Gearing up to launch fourth generation (4G) mobile operations, Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd (RJIL) is testing the services across 10 locations in the country.
The telecom arm of Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL), India’s largest private sector company by revenues, intends to increase this to about 20 locations in a fortnight’s time, according to sources close to the development.
The tests are being conducted on 4G on WiFi (a technology that enables wireless access of Internet), and 4G over optical fibre cable (OFC) across the locations, the sources, who declined to be identified before a formal announcement said.
When contacted an RJIL spokesperson declined to comment.
The present 10 locations are mainly in Mumbai, Navi Mumbai and Ahmedabad. In Mumbai, 4G tests are on at IIT Bombay, and at Reliance Corporate Park and Inorbit Mall at Navi Mumbai, Vashi.
The testings are on at about seven locations at various malls and other places in Ahmedabad. RJIL intends to extend the testing to another 10 locales in Gujarat, including in Baroda, in the next two weeks.
“Further, the company would slowly extend the testing to other towns and cities,” one of the sources said, without divulging further details.
RJIL, which holds 1800 MHz spectrum across 14 circles and 2300 MHz across 22 circles, plans to launch services by October or December this year. In addition to telecom services, it is also planning to offer TV channels on its fourth generation (4G) broadband network.
Firming up its rollout plans, the company recently entered into tower-sharing agreement with telecom tower firms such as Viom Networks, Bharti Infratel and Reliance Communications.