Reliance Jio signs MoU with KMC for 4G rollout

Company is in the process of getting approvals for rolling out 4G services in 54 towns in West Bengal for which 3,000 km of optical fibre network would be laid

Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Jio today signed an MoU with the Kolkata Municipal Corporation for laying out 4G network in the city, according to an official.

The agreement was signed between Tarun Jhunjhunwala, business development head and mentor (east) of Reliance Jio and the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) secretary in the presence of MIC (Mayor-in-Charge) Atin Ghosh and Municipal Commissioner of the corporation.

Ghosh told reporters here that the company would lay 750 km of optical fibre cable within KMC's jurisdiction, the work for which would start after the Durga Puja.

He said the KMC would earn an one-time income of Rs 26 crore from the project.

Ghosh said that KMC had decided to give speedy approval to the project after Ambani discussed the issue with Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee during her business meeting in Mumbai recently.

Jhunjhunwala said that the cost of the project would be Rs 4,000 crore and likely to be completed during the first quarter of 2014.

He said that Reliance Jio was also in the process of getting approvals for rolling out 4G services in 54 towns in West Bengal for which 3,000 km of optical fibre network would be laid.

Meanwhile, KMC would also sign an MoU with Airtel for 4G services roll-out in Kolkata. Airtel would invest Rs 6,000 crore and would lay 1,000 km of optical fibre network in the city, Ghosh said.