Reliance realigns telecom business
Arijit De & Savio Pinto in Mumbai
The Reliance group has realigned its telecom and infocom entities into three clearly demarcated business segments.
As part of the exercise, the group has also renamed the companies to reflect the nature of their businesses.
Reliance Infocomm, formerly Reliance Communications, will be the flagship in the telecom initiative and will be the main end-to-end service provider for basic and long-distance operations.
With 18 basic licences, the company will be the group’s interface with consumers and will provide services under various brands.
Reliance Infocom, which so long was believed to be the main company in the group’s initiative, has now been rechristened Reliance Communications Infrastructure, and will just be the provider of physical infrastructure for the telecom business. It is also holds an all-India ISP licence.
Reliance Communications Infrastructure, in turn, would have a revenue-sharing arrangement with flagship Reliance Infocomm, into which money would come from the service users, Reliance executives said. The group was expecting to kick off operations by mid-September, they added.
The third company in the initiative is Reliance Telecom, which continues to own the licences for 13 cellular circles and also offers basic services in Gujarat.
Reliance would put the entire network in place by September and had already started receiving equipment needed to operationalise its services, Reliance executives said. It placed orders worth around Rs 1,000 crore in June.
Reliance Infocomm's agreement with Reliance Communications Infrastructure for revenue sharing was signed only after TRAI, through its recent circular, permitted service providers to have tie-ups with any infrastructure providing company. |
