Reliance Jio Announces Acquisition of Spectrum in 1800 MHz Band

OREANDA-NEWS. Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd (RJIL) announces that it has successfully acquired the right to use spectrum in 14 key circles across India in the 1800 MHz band in the recently concluded spectrum auction conducted by DoT, Government of India. RJIL plans to use this spectrum, ranging from 2x5 MHz to 2x7 MHz in each of these 14 circles, in conjunction with its pan India 2300 MHz spectrum to address the expected surge in demand for digital services as well as to enhance in-building coverage. RJIL plans to provide seamless 4G services using FDD-LTE on 1800 MHz and TDD-LTE on 2300 MHz through an integrated ecosystem.

1800 MHz Spectrum Auction

RJIL has won the spectrum in the 1800 MHz band in all circles as per details given below, where it participated in the auction and where full contiguous block of 5 MHz spectrum was available:

Through this acquisition, RJIL's total equivalent spectrum footprint has increased from 440 MHz to 597.6 MHz (including uplink & downlink).

Mukesh D. Ambani, Chairman and Managing Director, Reliance Industries Limited said: With this acquisition, Reliance Jio will be the holder of the largest quantum of liberalized spectrum and with the longest residual spectrum life. Reliance Jio's seamless 4G services using FDD-LTE on 1800 MHz and TDD-LTE on 2300 MHz through an integrated ecosystem, aims to provide unparalleled high quality access to innovative and empowering digital content, applications and services.

Cost to RJIL for the right to use this technology agnostic spectrum for a period of 20 years is Rs. 11,054 crore. RJIL plans to opt to make an upfront payment of 33% with the balance payable in 10 equal annual instalments after a two year moratorium, as per the provisions of the Notice Inviting Applications issued by DoT.

RJIL has acquired the 1800 MHz spectrum at 31% premium to reserve price. Winning bidders ofthe 900 MHz spectrum paid between 55% to 110% premium over the reserve price.

RJIL is deploying an enhanced packet core network to create futuristic high capacity infrastructure to handle huge demand for data and voice. In addition to high speed data, the 4G network will provide voice services from / to non-RJIL networks.

There are several mobile phones and devices available today which have the capability to operate both TD-LTE and FD-LTE technologies in the 1800 MHz and 2300 MHz bands as well as conventional 2G / 3G networks. Rapid strides in global LTE rollouts and introduction of several new chipsets is making LTE enabled smart mobile phones and devices more affordable.In any case, Wi-Fi enabled 2G / 3G device can access RJIL's services through an affordable pocket router.

Reliance Jio Infocomm Limited (RJIL), a subsidiary of Reliance Industries Limited (RIL), India's largest private sector company, is the first telecom operator to hold pan India Unified License. This license authorises RJIL to provide all telecommunication services except Global Mobile Personal Communication by Satellite Service. RJIL holds spectrum in1800 MHz (across 14 circles) and 2300 MHz (across 22 circles) capable of offering fourth generation (4G) wireless services.

RJIL is setting up a pan India telecom network to provide to the highly underserviced India market, reliable (4th generation) high speed internet connectivity, rich communication services and various digital services on pan India basis in key domains such as education, healthcare, security, financial services, government-citizen interfaces and entertainment. RJIL aims to provide anytime, anywhere access to innovative and empowering digital content, applications and services, thereby propelling India into global leadership in digital economy.

RJIL entered into agreements with Reliance Communications for mutual sharing of telecom towers and optical fibre network. It has also entered into an arrangement with Bharti Airtel for sharing of telecom towers and optical fibre which can be extended to other services as per mutual agreement of the two partners.

Reliance Jio is part of the Bay Of Bengal Gateway Cable System, planned to provide connectivity between South East Asia, South Asia and the Middle East, and also to Europe, Africa and to the Far East Asia through interconnections with other existing and newly built cable systems landing in India, the Middle East and Far East Asia.

RJIL's subsidiary has been awarded with a Facility Based Operator License (FBO License) in Singapore which will allow it to buy, operate and sell undersea and/or terrestrial fibre connectivity, setup its internet point of presence, offer internet transit and peering services as well as data and voice roaming services in Singapore.

RJIL has finalised key agreements with its technology partners, service providers, infrastructure providers, application partners, device manufacturers and other strategic partners for the project. These strategic partners have committed significant resources, knowhow and global talent to support planning, deployment and testing activities currently underway.

From less than 700 professionals a year back, the RJIL Jio team has grown rapidly to a national footprint of over 3,000 professionals today.