get free unlimited data on purchase of handset, which is priced between Rs 9,000 and Rs 32,000.

In a letter written to its employees last week, the company said that the “Jio is set to enable everyone in India to live a Digital Life. As we make Jio ready for India and work towards the commercial launch, there is a special role for each one of us. We invite you today to start using Jio, and with your feedback (on quality of network) together we will ensure that Jio is ready for India. This is how we will connect the dots together with you…”.

The RIL employees can chose from a variety of new 4G VoLTE smartphones that come with the latest features such as crystal clear voice and video calling, at a special employee price, according to the letter addressed to RIL employees.

These handsets will also be made available at Digital Express stores from next week. It would also have a coupon worth Rs 13,200.

“A Jio prepaid SIM is at no cost loaded with voice, SMS, high-speed data, public Wi-Fi, and full access to Jio apps all together worth above Rs 13,800, plus additional benefits such as a power bank, extended warranty, insurance and Reliance Digital vouchers,” the letter stated.

Employees can also purchase a personal Wi-Fi device, a mobile hotspot that boosts all Wi-Fi enabled devices to 4G speeds. This will come with a Jio prepaid SIM and services such as 75 GB of data, public Wi-Fi, and full access to Jio’s apps worth above Rs 12,000.

Jio mobile users will even be able to recharge at no cost during the trial period in case they run out of voice, SMS or data.