Reliance Jio signs mobile towers deal with Tower Vision for its 4G network

Telecom arm of Reliance Industries Limited, RJIL, signed an agreement with mobile tower company Tower Vision for utilising infrastructure for its 4G telecom network.   “We are committed to offer our customers wide coverage of high speed 4G networks…we are continuing to build this through a combination of towers that we are constructing on our own and those that we are renting. Our partnership with Tower Vision is another step in this direction,” Reliance Jio Infocomm Limited Managing Director, Sanjay Mashruwala, said in a statement.   Tower Vision has a portfolio of 8,400 towers in India. “Through partnering with Tower Vision India, Reliance Jio gains access to carefully selected sites, covering strategic locations where data customers today require uninterrupted high speed wireless coverage,” Tower Vision Chairman, Amit Ganani said.   With this agreement, total available towers for RJIL to roll out its network would reach about 1,88,400. The company already has an agreement with Bharti Airtel, Reliance Communications, Viom Network, American Tower Company to utilise their infrastructure.   As per the deal with Bharti Airtel, RJIL will have access to about 82,000 mobile towers, while the agreement with RCom deal will provide it access to about 45,000 towers. The recent deal with Viom Networks and ATC gives it access to 42,000 and 11,000 mobile towers.   RJIL is expected to launch 4G services in July-September quarter.   RJIL holds pan-India broadband wireless access spectrum that can be used for 4G services. Besides, it won airwaves in the 1800 Mhz band, widely known as 2G spectrum, which is also being used for 4G services worldwide.   The company will use both available 4G technologies to provide services.   RJIL is the first telecom operator in the country to get a unified licence for all 22 service areas in India. The unified licence, which it received in October, will allow RJIL to offer all telecom services, including voice telephony.   PTI Disclaimer: Reliance Jio is owned by Reliance Industries, who also own Network18, the publisher of Firstpost and tech2