Airtel, Reliance Jio ink deal to share telecom infrastructure
In a surprise move, telecom giant Airtel has tied up with Reliance Jio for a telecom infrastructure sharing arrangement – a move expected to benefit Reliance Jio.
Bharti Airtel and Reliance Jio Infocomm (Reliance Jio) have entered into a telecom infrastructure sharing arrangement under which the two companies will share infrastructure created by both parties. The infrastructure sharing includes optic fibre network – inter and intra city, submarine cable networks, towers and internet broadband services and more.
The partnership is supposed to prevent duplication of infrastructure as well as ensure seamless services to customers of the respective parties. The two companies are looking to extend their partnership on roaming on 2G, 3G and 4G and various other areas as well.
Bharti Airtel-Reliance Jio partnership comes as an unprecedented development in the telecom sector. While Bharti Airtel is the largest telecom operator in the country, Reliance Jio with its pan-India licence is expected to join the segment with its 4G services next year.
Bharti Airtel is currently only operator in the country to provide 4G services in the country. The operator is set to launch voice 4G voice services for LTE-enabled phones in Bengaluru.
It is believed the partnership will benefit Reliance Jio as it would launch its services based on Airtel’s widespread infrastructure, whereas Bharti would just gain from revenues from lease rentals.