Agencies
Mumbai
Anil Ambani-led mobile telecom operator Reliance Communications Ltd will partner RIL's telecom unit Reliance Jio to trade and share mobile airwaves and offer high-speed 4G services.
On Wednesday, Anil Ambani told his company's shareholders that the latest partnership would allow Reliance Communications to access 4G mobile networks of Jio, which, in turn, can use the former's 2G and 3G networks when needed.
The pact will facilitate Reliance Communications' customers access to Jio's 4G networks on an "asset-light and minimal capex model", a company statement cited Anil as saying at the annual shareholders' meeting.
With this partnership, the once-feuding Ambani brothers have taken another step in working together after their father Dhirubhai Ambani's death in 2002 led to a power struggle between his two sons that split the empire.
This will be the second time the two telcos join hands for ops in the last couple of years, the first time being when they tied up for sharing mobile masts and leasing of the optic fibre network.
Jio won 4G mobile airwaves in 2010 and is expected to start nationwide commercial services by end of this year, joining leading Indian carriers Bharti Airtel Ltd and Vodafone Group Plc's India unit.
Reliance Communications will also enter into a pact with Jio for trading and sharing of 4G mobile airwaves, said Anil, whose empire includes infrastructure and financial services companies. 4G typically offer customers faster internet browsing speed. Reliance Communications was also at an "advanced stage of merger talks" with the India telecom operations of Russian billionaire Vladimir Yevtushenkov's conglomerate Sistema, Anil said.
Shares in Reliance Communications, the most-leveraged Indian telecoms carrier with $5.8 billion in net debt as of the end of March, ended 6 percent higher on Wednesday at Rs 67.85, while the broader Mumbai market index rose 1.4 percent.
