RCom soft launches GSM services in India

Reliance Communications (RComm) has commenced the soft launch of its GSM network across major cities, company sources said. Reliance Communications (RCom), which had earmarked around Rs 6,000 crore for GSM operations, has commenced soft launch of its GSM services across major cities in the country. The company is slated to officially launch the services in the next eight to 10 weeks, starting with Mumbai and Delhi circles.

The largest circles in terms of mobile usage - Mumbai and Delhi - went live on Sunday with the company issuing around 10,000 test SIM cards to employees. The company has invested about Rs 800 crore in Mumbai circle to set up 2,500 towers. Full GSM service is likely to be launched by mid-December. RCom has installed over 2,500 towers in these two circles.

The Anil Ambani group company has soft-launched the service in Mumbai, Delhi, Gujarat, Punjab Bangalore and Chennai. The company has provided GSM phones to its employees for testing the service, according to sources.

RCom announced its GSM network across Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore, Ahmedabad, Surat, Lucknow and Ludhiana on a test basis by providing approximately 10,000 test SIM cards to its employees.

Talking about Mumbai, RCom has invested around Rs. 800 crore in Mumbai for setting up 2,500 towers and other necessary infrastructure. RCom would be the second player after Idea Cellular to launch its GSM services in the city in this year. It is expected that RCom will open its services for public by the end of this year.

Also another speculation making rounds is that Tata Teleservices are also planning to launch their GSM services around the same time, although no official announcement is made by Tata’s telecom arm.