RCom, TTSL, and Aircel tie-up for pan-India 3G roaming services

Telecom operator Reliance Communications (RCom) on Monday announced a tripartite agreement with Tata Teleservices (TTSL) and Aircel to provide 3G roaming services to each other's customers using their network across country.

RCom and Aircel have permits for 3G services in 13 out of 22 service areas while Tata Teleservices has permits in 9 circles. RCom circles comprise Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Punjab, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, West Bengal, Himachal Pradesh, Bihar, Orissa, Assam, North East, Jammu & Kashmir.

With this agreement, RCom gets access to 5 new service areas - Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and UP East where Aircel has presence. Its agreement with TTSL gives it access to Maharashtra, Gujarat, Haryana and UP west.

The partnership gives Aircel and Tata Teleservices access to most expensive service areas of Delhi and Mumbai where RCom has permits.

For the quarter ended 31 December 2013, the RCom had 36.2 million data customers, including 11.1 million 3G customers.

"We are delighted to be the first operator to offer 3G national roaming to our customers in partnership with other telecom firms having state-of-the-art 3G networks. These alliances will further consolidate RCom's position as the leading data operator in the country and will help the Company improve its post-paid and Corporate customer market share," RCom's Chief Executive Officer for Consumer Business, Gurdeep Singh, said in a statement.

"We have always delivered innovative products and services to our customers with incredible affordability and, at RCom, we strongly believe in connecting every Indian and bringing about a discernible change not just in their lifestyles, but in their lives as well," he added.