Reliance Infocomm To Expand Coverage

[abhay 0]

Reliance Infocomm, which runs CDMA mobile services under Reliance India Mobile (RIM) brand name, would expand coverage in Bihar and Jharkhand by this December.

As part of its massive expansion plan country-wide, the company would extend its mobile service to reach 241 towns in the two states covering 15,000 villages, said Reliance Infocomm chief (West Bengal, Bihar and Jharkhand circles) Khurshed Alam.

Currently, RIM services are available in 130 towns and 5,000 villages in Bihar and Jharkhand.

Mr Alam said that upon expansion of coverage in the two states, RIM would reach out to 70 per cent of the population of Bihar and Jharkhand. He said to ensure seamless voice and data communication to RIM subscribers, the Reliance Infocomm network would criss-cross 23 major national highways, eight state highways, and 29 important rail routes.

The network would also facilitate Internet connectivity, Mr Alam added. Reliance Infocomm plans to connect 5,700 towns and four lakh villages in the country by the year-end, he said.

Upon the completion of network expansion, the company would cover 91 per cent of national highways and 85 per cent of rail routes, he said, adding the network's backbone would be 80,000 kms of terabit optical fibre cable which would support voice, data and video applications.

Edited October 5, 2005 by abhay

[abhay 0]

Reliance Infocomm has launched its mobile services in Jhansi (Uttar Pradesh) covering 300 new towns under the second phase of its network rollout plan in the UP circle.

According to a company release, Reliance Infocomm is now operating in 184 towns of west UP and 157 towns of east UP.

Under its Phase II network expansion plan, the company has targeted to cover a total of 589 new towns in UP and Uttaranchal, covering a population of 13 crore. Mobile services were already operational in 41 towns of both the states under Phase I, the release added.

Other places where Reliance Infocomm would launch its mobile services includes Badrinath, Kedarnath, Joshimath, Nainital, Uttarkashi, Yamunotri, Rudraprayag in Uttaranchal and Chitrakoot Dham, Kushinagar, Neemsaran, Shrawasti and Tanda in Uttar Pradesh.

“Post Phase II rollout, the company will be covering more than 95 per cent of the urban population and over 60 per cent of rural UP.” Reliance Infocomm, CEO, UP Circle, VV Singh said.

[Harshad 1]

does Reliance offer data communication via RConnect even when roaming ??? I am a Mumbai subscriber. Would I enjoy RConnect even when I am under roaming in Maharashtra. Anyone for a quick reply !

[cracker 0]

yes

[ashoksoft 83]

Yes u can access Data Services even while Roaming

Cheers

Ashok

[Arun 795]

More expansion of RIM network in UP

Reliance Infocomm today launched its mobile services in Chitrakoot, as part of its plans to take its services to more than 95 per cent of the urban population and about 60-65 per cent of rural population in Uttar Pradesh and Uttaranchal.

Reliance Infocomm is at present operating in 360 towns in Uttar Pradesh.

Under its phase II network expansion plan, the company targets to cover a total of 589 new towns in UP and Uttaranchal, covering a total population of 13 crore, a company statement said.

In addition to this, 41 towns are already operational in both the states under phase I.

Reliance infocomm plans to launch its mobile services in Badrinath, Joshimath, Kedarnath, Kushinagar, Nainital, Rudraprag, Uttarkashi and Yamunotri in Uttaranchal, besides Neemsaran, Shrawasti and Tanda in Uttar Pradesh, it added.

The company is aiming at 100 per cent network coverage on state/national highways and railway routes in the two states, the statement said.

[RajanPERT 0]

There is some false statement. The company did not have good coverage at NH 93 (Agra to Aligarh) in Western UP. It may be possible, that it wil solve in coming months.

Thanks and Take Care!

[Arun 795]

Reliance Infocomm to expand coverage in TN

Wednesday, 26 October , 2005, 16:26

Coimbatore: Leading cellular player, Reliance Infocomm, would increase its coverage to 600 towns and 10,000 villages in Tamil Nadu within one month, a senior company official said today.

The company at present has coverage in 550 towns and 9,000 villages across the State, with an investment of rs.1400 crore, Ajay Awasthi, RIM Business Head, Rest of Tamil Nadu, told reporters here.

