Reliance Jio enters into an alliance with 8 global players

The telecom arm of Mukesh Ambani owned Reliance Industries-Reliance Jio Infocomm announced on Monday that it has formed an alliance with 8 other telecom operators across the world. The alliance includes BT, Deutsche Telekom, TIM, Millicom, MTS, Orange, Rogers, TeliaSonera and Reliance Jio Infocomm.

The alliance could reach a potential customer base of 1 billion in more than 80 countries through these nine operators. It will allow knowledge sharing and bringing innovative products and services for customers. It will focus on exchanging knowledge on how to bring partner propositions to market, on joint efforts in partner scouting and also upcoming trends and services.

Reliance Jio Infocomm, which is slated to commercially launch 4G services in April, has built India's largest greenfield 4G network, installing 90,000 eco-friendly cell towers that have a near-zero footprint and 2.5 lakh route km of fibre optic cables country-wide, and its retail reach is spread over 1.02 lakh villages, 18,000 cities across all the 29 states of the country.

Reliance Jio holds the biggest chunk of liberalised spectrum among telecom operators in India, which can be used for deploying any technology for mobile services. Reliance Jio is not going to be a mere provider of mobile broadband and voice network. It aims to offer users a complete digital experience by bundling in content with the connection and enabling digital services, including in the fields of financial services, health care and education. It has invested close to USD 15 billion in its new digital business so far and is banking on high volumes in subscriber base and data traffic to drive revenues and profitability. 

Telecom is the sector which will be keenly watched as all the players would clash for revenue market share from over a billion subscriber base. Companies are likely to actively participate in the next round of auctions which will take place in early 2016. It would be a high stakes battle as government is likely to offer more spectrums in the auctions. Deal making will also rise as small players would find it very difficult to survive in this intensive competitive environment.