RCom to invest Rs 5,000 cr for GSM set-up

Reliance Communications will invest an additional Rs 5,000 crore for GSM electronics, over and above the investment earmarked for setting up the telecom infrastructure for its GSM foray.

The investment would be made in the first year of operations itself, which was in addition to those planned for setting up the passive infrastructure (including towers) through Reliance Telecom Infrastructure Ltd (RTIL), RCom Chairman Anil Ambani said today at a meeting of analysts. He, however, did not comment on the passive infrastructure of the company.

Recently, RCom received the government's permission to start GSM operations in the country and is now awaiting the allocation of spectrum.

"Our GSM expansion will leverage RCom's existing infrastructure. The dual network operation will lead to capital expenditure rationalisation and even to stronger margins. RCom expects to get over 30 per cent share of new subscribers from existing dual network areas," he said.

India is the fastest growing telecom market with 10 crore net additions annually, and "RCom is well-positioned to participate in growth opportunity," he added.

When asked whether the company would phase out its CDMA operations, Ambani said that Reliance had no such plans.