DoT approves spectrum sharing between RCom, RJio in nine circles

The department of telecommunications (DoT) has approved spectrum sharing between Reliance Communications and Reliance Jio in nine circles including Mumbai, Himachal Pradesh and Haryana.

This will allow both the firms to offer 4G services on 10 MHz block in 800 Mhz band after the sharing arrangements. The nine circles are -- Mumbai, UPE, Madhya Pradesh, Haryana, West Bengal, Odisha, Himachal Pradesh, Assam and North East, according to a filing by the company on Bombay Stock Exchange.

"We wish to inform that DoT has taken on record 800Mhz spectrum sharing in seven circles of the company and two circles of Reliance Telecom (RTL), a wholly-owned subsidiary with RJIL on April 21, 2016," Reliance Communications said in a regulatory filing.

For remaining 13 circles, RJio plans to trade spectrum from RCom by paying about Rs 4,500 crore to the department. RCom has already liberalized its spectrum by paying over Rs 6,000 crore to the government. The spectrum liberalisation fee would apply to all circles where airwaves weren't sold via auctions and then operators, can use the spectrum for deploying any technology.

In January this year, the firms had announced plans of spectrum sharing and trading for 800-850 MHz spectrum, which will give RJio an edge over the competition.

The deal will give RJio a pan-India 4G network on 800-850 MHz frequency along with 2,300 MHz it already owns. The lower frequency offers better indoor coverage and provides seamless voice services through Voice over LTE (VoLTE). RJio has already soft-launched its 4G services.

A 10 Mhz block can provide up to 80 Mbps speeds and, with the 800 Mhz spectrum advantage, this can deliver Internet faster than many wire-line broadband / Wi-Fi services offered today at a much more affordable cost. The subscriber capacity also multiplies exponentially when spectrum is combined into a single block of 10 Mhz, according to sources.

RCom will also move its five million CDMA customers to Jio's 4G LTE network from next month. While the users will continue to be RCom subscribers, the network will be powered by Jio's all-IP based next generation network. RCom and Sistema Shyam Teleservices have agreed on a merger, which will provide the former access to liberalised 800 MHz spectrum in eight circles and yet to be liberalised spectrum in one circle. RCom is also in talks with Aircel for a possible merger of their wireless business. Aircel has 2G spectrum in 19 circles, excluding Kolkata, Delhi, Mumbai and Chennai; 3G spectrum in 13 circles; and 4G spectrum in eight circles.