  When will Reliance Jio launch 4 G services? This is what everyone wanted to know from Mukesh Ambani when Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) announced its quarterly results on Friday. However, his vague statement on Reliance Jio didn’t make anyone wiser.
“We have also accelerated efforts to roll-out our state-of-the-art 4G services across the country which will add an exciting new dimension to our consumer facing service offerings,” said the chairman and managing director of RIL in a media statement.
Reliance Jio "has finalised key vendor and supplier partnerships and is making rapid progress in building critical infrastructure needed to launch services," said RIL while reporting January-March quarter results.
The company acquired spectrum three and a half years back. However, there is no trace of any electronic equipment on the ground. The company has already missed its earlier deadline of launching services in December, 2013.
Reliance Jio won spectrum in 2.3 GHz in September 2010, for operating pan-India broadband wireless access (BWA) services. Out of 20-year spectrum lease period, more than four years would have gone by the time the company would be in a position to launch services.
The company is laying its own network of optical fibre cable (OFC) and towers. It has also signed deals with RCOM, Bharti Airtel and Viom for using their passive infrastructure for launching its services.
However, in the absence of a robust eco system of 4G services in 2.3 GHz, it will be interesting to watch Reliance Jio’s strategy. |