Wifi Revolution

The Indian Government has cleared the allocation of the GSM spectrum to the Anil Ambani owned Reliance Communications in 14 circles.

 

The company has been allotted 4.4 MHz of start-up spectrum in these 14 circles. In the remaining eight circles, Reliance Telecom already offers GSM services as the wholly-owned subsidiary, Reliance.

 

RCom will roll-out GSM services in these 14 circles within the next couple of months. The company is also planning to offer tariffs that are up to 30 percent lower than the prevailing GSM call rates.

 

The first victory for RCom actually came much earlier, when the Delhi High Court, hearing a petition filed by leading GSM players, refused to stay the process of spectrum allotment to Anil Ambani-owned company and other aspirants who hold the dual technology license. This judgment, followed by the allocation of the spectrum by the Indian government, paves the way for the company to offer both GSM and CDMA services on a pan-India basis.

 

RCom was quoted by Economic Times of India as saying, “The launch of nation-wide GSM services would enable Reliance Communications to effectively target the fast-growing subscriber additions of 6 million GSM subscribers every month. The company would also address the telecommunication requirements of the existing 172 million GSM customers with the launch of nation-wide GSM network in addition to its CDMA network.”

 

Also, existing GSM operators, Idea Cellular and Vodafone (News - Alert) Essar have been the allotted start-up spectrum of 4.4 Mhz in the circles where they already hold licenses.

 

 

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