Reliance Jio Infocomm will launch its Indian 4G mobile service around December, six months later than planned, according to local press reports on Friday.
The Indian firm’s parent company Reliance Industries made the announcement at its annual general meeting, the Economic Times said.
The company was previously thought to be planning to launch its first commercial services in key markets this month.
Pushing back the launch will leave Reliance Jio in violation of the terms of its 2010 spectrum award which required it to meet certain rollout conditions within five years. As such, it could face censure from authorities.
The device ecosystem is something of an issue for Reliance Jio, which is using the TDD variant of LTE to roll out a network with its 2.3-GHz spectrum, as well as rolling out FDD LTE at 1800 MHz.
The telco on Friday pledged to make a range of 4G handsets available at sub-4,000-rupee (€56) price points by the end of the year, the Economic Times reported. Its services will be priced at INR300-INR500 (€4-€7).
Speaking at the AGM, Reliance Industries chairman Mukesh Ambani said his company will reach 100% mobile network coverage over the next three years. He also said it will connect 1 million homes with fibre.
Reliance Jio has already made a start when it comes to attracting would-be mobile customers.
The firm in April launched an over-the-top (OTT) voice and messaging application, called Jio Chat. The move will help it build its brand ahead of the launch of its 4G offering, which is expected to focus heavily on data services.
