India’s newest mobile operator Reliance Jio has signed a tower sharing agreement with American Tower to boost the nationwide rollout of its 4G network.
Reliance Jio, a unit of Reliance Industries, said it will use telecoms tower infrastructure owned…
India’s newest mobile operator Reliance Jio has signed a tower sharing agreement with American Tower to boost the nationwide rollout of its 4G network.
Reliance Jio, a unit of Reliance Industries, said it will use telecoms tower infrastructure owned by American Tower subsidiary ATC India to launch services across the country.
ATC has more than 11,000 towers in India.
ATC chief operating officer B Ramanand said the company would help Reliance Jio in its “aggressive nationwide rollout”, noting that there is “considerable pent up demand” for 4G in India.
Reliance Jio already has infrastructure-sharing agreements with other local towercos Bharti Infratel and Viom Networks, and with Infratel parent Bharti Airtel.
In June last year, Jio also sealed a first fibre and tower sharing deal with Reliance Communications (RCom). RCom and Jio have since signed additional agreements.
Reliance Jio bid aggressively in this year’s hotly-contested spectrum auction, agreeing to pay US$1.7bn to secure 1,800 MHz frequencies. The company, which already owned spectrum in the 2,300 MHz band, plans to launch telecoms and TV services by the end of the year.
