Reliance 4G launch put off to next year

Reliance Industries' Jio Infocomm is still around a year away from launch of telecom service on 4G technology, said promoter Mukesh Ambani on Thursday. "We have charted an ambitious plan for the next 12 months and we foresee making rapid progress over this period towards launching our services across India." 

The company bought airwaves in 2010 for roughly 13,000 crore, but has not launched services till date, in anticipation of a more evolved technology ecosystem. Ambani told shareholders at Reliance Industries' 39th annual general meeting that plans to do initial launches were on course. "Let me assure that my continued optimism is based on the significant strides that we at Reliance have taken in the past year -- towards engineering and testing a world-class broadband network, and in developing a suite of compelling and synergistic digital services," he said. He did not share a timeframe for the official launch.

Jio's entry in the Indian telecom market is expected to drastically bring down prices for broadband services, even though a similar launch from Airtel in Kolkata and Bangalore has not shown much immediate promise.