RIL could join hands with Airtel for 4G in Punjab: Mukesh

Mukesh Ambani, chairman of Reliance Industries Ltd, said that his company is open to joining hands with Bharti Airtel for improving the telecom network for 4G services in Punjab.

The two companies also announced their separate plans of investing a total of Rs6,500 crore in digital infrastructure for 4G telecom services in the state.

"Punjabis are the brand ambassadors of India. We are present in Punjab in manufacturing, retail. We are also rolling out our first digital infrastructure for 4G in the state with an investment of about Rs2,500 crore," Ambani said at the Progressive Punjab Summit in Mohali.

"For further enhancing the digital experience, we can have a collaborative partnership with our friend Mr Mittal," Ambani said. Sunil Bharti Mittal is the chairman of Bharti Airtel.

If it comes through, this would be the second deal between the two companies. In April, Reliance Industries and Bharti Airtel joined hands to share capacity in a submarine cable (See: Reliance Jio in pact to use Bharti's undersea cable network).

Meanwhile, Bharti Airtel signed an initial agreement with the Punjab government, committing an investment of Rs4,000 crore towards building digital infrastructure for 4G services. Airtel has already rolled out 4G services in select cities, including in Chandigarh and Mohali.

Reliance Jio Infocomm is the only company which has pan-India airwaves that can be used for 4G services.

Last week, minister of state for communication and information technology Milind Deora, with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh alongside, appealed to the telecom industry to sort out their differences for development of the sector.