Reliance Jio Infocomm will launch 4G mobile services in five cities in June, a company executive told the Indian press this week.
The company will bring services to market in New Delhi, Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Lucknow, and Nagpur first, an unnamed company insider told Livemint.com. More locations, where infrastructure is close to being finished, could be added to the list, the source added.
A spokesperson for the telco confirmed that it would launch 4G in phases during the course of this year.
Reliance Jio is up against it when it comes to launching 4G services. It acquired spectrum in the 2.3 GHz band in 2010 and is required to meet certain rollout criteria within five years.
The telco, which added to its spectrum holdings with frequencies in the 800 MHz and 1800 MHz bands in the recently concluded Indian auction, holds a pan-Indian operating licence.
Last week it brought Jio Chat to market, an over-the-top (OTT) voice and messaging application that resembles WhatsApp.
The move should help it to build a following and a potential customer base ahead of the full launch of 4G services.
According to Livemint.com’s source, Reliance Jio will offer its 4G services to employees to trial beginning at the end of this month.
Many staff members will be given Samsung S6 devices to use on 4G, the executive said.
Meanwhile, a second unnamed source, who works for one of Reliance Jio’s vendor partners, told the media outlet that it could be some time before the telco is able to launch fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) services.
The company has a lot of fibre still to lay, the report said.
