Ambani is back with his $10-billion telecom foray to offer bundled voice and data services in the country.
Ambani is ready to roll out 4G services later this year, most likely on December 28, the birth anniversary of his father and Reliance founder, the late Dhirubhai Ambani.
The ambitious project is expected to roll out in three phases starting with Delhi & Mumbai later this year, followed by 69 cities by 2014 and over 800 cities by early 2015.
After exploring different possibilities , RIL has finally decided to set up over 1 lakh telecom towers on its own, moving away from its earlier asset-light strategy. The low-emission towers will look different from the existing ones in the country with entire equipment installed inside it.
The towers, which cost a little over Rs 1 lakh each, are expected to be manufactured by Himachal Futuristic Communications, in which Reliance Industries (RIL) holds a stake, while a part of it may be outsourced, said another source in the know. The company has sought permission from the Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation to install towers in the satellite city.
Ambani had bought a 95% stake in Infotel Broadband Services for Rs 4,800 crore in June 2010. Within three years, the government allowed BWA holders to offer voice services by just paying an additional Rs1,680 crore.

