Reliance Communications rolls out nationwide GSM service

Reliance Communications, the country's No 2 mobile phone operator and the dominant CDMA operator, has started simultaneous roll-out of GSM-based mobile services across the country from Wednesday.

Reliance currently has a modest GSM presence in eight of the country's 22 service areas, but most of its 60 million-odd wireless users are on the CDMA platform.

Reliance Communications said it will, over the next few months, launch a nationwide enhanced GSM service covering over 1 billion people in 24,000 towns and 600,000 villages.

Chairman Anil Ambani said the company had spent Rs10,000 crore ($2.1 billion) to expand its GSM services to cover all of India.

Reliance Communications said it would offer seamless coverage on major railway routes, national and state highways through dedicated mobile towers. Reliance owned fibre network offers unlimited capacity - both in India and overseas, resulting in unmatched quality on local, STD or ISD calls, it added.
 
It would also offer stutter-free video capability, including 16 TV channels, sports updates as well as access to popular video sharing websites like Youtube; the widest R-World mobile content offering entertainment, music, news, cricket, Bollywood, maps and search; and a one-click set-up and access to email and social networking offering communication convenience of a PC.

With the launch of its enhanced GSM service, Reliance's customers will be able to use the widest range of over 250 handsets and devices.

"In 2003, Reliance changed the face of the telecom sector in India", said  Ambani. "Through our nationwide GSM launch coupled with Reliance's continued focus on our No 1 CDMA network, we will once again endeavor to re-write the rules of the industry by offering our customers an unbeatable proposition across coverage, quality, service breadth, handset range and above all, value," he added.