RCom, Shyam Sistema in talks
Reliance Communications (RCom) is in talks with new CDMA licencee Shyam Sistema for leasing of both active and passive infrastructure across 12 circles in the country.
If signed, the contract would be valued at around Rs 5,000-6,000 crore and the first inter-operator deal in the CDMA space.
The companies are in discussions for a 10-year infrastructure sharing contract, and this will help Shyam Sistema to rollout services “immediately”.
Reliance Telecom Infrastructure (RTIL) – RCom’s tower subsidiary – will provide towers and active infrastructure on lease to Shyam Sistema, sources close to the development said.
The agreement will help Shyam Sistema to provide mobile services across these circles, saving it infrastructure rollout time.
It would also help advance the rollout date at least by another six months from the earlier targeted April 2009 launch date.
The companies are in discussion for sharing of infrastructure across Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Haryana, West Bengal, Himachal Pradesh, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh (East), Uttar Pradesh (West), Rajasthan, Jammu & Kashmir, Assam and in North East circles. Moreover, this would enable Shyam Sistema to offer roaming to subscribers in these 10 circles where it does not hold licenses.
The companies are also looking at extending the tie-up to share national long distance (NLD) and international long distance (ILD) infrastructure and services
