Reliance Industries’ telecoms unit, Reliance Jio Infocomm, has become the first Indian company to secure a unified licence across the country’s 22 service areas.
In early August, the telecoms’ ministry introduced unified licences, which allow…
Reliance Industries’ telecoms unit, Reliance Jio Infocomm, has become the first Indian company to secure a unified licence across the country’s 22 service areas.
In early August, the telecoms’ ministry introduced unified licences, which allow operators to offer all services under a single licence, subject to the submission of required documents and payment of an entry fee.
Plans to introduce a unified licence were confirmed in February 2012 as part of the new telecoms policy designed to bring more certainty to the Indian telecoms market and create a level playing field following the 2G scam.
In a stock exchange announcement today, Reliance Jio said it “has migrated its existing ISP licence along with broadband wireless access (BWA) spectrum to the unified licence with authorisation for all services except global mobile personal communication by satellite service (GMPCS)”.
The unified licence further asserts conglomerate Reliance Industries’ entry into India’s saturated mobile market, with the company expected to roll out services soon.
In early April, Reliance Industries and mobile operator Reliance Communications (RCom) agreed a fibre sharing deal, which marked a thawing of relations between the two brothers that own them. They later signed a Rs12bn (US$2.1bn) tower sharing agreement.
Reliance Industries is controlled by Mukesh Ambani, India’s richest man, while RCom is owned by his younger brother Anil. Following the death in 2002 of their father, Indian business magnate Dhirubhai Ambani, the empire was split between the two brothers. In 2005 a dispute over the supply of gas between the two companies meant the brothers stopped talking to each other.
The main benefits of those partnerships for RCom, one of India’s largest mobile operators, include the opportunity to cut its debt load.
For Reliance Jio, the agreements allow it to deploy services. In 2010 RI acquired Infotel Broadband, later renamed Reliance Jio Infocomm, the only company to have secured a pan-Indian 4G licence.
Whether RCom and Reliance Jio will eventually merge their operations in India’s crowded mobile market remains uncertain. But an analyst previously told TelecomFinance that “the impact on the Indian telecoms market will likely be significant, with two giants with deep pockets coming together”.
