Reliance steps up efforts to roll out 4G services

Reliance Industries Ltd said on Friday that it has stepped up efforts to start 4G telecom services in the country.

"We have also accelerated efforts to roll out our state-of-the-art 4G services across the country which will add

an exciting new dimension to our consumer-facing service offerings," RIL Chairman and Managing Director Mukesh Ambani said in a statement.

Officials of Reliance Jio Infocomm (RJIL), its telecom arm, claim to have achieved broadband speeds on its networks that are 10-12 times faster than 3G services. The company has been running trials, including phone and TV services, on its 4G network.

RJIL holds pan-India broadband wireless access spectrum that can be used for 4G services. Besides, it won airwaves in

the 1800MHz band, widely known as 2G spectrum, that is also being used for 4G services worldwide.

The company will use both the 4G technologies to provide services.

"RJIL plans to provide seamless 4G services using FDD-LTE on 1800MHz and TDD-LTE on 2300MHz through an integrated

ecosystem," the statement said.

RJIL is the first telecom operator in the country to get a unified license for all 22 service areas in India. The unified license, which it received in October, will allow RJIL to offer all telecom services, including voice telephony.

During the year, RJIL entered into telecom infrastructure sharing arrangements with Reliance Communications, Bharti

Airtel, Bharti Infratel and Viom Networks.

In April 2013, RJIL and Bharti Airtel signed an accord under which Bharti will provide data capacity on a submarine cable that will enable Reliance Jio to extend its network and service reach to customers across the Asia Pacific region, the statement said.

The company is working with Department of Telecom and other operators to rearrange airwave frequencies that it won in the February auction to enable it to provide services more efficiently.