The company, with a 20 per cent market share in the prepaid segment, was targeting to increase its share to 25 - 28 per cent in six months, following the new Rs.10 recharge facility launched in the State today, Awasthi said.

It was also expected to increase its rural share at least by five per cent from the present 25 to 28 per cent of the total 10 lakh subscribers in the State, he said.

The company’s 80,000 Km of terabit fibre optic network formed the backbone of its network expansion, Awasthi said adding the network can support uninterrupted voice, data and video application across the country.

The company currently covers over 3000 towns and around 1.5 lakh villages in the country, besides major highways and rail routes, Awasthi said.

[abhay 0]

could ne1 tell me how much of india has reliance actully covered as of now!

[abhay 0]

After making its presence felt in urban areas, RELIANCE Infocomm, India's leading private telecom company, is now rapidly tapping the rural market, which is the new battle ground for the telecom companies.

Driven by instant connectivity, Reliance Infocomm has already covered as many as 4,000 cities and towns of which more than 3,700 are small towns or semi-urban settlements. In addition, the company's network covers 120,000 of the five lakh villages in the country and it is trying to expand the network further.

The company has already acquired over 13 million subscribers.

''A large number of our subscribers are first-time users of mobile and we at Reliance Infocomm are happy to be part of the telecom revolution that is sweeping across rural India today,'' said Sanjeev Govil, Head (Rural Marketing), Reliance Infocomm.

Affordable entry-level cost, coupled with attractive tariffs, is among the main drivers of the company's subscriber growth, he said, adding today it is possible for one to go mobile at as low as Rs 149 and stay connected for an entire month.

An interesting side to the mobile revolution sweeping across rural India is that enterprising youth found their own ways to recharge their mobile batteries using tractor batteries. This is found to be useful in places where power supply is erratic, Mr Govil said.

The rural telephony project is not without its own challenges for the company. From extending network to difficult and inaccessible areas to appointing distributors and retail channel partners, it is an interesting experience, he said.

Reliance Infocomm has found the route of distributors of farm inputs useful to sell RIM products and services.

''We are also targeting areas like grain mandis, where large number of people throng, to make our presence felt. The company also comes out with promos like bundling of RIM handsets with rural-specific products like motorcycles and tractors.''

[SexyGurl 0]

Reliance Infocomm has already covered as many as 4,000 cities and towns of which more than 3,700 are small towns or semi-urban settlements.

In addition, the company's network covers 120,000 of the five lakh villages in the country.

[abhay 0]

Reliance Infocomm has already covered as many as 4,000 cities and towns of which more than 3,700 are small towns or semi-urban settlements.

In addition, the company's network covers 120,000 of the five lakh villages in the country.

45643[/snapback]

so with a quick assumption how much of it is left for truely pan india presence similar to bsnl

[SexyGurl 0]

Theoretically, with 10,000 CDMA towers (which reliance plans to have by end of Phase II), reliance should be covering about 33% of the entire area of India.

(I am including the areas of Assam, J&K etc. also in the total area, even though reliance does not offer in these areas).

The Percetage area covered in the 20 circles should be around 40%.

Covering each and every square inch of India, is quite far still. (Btw... even till today each and every inch in USA, Europe etc. is not covered .... though I believe over 95% of the population would be covered).

Reliance would need about 30,000 towers to cover each and every square inch of India ... including, places like ALL of the uninhabited areas in the Thar desert (Rajasthan), Dense (and maybe uninhabited) forests like Satpura in MP etc., places in J&K which maybe completely inaccessible by land (eg. some of ladakh).

Still, Reliance would be covering about 70-75% of the population of India, by the end of the Phase II. They would be covering all the 5700 cities and towns (from present 4000), and 2/3rd of the villages i.e. 4 lacs out of 6 lacs. + 95% of National Highways + 85% of railway network.

(all these nos. are based on my rough calculations ... therefore subject to errors. I have a fair confidence in stating that the error band is within 15% of the figures stated -- not too good .. haan )

EDIT: Needless to add, even BSNL does not cover each square inch of India ... don't have published data for bsnl ... .but I'd be surprised, if they cover more than 40% of the area or 60% of the population as of today.

