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Reliance Infocomm Ltd, which is building a 5 billion Rs 25,000 crore nationwide fibre-optic network, will on Friday launch its limited radius mobility service which could intensify a tariff war and expand the market. Union Communications Minister Pramod Mahajan will launch the Reliance group8217;s basic telecom services along with limited mobility in 104 cities.
The service is likely to change the dynamics of the sector, an analyst said, adding, 8220;Reliance8217;s entry will force cellular firms to reduce their call charges, already the lowest in the world, to retain existing users.8221;
Reliance has acquired licence for basic telecom services in 18 states covering 104 cities and the main focus of their operations would be Wireless in Local Loop8212;limited mobility services.
Reliance Infocomm, 45 per cent owned by Reliance Industries Ltd, will offer services spanning telephone, Internet and entertainment through its 60,000-km optic fibre network linking 600 locales. 8220;It uses US-based Qualcomm Inc8217;s code division multiple access CDMA 2000 1X which offers better voice quality and higher data speeds compared with existing cellular networks which work on the rival GSM platform,8221; experts said.
Despite the Supreme Court verdict last week asking the Telecom Tribunal for fresh adjudication of the cellular operators8217; plea that limited mobility operations by basic telecom service providers was nothing but the back-door entry into cellular arena, the announcement by Mahajan that WLL was part of government policy and it was there to stay set aside all apprehensions of the consumers.
