RELIANCE TO TEST SERVICES ON 4G NETWORKS

Coming from an Economic Times
article, it looks like Reliance
Industries limited (RIL) is all set
to get approval from the telecom
department (DoT) for testing
voice services on its yet-to-be-
launched 4G networks. This
comes as a surprise as Airtel has
been the only 4G player as of
now, with limited network
distribution.
The telecom department has
suggested that Reliance be
allowed to test 10,000
connections on its network,
which means that there can be
10,000 4G voice enabled
numbers. DoT has also said that
Infotel broadband, the only
provider with pan Indian 4G
coverage will be letting other
operators test their 4G
connection on its network. In
that case, the 10,000 test
numbers can make calls to other
network providers too.
Mukesh Ambani's Infotel
broadband, wanting to test the
voice services means only one
thing. It is getting ready for
launching the services when the
regulations are lifted by 2013. As
of now, the LTE services are
offered at the 2300 MHz band in
the country, which is not voice
enabled, unlike in other countries
like the US where the 700 MHz
band includes voice. But RIL has
asked permission to enable,
what it calls Voice over LTE
(VoLTE) to bypass the
restrictions.
With that said, RIL being the only
player in the country with a Pan
Indian 4G license creates an
excellent opportunity for the 4G
launch.