Edited November 2, 2005 by bhutes

[abhay 0]

how did u end up with there calculations man! even if it has +/- 15% errors its pretty good cheers

[SexyGurl 0]

I did the 30,000 towers to cover all of India, long back (in some thread). Can't type all that again ! But here are the facts going into that calc:

1. Area covered by a single CDMA tower = 110 sq.km.

2. Total land area of India = 3,200,000 sq.km.

Give some concession for the fact that in big cities, it's the no. of simultaneous calls supported ... rather than area covered, that important. (eg. Delhi with an area of 1400 sq. km. has much more than just 14 towers ... I think it's close to a 100).

In rural areas, highways, simultaneous calls are usually not a constraint .... it's the range of the CDMA towers (so that signal is powerful enough at the edge of the covered range).

3. Reliance phase I had about 3000 towers ... Phase II will increase it to about 8500 towers (so, actually less than 10,000).

--------

An unrelated, but important fact is that .... it's not just the cost of CDMA towers, but also new optic fiber network needed to go in currently uncovered areas.

Phase II does not lay any new optic fiber ... they are just setting up more towers along the already existing 80,000 km optic fiber network.

With all 5700 cities covers and 2/3rd of the villages covered ... most of us will be in-range almost always, where ever we go. (unless you go for hunting in Satpura forests .... or if you are a smuggler, crossing the Thar Desert in a camel-back). !!!

Probably, a significant no. of villages in Bihar, MP etc. will be left out ... so, people going to back to their ancestral homes in those areas, may find no network, even after phase II.

Uttar Pradesh, as far as I heard, is going to be pretty well covered (nearly all). .. so would be Maharashtra, Gujarat (95%), southern states ... and the entire north-west Punjab etc.

[ashoksoft 83]

hmmm good calculation part bhutes.... and yes the expansion plans seem to be really AMAZING ...

Cheers

Ashok

[Harshad 1]

any idea as to how many towers Reliance has for its Mumbai circle ? if a single CDMA tower covers 110 kms, then I guess the whole of Mumbai from Colaba to Bhayander / Kalyan / Panvel should be covered in just 1 tower !

[RajanPERT 0]

any idea as to how many towers Reliance has for its Mumbai circle ? if a single CDMA tower covers 110 kms, then I guess the whole of Mumbai from Colaba to Bhayander / Kalyan / Panvel should be covered in just 1 tower ! 

46139[/snapback]

Good point mate.

Reliance does not have good network in UP East as compare to UP West.

Thanks and Take Care!

[abhay 0]

any idea as to how many towers Reliance has for its Mumbai circle ? if a single CDMA tower covers 110 kms, then I guess the whole of Mumbai from Colaba to Bhayander / Kalyan / Panvel should be covered in just 1 tower ! 

46139[/snapback]

hmmmm have seen one tower in andheri saki naka??

where else have u guys seen it

[SexyGurl 0]

any idea as to how many towers Reliance has for its Mumbai circle ? if a single CDMA tower covers 110 kms, then I guess the whole of Mumbai from Colaba to Bhayander / Kalyan / Panvel should be covered in just 1 tower ! 

46139[/snapback]

It's 110 sq. km (the figure was given by some telecom expert here at rimweb, some time back).

I always like to check intuitively, if it makes sense:

110 sq km, means a circle of radius 6 kms (use 110 = PI*r^2 formula).

So, what is being implied is that a single tower, at the center of a circle 6 kms in radius ... will cover the entire area of the circle with a sufficiently strong signal.

(In comparison, a GSM tower covers about 3-4 kms radius circle, so between 30 to 40 sq. kms).

---------------------------------------------------

I don't know the area of mumbai ... but Delhi is 1400 sq. kms.

(mumbai should be of that order, maybe more or less).

So, just to cover the entire area of Delhi, one would need atleast:

1400 / 110 = (approx.) 14 CDMA towers.

Is that sufficient for Delhi? - No, off course.

Because Delhi has a very very high concentration of Reliance subscribers. So, it's not just as simple as covering all of Delhi, with the signal.

The key constraint, is that a specific minimum number of SIMULTANEOUS calls should be supported. (eg. 1 CDMS tower may support 1000 channels i.e. 1000 simlutaneous calls). It means that, if in connaught place (Delhi), Relinace has only 1 CDMA tower ... only 1000 subscribers can call SIMULTANEOUSLY.

