Reliance to unveil WLL services on Dec 27

Four days from now -- on December 27 -- Reliance Infocomm will formally announce its 'GINIE' brand of wireless in local loop services.

Though the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India is to still give its nod to the package, Reliance Infocomm's package is expected to give fixed telephony services and cellular providers a run for their money.

The three-year scheme will cost Rs 14,400 towards rentals and talk time and Rs 5,000 for the handset. The total tariff for the three-year scheme will be Rs 19,400.

The amount can be made as a down payment by the consumer, else financing will be made available from Reliance Capital. After an initial deposit equivalent to the cost of the handset, consumers can pay the rest in 12 monthly installments.

Reliance declined to confirm the details listed above, but its spokesperson said, "it is somewhere around that but not really there."

Listed below is the tentative package that Reliance is expected to announce:

One of the key features of the Reliance Infocomm tariff package is that it does away with the concept of national long distance calls based on geographical distance.

According to analysts, Reliance will offer in-built national long distance calls in all its packages and it could cost as little as 20 paise per minute.

However, the catch here would be that these prices would apply only for calls originating from a Reliance phone in one city and terminating on a Reliance phone in another city. Which means that intra-network calls would cost 20 paise per minute, irrespective of the geographical distance.

But for calls that terminate on networks of other carriers -- fixed telephony or cellular -- Reliance will be forced to pay interconnect charges, which could push up the price of the tariff.

"The interconnect charges that Reliance will pay have not yet been finalised. Yet, even with that, the STD tariff should be 30 to 40 per cent cheaper than the current prices," a telecom analyst told rediff.com.

Though, the TRAI approval for Reliance's schemes is yet to come in, analysts say that Reliance could go ahead with a soft launch.

"They can offer these tariffs as an introductory offer and later on depending on the TRAI decision change the tariffs. It's the same method adopted by cellular phones, who offered many services free initially calling it as an introductory offer," says Karthik Ramakrishnan, a telecom analyst with Sunidhi Consultancy Services.

There are many wrinkles that Reliance still needs to sort out over its WLL services. Roaming is one of them. WLL, in itself, is not limited by distance. The limited mobility function of WLL is a matter of legislation rather than the technology.

With its extensive network spanning over 60,000 kms of cable throughout the country, Reliance can very well offer roaming on its WLL handsets. But that will encroach on the territory of cellular providers, who are currently fighting a battle with WLL service providers.

Last week, the Supreme Court asked the Telecom Dispute Settlement Appellate Tribunal to examine the case of cellular providers who have been decrying the lack of a level playing field with the entry of WLL service providers.

"Currently, in metros areas, cellular providers give 12 per cent of their total turnover to the government as revenue sharing. The WLL players don't have any such constraints. The compromise that could be worked out is that the revenue sharing by cellular providers will come down to 3-4 per cent. But that will take some time," says Ramakrishnan.

However, the ongoing dispute is unlikely to cast much of a shadow on Reliance's plans, which is determined to go ahead with its launch. For customers, its decision will add a lot more sparkle to the festive season.