New Delhi : After being at loggerheads, RJIL and COAI have joined hands, with Reliance Industries’ telecom arm becoming a core member of the GSM industry body. The move precedes Reliance Jio Infocomm’s (RJIL) pan-India roll-out of 4G services next year, reports PTI.
“We are delighted that Reliance Jio Infocomm (RJIL) has joined us in our common endeavor to roll out innovative and affordable mobile broadband services to the citizens of India,” COAI’s Director General Rajan S Mathews said. The Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) represents GSM telecom operators such as Airtel, Vodafone, Idea Cellular, Uninor among others.
RJIL Managing Director Sandip Das said the company sees an opportunity for the policy makers and the industry to be aligned with respect to understanding what stands between the average Indian and their crying demand for better broadband.
“We are therefore pleased to join the COAI, where along with other operators, we hope to create an operating environment that will help us realise this ambition for all Indians as an industry, in the overall context of our nation’s development,” Das said.
The two had indulged in a war words on the issue of the Department of Telecom issuing a unified licence to RJIL against payment of about Rs 1,673 crore in 2013. With unified licence, RJIL can offer full-fledged mobile services, a move vehemently opposed by COAI alleging the company was given licence at cheap price.