Let's us say, the probablility of subscribers calling simultaneouly is 10%. Then reliance would be comfortable, having 1000/10% = 10,000 subscribers active and live in connaught place (all won't be making calls ... just active).

If more than 1000 subscribers to call from the region of connaught place ... they will find NETWORK BUSY !!! -- no available free channels.

There Delhi must have more CDMA towers that the minimum needed (=1400/100 i.e. 14). In reality, Delhi has something close to 100 CDMA towers.

No data for mumbai .... but since Mumbai also has nearly 1.1 million reliance subscribers ... I guess, it will also be having near 100 CDMA towers.

-----------------------

In contrast, something like Rishikesh in UP, may have only 1 CDMA tower (provided it's area is less than 100 sq. km ... i.e. it lies within a circle of radius 6 kms). -- because Rishikesh would have very few relinace subscribers .... say only about 10,000. One tower is sufficient to prevent the NETWORK BUSY problem, most of the time.

(It's the area to be covered which is more important).

---------------------

In same tone, eg., the Sabarkantha district of Gujarat may have only 5000 subcribers, but an area of 1200 sq. km. If reliance wants to cover all of Sabarkantha ... 1 CDMA tower won't do (even though only 5000 subscribers need to be covered). It needs atleast 1200/110=12 towers.

What a cost ! 12 towers for just 5000 subscribers. About 1 tower (costing about 1 to 1.5 crore), for each 400 subscribers. That is exactly why, it sometimes becomes uneconomical to set up cell sites in area of low subscriber density.

[abc123 0]

Thats the Good explanation...... bhutes................ Defiantely mumbai has more then 100 towers for reliance...............

I have been stayin at place which will be about circle of radius 10-15 kms , that place has more then 5 towers. at least i hvae seen those dont know if there are other.........so u can understand if tehre are more connection in that area then they need more towers........... even though CDMA towers are more efficent ........

[prakashkadam 1]

Theoretically, with 10,000 CDMA towers (which reliance plans to have by end of Phase II), reliance should be covering about 33% of the entire area of India.

(I am including the areas of Assam, J&K  etc. also in the total area, even though reliance does not offer in these areas).

The Percetage area covered in the 20 circles should be around 40%.

Covering each and every square inch of India, is quite far still. (Btw... even till today each and every inch in USA, Europe etc. is not covered .... though I believe over 95% of the population would be covered).

Reliance would need about 30,000 towers to cover each and every square inch of India ... including, places like ALL of the uninhabited areas in the Thar desert (Rajasthan), Dense (and maybe uninhabited) forests like Satpura in MP etc., places in J&K which maybe completely inaccessible by land (eg. some of ladakh).

Still, Reliance would be covering about 70-75% of the population of India, by the end of the Phase II. They would be covering all the 5700 cities and towns (from present 4000), and 2/3rd of the villages i.e. 4 lacs out of 6 lacs. + 95% of National Highways + 85% of railway network.

(all these nos. are based on my rough calculations ... therefore subject to errors. I have a fair confidence in stating that the error band is within 15% of the figures stated -- not too good .. haan )

EDIT: Needless to add, even BSNL does not cover each square inch of India ... don't have published data for bsnl ... .but I'd be surprised, if they cover more than 40% of the area or 60% of the population as of today.

45650[/snapback]

All those stats sound good. But on busiest national highway 17 i.e. Bombay-Goa route, Reliance network is not available on 70% route.

[SexyGurl 0]

Becoz, national highway 17 passes thru the Thar Desert.

Any doubts?

[abc123 0]

Hey its difficult to get Coverage on NH17....u can get network in patches throughout NH17 of BSNL or IDEA not so good tht to...................Its very difficult root to have complete coverage

[Harshad 1]

any idea as to how many towers Reliance has for its Mumbai circle ? if a single CDMA tower covers 110 kms, then I guess the whole of Mumbai from Colaba to Bhayander / Kalyan / Panvel should be covered in just 1 tower ! 

46139[/snapback]

hmmmm have seen one tower in andheri saki naka??

where else have u guys seen it

46166[/snapback]

I have seen one each at Prabhadevi, Dombivli & Kalyan.

Someone said Reliance should have around 100 towers in Mumbai. That seems a lil' too many. However if there are really 100 cell sites in Mumbai, then its a lot better. Anyways, me havent faced Network Busy anytime.