KumaarShah 143 Report post Posted May 18, 2007 RCL/MR/2006/48 May 17, 2007 RCOM Kickstarts World's Fastest and Largest Rural Infrastructure Rollout On World Telecom Day To provide Telecom Coverage to 2,34,000 villages To set up 8982 Sites in Remotest Parts of India Project to be completed within Record Time of One Year Reliance Communications Limited (RCOM), within a day of signing the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for the Universal Service Obligation (USO) program of the Department of Telecommunication (DoT), has commenced the rollout of "Worlds Largest and Fastest Rural Infrastructure" project. The project comprising commissioning 8982 Base Terminal Stations (BTSs), when completed would provide telecom services in 2,34,000 Indian villages which do not have any telecom connectivity at present. "Dhirubhai dreamt of a world without borders and man-made limits - a global village where everyone, but most of all every Indian, would have the chance to communicate and connect, compete and collaborate", said Mr. Anil Dhirubhai Ambani, Chairman, RCOM. "The commencement of Worlds fastest and largest rural telephony rollout project is a step forward in bridging the Digital Divide, that would provide telecom coverage to millions of Indians living in the remotest part of country", he added. RCOM has emerged as the most successful telecom operator in bagging the maximum sites under the USO initiative of the Department of Telecommunications. Leveraging the talent pool and project management skills of the Reliance ADA Group, RCOM has formed a special task force for the National Rural Rollout. The National Rural Marketing Team would be responsible for the completing this mammoth task within tight deadlines, as well as come up with attractive offerings to promote the growth of telecom services among the rural populi. The company aims to launch its telecom services within two months, after provisioning of passive infrastructure in these locations. Last year, RCOM had established its state-of-the-art telecom network in over 40,000 villages, under the USO fund, and added close to 7.5 lakh new subscribers in these areas. In addition, RCOM plans to enhance its network coverage to 25000 towns and 4.5 lakh villages by March 2008. The company has already earmarked a capex of $ 2.5 bn (around Rs. 11,000 crore) for its network expansion plans during this fiscal. About Reliance Communications Reliance Communications Limited founded by late Shri. Dhirubhai H Ambani (1932-2002) is the flagship company of the Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group. Rated among Asia's Six Topmost Valuable Telecom Companies, Reliance Communications is India's foremost truly integrated telecommunications service provider. The company, with a customer base of over 34 million including close to one million individual overseas retail customers, ranks among the top ten Asian Telecom companies. Reliance Communications' corporate clientele includes 600 Indian and 250 multinational corporations, and over 200 global carriers. The company has established a pan-India, next generation, integrated (wireless and wireline), convergent (voice, data and video) digital network that is capable of supporting best-of-class services spanning the entire infocomm value chain, covering over 7,500 towns and 300,000 villages. Reliance Communications owns and operates the world's largest next generation, IP enabled connectivity infrastructure, comprising over 150,000 kilometers of fibre optic cable systems in India, USA, Europe, Middle East and the Asia Pacific region.Website: www.reliancecommunications.co.in For further Information, please contact: Gaurav Wahi T: +91 9322904680 Mrinal Sapre T: +91 9323612892 Lakshman Aiyar T: +91 9324110166 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
