News
Indian telco quiet on how it will use proceeds as 4G launch looms.
Reliance Jio Infocomm plans to raise 150 billion rupees (€2.04 billion) via a rights issue, as the telco gears up to launch its nationwide 4G network.
"The board of directors of the company at their meeting held on January 18, 2016, approved further issue of 15,000,000,000 equity shares of INR10 each…to the existing equity shareholders of the company," said Reliance Jio, in a regulatory filing on Monday.
The company did not disclose how it intends to use the proceeds.
On the same day, Reliance Jio revealed it has reached a spectrum-sharing agreement with Reliance Communications.
Under the terms of the deal, RCom will sell 800-MHz spectrum in nine circles to Reliance Jio. The telcos will also share 800-MHz spectrum in 17 telecom circles, and have agreed to establish reciprocal intra-circle roaming (ICR) arrangements.
This week’s announcements come as Reliance Jio prepares to launch nationwide 4G services.
The company in late December started offering 4G services for free to its own staff.
Reliance Jio holds a nationwide TD-LTE licence and mobile spectrum in various frequency bands. The company previously indicated it would launch 4G services in 2015, but never committed to a firm date, and in October announced it would bring a commercial service to market in the 2016-2017 financial year, which begins in April.
