S Tel, Reliance Infratel Sign Telecom Infrastructure Agreement

S Tel and Reliance Infratel have signed an end-to-end telecom infrastructure agreement for telecom towers, transmission for BTS sites and fibre backbone for intercity connectivity. Reliance Communications will execute this agreement through its tower subsidiary Reliance Infratel. S Tel’s agreement with Reliance Communications covers six circles – Orissa, Bihar, Himachal Pradesh, North East, Assam and J&K – where the telecom operator plans to roll-out its GSM services soon.

S Tel, a new telecom operator in the Indian marketplace, has acquired Unified Access Services Licence (UASL) and spectrum to operate in six Indian circles – Orissa, Bihar, Himachal Pradesh, North East, Assam and J&K. S Tel plans to launch its mobile telephony services before close of year and this deal marks an important milestone in S Tel’s plans to commercially roll-out the services.

The scope of the agreement signed with Reliance Infratel will give S Tel access to Reliance Infratel’s wide network coverage of over 10,000 sites across these six circles and the extensive optic cable fibre backbone of Reliance Communications pan-India telecom network. This agreement will enable S Tel to roll-out its commercial services with optimum cost and faster time-to-market advantage.

Shamik Das, CEO of S Tel said, “This development is part of our overall commitment to provide customers with excellent quality of service and a wide geographical coverage at the time of launch. It is well-established that improving teledensity provides more economic benefit than any other kind of infrastructure. This move will enhance the mobile penetration in these circles and rapidly bring benefits of technology and communication networks to people in these regions. As a new entrant in a dynamic market, this alliance provides us with key, strategic advantages that will ensure speed to market and cost-effective roll-out of services.”