Reliance Jio Infocomm Likely to Bid in upcoming 1800Mhz Spectrum Auction

Reliance jIo Bid in AuctionReliance Jio Infocomm has objected to the telecom regulator’s recent recommendation of an uniform spectrum usage charge of 3% of revenues after 1st April 2014, for all spectrum acquired through an auction. Reliance Jio is the telecom venture of Reliance Industries. It acquired 20Mhz pan-India spectrum in 2.3GHz band through an auction in June 2010 at a price of Rs128bn. The spectrum carries a charge of 1%.

Reliance Jio had acquired 20Mhz pan-India spectrum in the 2.3GHz band in June/2010 through an auction and it expected launch using the TD-LTE technology. Unfortunately poor handset ecosystem has been a key roadblock for the service launch. The recent recommendation from TRAI ( the regulator ) has reduced the reserve price of spectrum to Rs 15bn/Mhz for pan-India spectrum in the 1800Mhz band. We believe this provide Reliance Jio with an opportunity to re-enter the Indian telecom market by acquiring a spectrum which has well-developed handset ecosystem for 2G,3G & 4G services. IT is also well known that Videocon Telecom is purportedly backed by Mukesh Ambani has managed to get some spectrum in the Nov-2012 Auction which it intends to use to rollout 2G Voice and 4G LTE services.

Reliance Jio Infocomm has tied up with Reliance Communications for Inter-City OFC Network and Tower Sharing Deal. Reliance Jio is relying on Bharti Airtel’s ILD Circuit for International Bandwidth.