Telecom: Mukesh Ambani keen to join hands with Mittal

Reliance Industries Chairman Mukesh Ambani on Monday said his company is open to joining hands with Bharti Airtel for improving telecom network for 4G services in Punjab.

The two companies also announced their separate plans of investing a total of Rs 6,500 crore (Rs 65 billion) on digital infrastructure for 4G telecom services in the state.

"Punjabis are the brand ambassadors of India. We are present in Punjab in manufacturing and retail. We are also rolling out our first digital infrastructure for 4G in the state with an investment of about Rs 2,500 crore (Rs 25 billion)," Ambani said at the Progressive Punjab Summit.

"For further enhancing the digital experience, we can have a collaborative partnership with our friend Mr Mittal," Ambani said.
Sunil Bharti Mittal is the Chairman of Bharti Airtel.

Meanwhile, Bharti Airtel signed an initial agreement with the Punjab government committing an investment of Rs 4,000 crore (Rs 40 billion) towards building digital infrastructure for 4G services.
Airtel has already rolled out 4G services in select cities, including in Chandigarh and Mohali.

Reliance Jio Infocomm is the only company which has pan-India airwaves that can be used for 4G services, very high speed wireless broadband services.

This is second time Ambani is extending a friendly hand towards Mittal. In April, their companies joined hands to share capacity of a submarine cable.

Last week, Minister of State for Communication and IT Milind Deora sharing a dais with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh appealed to the telecom industry to sort out differences among them for development of the sector.