It looks like we will have to further wait for Reliance Industriess data services: Reliance Industries chairman and CEO Mukesh Ambani has informed that they are currently conducting  limited field trials for the initial set of its broadband services and will be launching  expanded trials for Reliance Jio next month.

These expanded trials would continue through the end of 2014 and early 2015. following which, the company would be launching  its data services in a phased manner across India. This was stated by Ambani during the companys 40th Annual General Meeting today, and was disclosed by RIL new media director Gautam Chikermane  on Twitter.

While there is currently no specific information on the initial cities chosen for this service or the companys 4G rollout plans, these services will apparently cover 5,000 cities and towns and over 2.5 lakh villages in the initial phase and will eventually cover over 6 lakh villages.

Advertisement

Note that Reliance Industries had mentioned in its annual report last month. that they are rolling-out high speed internet services via optical fibre (FTTX ) in over 900 cities/towns in the country. The company had also rolled out  free Wi-Fi hotspots in eight locations at Ahmedabad and nine locations at Baroda and Surat.

That being said, its worth noting that BWA rollout obligations  also kicks in by mid-2015, as per which all BWA licensees have to provide street level coverage in at least 90% of the metro service areas  and at least 50% of the rural short distance changing areas (SDCAs). failing which the BWA spectrum provided will be withdrawn. Airtel is currently the only telco offering 4G services in the country.

Apart from this, Ambani also mentions that they have invested Rs 70,000 crore into this venture and currently employ  around 10,000 full time employees, who are apparently working with nearly 30,000 employees from the companys partners and vendors. In addition to this, Ambani mentions that they are over 100,000 people working across the country to create the digital infrastructure backbone for this network.

Earlier this month, former BlackBerry India managing director Sunil Dutt  had also joined as the president of Reliance Jio Infocomm. He will reportedly be responsible for developing a portfolio of self-branded handsets which will be manufactured by third party vendors, as well as managing the third party 4G handset portfolio for Reliance Jio.

The company had also signed a tower sharing agreement with Ascend Telecom to use the latters telecom tower infrastructure comprising 4,500 towers across the country to launch its 4G services. This was the companys seventh tower infrastructure sharing partnership in the country after signing similar deals with Tower Vision India  last month, ATC India  in April this year, Viom Networks  and Bharti Infratel  in March this year, Reliance Communications (RCOM) in June 2013  and its competitor Bharti Airtel  in December 2013.

Last month, Reliance Industries had acquired  Network18 and had received board approval to invest up to Rs 4,000 crore for this acquisition and make open offers post the acquisition. (Read : How Reliance Industries acquired Network18: A detailed timeline of events )

Update: Ambanis statement on Reliance Jio:

Dear Shareholders,

I would now like to turn to one of the most transformational initiatives of Reliance. One that India would see evolving over the next few years. This is the pan-India, Fourth Generation Broadband initiative, under the auspices of Reliance Jio. I had shared the vision of this initiative last year of a digital India and of the unique opportunity that we have, as Reliance, to maximise the benefits of the digital age for India.

I had also shared with you our plans on building a country-wide broadband next-generation infrastructure.

And digital services that will help contribute significantly to the Indian economy, and help improve the lives of our 1.25 billion countrymen.

Today, let me dwell on the execution of this expansive and all-pervading initiative, whose scale is unprecedented in the annals of Indian business.

At the outset, our confidence in delivering this technology-based infrastructure and services is very high.

Reliance is set to make this vision a reality very soon.

Limited field trials with our initial set of services for the broad band services are already underway. Expanded field trials will commence in August this year across multiple cities.

These trials would continue through the end of 2014 and early part of 2015. The objective is to ensure that everything that we offer is future-proof and world-class. The year 2015 will see the phased launch of Reliance Jio across India.

Millions of customers would have started to use the digital platform and services in their daily lives. The fruits of the tremendous value created by this Rs. 70,000 crore initiative would start to flow. This value creation would be on a base of 1.25 billion Indians, with an opportunity to include all sections of our society in the exciting promise of the digital economy.

Engaged in this massive endeavour are over 10,000 full time Jio employees are working alongside nearly 30,000 professionals from our partners and vendors from all parts of the world.

In addition, there are over 100,000 people working across the country in creating the digital infrastructure backbone for this network.

They are passionate about building the largest broadband network that the world has ever seen. Reliance Jio will be one of the largest job-creating and wealth-creating business initiatives in India. T