Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd (RJIL), the wireless arm of Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL), has completed rollout obligations and is gearing up for beta launch in the next few weeks.

“We have complied with regulations with regard to minimum rollout obligations,” Anshuman Thakur, Head of Strategy and Planning at RJIL, told reporters here at a press conference to announce the company’s results.

Reliance Jio won spectrum in 2010, but is yet to launch services. Under the licence conditions, the company was expected to complete the rollout within five years. Thakur clarified that the rollout obligations include putting the network and infrastructure in place, not just the commercial launch.

Spectrum owned In its annual general meeting in June, RIL Chairman Mukesh Ambani said the company would launch 4G services in December.

RJIL owns spectrum in 800 MHz and 1,800 MHz bands in 20 of the total 22 circles in the country, and also has 2,300 MHz spectrum across all the 22 circles in the country.

At the launch, RJIL will have roughly 75,000 towers, of which 30,000 it has built. The remaining belong to tower companies or are shared with other telecom operators.

The company will install small cells, where towers are not available, Thakur said. RJIL’s towers are also “significantly cheaper” than those of competitors, he added.

Device launch The Mumbai-based company is not planning to launch devices under its own brand but is in talks with phone manufacturers to bring cheaper devices. Earlier at the AGM, Ambani said the company would be looking at introducing 4G smartphones in India at prices below ₹4,000 by December. On the beta test, he said that the company intends to test its services across all circles in the country.

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