The Indian telco has completed its LTE network rollout across the country
Indian telecom operator Reliance Jio Infocomm said it plans to launch commercial 4G LTE services in fiscal year 2016-2017, which starts April 1.
According to local press reports, the telco initially expected to start offering LTE in India by December.
Reliance Jio’s parent company, Reliance Industries, said the telco has substantially completed its 4G LTE network rollout across the country and is currently testing and optimizing the network infrastructure.
“The company expects to ramp up its beta program over the next few weeks to further optimize the network, prior to commercial launch of operations,” Reliance Industries said in a statement.
The parent company also said that Reliance Jio is in the process of rolling out fixed and mobile services, and that in addition to offering voice and data, it also will commercially launch digital services targeting, among others, the education, health care, financial services and entertainment verticals.
The operator will launch the 4G LTE services using spectrum in the 800 MHz, 1800 MHz and 2.3 GHz bands. Reliance has had a Pan-India LTE license in the 2300 MHz band since 2010.
Reliance Industries said its Reliance Retail arm will soon launch 4G LTE-capable smartphones under the LYF brand, which will offer features such as VoLTE, voice over Wi-Fi and high-definition voice and video.
Vodafone India to launch 4G LTE in Delhi by December
Also in India, the country’s second-largest mobile operator, Vodafone, confirmed plans to launch LTE services in the Delhi/NCR region by December. The telco said that this region represents 30% of the company’s data revenue.
The telco said it plans to offer services through spectrum in the 1800 MHz band. Vodafone India said it has already rolled out more than 550 sites and invested more than $53.8 million in Delhi/NCR during the first half of the current fiscal year. The telco is currently investing in fiber and backhaul to increase Internet connectivity, which will benefit all of its data subscribers in the region.
Apart from the Delhi/NCR region, Vodafone India also plans to rollout its 4G services in the Mumbai, Kerala, Karnataka and Kolkata areas by the end of 2015. The telco successfully acquired 4G LTE spectrum in five circles – Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata, Kerala and Karnataka – in a February 2014 auction.
