Reliance Communications Ltd. (stylised as RCom) is a telecommunications company headquartered in Navi Mumbai, India. It is a subsidiary of Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group. The services it provides include GSM (Voice; 2G, 3G, 4G), fixed line broadband and voice, and Direct-To-Home (DTH), depending upon its areas of operation in India. The company had to shut down its 2G and 3G services including all voice services and only offer 4G data services from December 29, 2017, as a result of debt and a failed merger with Aircel.
RCom had in November 2017, shut its wireless business. In December, it inked a pact to sell its wireless assets to Reliance Jio Infocomm in an all-cash deal, pegged at Rs 24,000 crore by market circles. This would help pare its debt, which stands at about Rs 45,000 crore.
Video Reliance Communications
History
Reliance Communications Limited was established in India in 2002, with the launch of its CDMA services nationwide. It upgraded to CDMA Revision B services in 2015 in locations where it did not provide 3G services. In 2008, Reliance Communications launched its GSM services. The company started using MIMO technology in 2011 to improve the quality of its 3G services, providing a data rate of up to 28 Mbit/s.
In the 2010 spectrum auction, the company obtained 3G spectrum in 13 circles Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Punjab, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, West Bengal, Himachal Pradesh, Bihar, Odisha, Assam, North East, and Jammu & Kashmir at a licensing fee of INR 58,642.9 million.
Reliance Communications reduced the prices of its 3G services by 61% in May 2012.
RCom partnered with Lenovo to launch their co-branded Android smartphones in India in 2013.
RCom shut down its CDMA operations in 2016 and migrated the subscribers to GSM and LTE networks by September 2016.
Acquisition of MTS India
On 14 January 2016, RCom announced that it had acquired Sistema Shyam TeleServices Limited (SSTL), doing business as MTS India, in an all stock deal, in which SSTL received a 10% stake in RCom, after paying off its existing debt. RCom would assume the liability for installments that SSTL had to pay the government from purchasing spectrum. The liability amounted INR392 crore annually for 10 years. As a result of the deal, Reliance acquired MTS India's subscribers, as well as SSTL's spectrum in the 850 MHz band.
The merger deal was approved by the Competition Commission of India (CCI) in February 2016. SEBI cleared the deal by March, and SSTL shareholders approved the deal on 18 March. By mid-August, the deal was approved by tax authorities and the shareholders and creditors of RCom and SSTL. The merger was approved by the Rajasthan High Court on 30 September 2016, and the Bombay High Court on 7 October 2016. In April 2017, RCom laid off 600 employees in preparation for its merger with MTS and Aircel.
The final approval, from the Department of Telecommunications, was given on 20 October 2017. On 31 October 2017, RCom announced that it completed the merger.
Attempted merger of wireless business with Aircel
On 14 September 2016, RCom and Maxis Communications (owners of Aircel) announced that they would merge their mobile network operations. The deal is the largest consolidation in Indian telecom history, and will create the fourth largest mobile network operator in the country by subscribers and by revenue. RCom and Maxis, each will hold 50% stake in the merged entity, with equal representation on the board of directors and all committees. RCom will continue to operate in the enterprise segment and data center businesses as a standalone entity.
RCOM announced on 15 March 2017 that it had received approval for the deal from SEBI, BSE, and NSE. The deal was approved by the CCI on 20 March 2017. The shareholders of Aircel and RCom approved the merger on 22 and 24 April 2017 respectively. The merger was expected to be completed by mid-2017. However, on 1 October 2017, RCom announced that it is had allowed its merger agreement with Aircel to lapse.
The deal, which was expected to help RCom pare debt to the tune of INR 25,000 crores was called off due to the incessant delays by entrenched competition. As of now RCom is looking at other options to meet their obligations under the SDR agreement and avoid insolvency proceedings by the banks. Due to failure of merger with Aircel, on 25 October 2017, the company made an announcement to the employees that their last working day would be 30 November in the wireless business and DTH business. From 29 December 2017 it has discontinued voice services in all the circles of India and will provide only 4G data services.
Maps Reliance Communications
Network coverage
Reliance Communications operates in all 22 telecom circles of India, and offers services on GSM platforms. Mobile services are available in the following telecom circles:
Ultraband
RCom launched its Ultraband service offering internet speeds of up to 1 Gbit/s in select locations in Mumbai and Navi Mumbai in April 2016.
Subsidiaries
Reliance Telecom Limited (RTL) operates in Madhya Pradesh, West Bengal, Himachal Pradesh, Odisha, Bihar, Assam and the northeast of India. It first offered GSM services in January 1997. Reliance Tech Services is the IT services wing of Reliance ADAG. It provides IT consultancy, business process outsourcing and software development for Reliance Communications and other ADA group companies. Reliance Globalcom owns the Fiber-Optic Link Around the Globe undersea cable system and RIDC provides Internet data centre (IDC) services located in Mumbai, Bangalore, Hyderabad and Chennai. Reliance Communications also acquired FLAG Telecom, Yipes ethernet service, Digicable and Vanco.
Reliance Digital TV Ltd
Reliance Digital TV Ltd is a direct to home (DTH) television operator offering services under the brand name Reliance Digital TV.
Reliance Infratel Ltd.
Reliance Infratel Ltd. (RITL) handles RCom's mobile towers asset and related infrastructure. RCom owns a 96% stake in the company and the rest is held by several minority investors - Quantum (M), NSR Partners, Galleon, HSBC Daisy Investment (Mauritius), Drawbridge Towers, Investment Partners B (Mauritius). Investment Partners B had invested $287 million in 2007.
RCom announced that it had signed a binding pact with Brookfield Infrastructure Group to sell a 51% stake in Reliance Infratel for INR11,000 crore (US$1.7 billion). RCom will utilize the entire amount earned from the deal to reduce its existing debt. Following the deal, Brookefield will hold a 51% state in Reliance Infratel, RCom will retain a 49% stake and the minority partners will exit.
Global Cloud Xchange
Global Cloud Xchange (GCX) offers a comprehensive portfolio of solutions customized for carriers, enterprises and new media companies across the world's largest private undersea cable system spanning more than 67,000 route kilometres ("rkm"), integrated with Reliance Communications' 2,00,000 rkm of domestic fiber-optic backbone.
Reliance Global Call
Reliance Global Call offers international calling service in India, US, Canada, Australia, UK, Singapore, Hong Kong, New Zealand, Singapore, France, Belgium, Austria, Spain, Ireland, Netherlands and rest of the world.
References
Externlinks
- Official website
Source of article : Wikipedia
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