Reliance Industries Ltd’s (RIL)’s acquisition of Infotel Braodband is set to bring second phase of revolution in the sector. RIL group chairman Mukesh Ambani today said that the company will offer 4G services.

In its first AGM after acquisition of Infotel Braodband, Mukesh Ambani said that the company plans to set up a Wireless Innovation Center in Mumbai. “Such a platform is also aligned with India’s national priorities, by enabling national transformation and “digital inclusion” of its people,” said Ambani.

In the AGM, he also disclosed his strategy. “To build this wireless digital distribution platform, we plan to follow an asset light, but partnership-heavy approach.”

“We will collaborate with strategic partners, such as service providers, infrastructure providers, device manufacturers and other participants in the ecosystem.”

“This platform will be at the core of an Infocomm eco-system where content creators, application developers and global technology players can come together to deliver unparalleled customer value and experience.”

Mukesh Ambani’s speech is set to alarm its competitors mainly Bharti Airtel, Vodafone and Idea. It will be interesting to watch developments in Infotel Broadband.

Following is the relevant part of Mukesh Ambani’s speech in the AGM:

Spearheading the Knowledge Revolution Nearly a decade has passed since I first spoke to you about the phenomenal opportunity of bringing affordable and next generation

communication access to all Indians.

Much has changed in these eight years since Reliance first ventured into the Infocomm space with 2G CDMA based mobile services. From less than 5 million mobile users in 2001, India today has grown to nearly 600 million mobile users, and continues to add close to 20 million new customers every month.

India is now the second largest, and the fastest growing, telecom market in the world.

No doubt, this is a matter of great pride and optimism for all of us. Unfortunately, during these years India has not kept pace with the world in terms of more advanced communication technologies.

Today, India has less than 1% market penetration, compared to the developed nations which have over 60 % market penetration. Meanwhile, China has a rapidly growing market of over 130 million broadband users.

Global experience has shown us that broad-based and seamless access to information significantly accelerates countries’ economic growth.

The information revolution, powered by the Internet, has created a global expressway of content, information, knowledge and services.

Every aspect of our life is becoming ever more digital. The combination of increasingly powerful networks and intelligent devices, provide us with whole new ways to run our homes, communities, enterprises and our economy.

Broadband wireless technologies is at the heart of our search for competitive advantage and economic prosperity.

In my view, next generation technologies exist today that can link India to this digital expressway far more effectively than ever before. It is possible to pole-vault India from the prevailing 1G and 2G technologies to fourth generation technologies and beyond.

In this respect, we are faced with a much larger opportunity in broadband today than we were with voice in 2001. Our company has acquired a 95% stake in Infotel Broadband

Services Pvt. Ltd. to create a nation-wide network of next-generation wireless broadband services.

Infotel was the only successful bidder in all of the 22 circles in the Broadband Wireless Access (“BWA”) auction conducted by DoT, Government of India.

The 20 MHz, contiguous, pan-India spectrum secured by Reliance through this stake is an extremely valuable resource. With this, Reliance can now offer fourth generation wireless Infocomm services across the nation.

To build this wireless digital distribution platform, we plan to follow an asset light, but partnership-heavy approach.

We will collaborate with strategic partners, such as service providers, infrastructure providers, device manufacturers and other participants in the ecosystem.

This platform will be at the core of an Infocomm eco-system where content creators, application developers and global technology players can come together to deliver unparalleled customer value and experience.