【MUMBAI】Reliance Jio Infocomm has entered into a tower-sharing deal with Bharti Infratel as the telecom unit of Reliance Industries tries to tie up for 1,00,000 towers for a faster rollout of its much-awaited data and voice services.
Reliance Jio plans to lease around 70,000 towers and put up 30,000 of its own, including smaller cell sites on single poles, said a person with knowledge of the matter. The company is negotiating for a rental of just about Rs15,000 a month for the leased towers, much lower than the industry average of Rs24,000-31,000, said another person involved in the talks. Reliance Jio is seeking the price cuts because its loading and power requirements are lower than traditional telecom equipment, this person said. According to industry sources, Reliance Jio is expected to launch fourth-generation voice and data services in the October-December quarters.
○NTT Docomo to stay invested in Tata Tele
【New Delhi】The Tata group and its Japanese partner, NTT Docomo, are learnt to be finalising modalities under which the latter will stay invested in Tata Teleservices Ltd (TTSL) and the two will put together a two-three-year business plan for the telecom joint venture.
NTT Docomo had the option of invoking a 'put option' and selling its 26 per cent stake in TTSL to the Tatas this year. And, there were rumours that Docomo could be planning to pull out of the JV and Tatas looking to bring in a new partner, which might even get a majority control in the venture.
TTSL turned around its fortunes, with a tough restructuring plan. The company were able to achieve this through a mix of cost rationalisation, revenue growth through asset sweating and focus on generation of higher revenue. Besides, the Tata group infused about Rs 2,500 crore as fresh equity capital on a debt of Rs 26,000 crore. Talks between the partners over plans for TTSL have come after the above restructuring.
A spokesperson for TTSL declined to comment on discussions with Docomo.
○BSNL staff threaten strike against merger with MTNL
【New Delhi】Two lakh and fifty thousand workers of BSNL will resort to immediate indefinite strike if the Government decides to merge BSNL and MTNL. The workers' union is also against hiving off the tower assets of BSNL into a separate company.
The Forum of BSNL Unions /Associations, which is the co-coordinating committee of the unions/associations of non-executives and executives in BSNL, at its meeting held on March 3, strongly opposed the move on grounds that it will seriously and adversely affect the future of BSNL and its workforce.
"It was only Government that divided the DOT services into three companies — MTNL, VSNL and BSNL — which the workers had opposed at that time. The bifurcation has seriously and adversely affected the growth of the PSUs," said a statement.
"During these decades many changes have taken place on issues such as disinvestment (46.5 per cent of MTNL, while BSNL is a 100 per cent Govt company) and salary (MTNL's salary is higher than BSNL). The Government's proposal for merger of the BSNL and MTNL without solving the above issues will further complicate the situation and will seriously and adversely affect the future of BSNL and its workers," it added.
【News source】
Reliance Jio to use Bharti Infratel’s towers for faster 4G rollout
NTT Docomo to stay invested in Tata Tele
BSNL staff threaten strike against merger with MTNL
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