Reliance Jio to install 45,000 mobile towers to boost 4G network

New Delhi: Telecom operator Reliance Jio Infocomm will install around 45,000 mobile towers in the next six months to boost its 4G network.

"Reliance Jio in meeting with Telecom Minister (Manoj Sinha) has committed to installing 45,000 mobile towers in next six months to further strengthen its network. The company has said that it has plans to invest Rs 1 lakh crore over a period of 4 years and the new towers are part of this investment," an official source told PTI.

No immediate comments were received from Reliance Jio Infocomm Limited (RJIL) on the matter.

The source said that RJIL informed minister that it has already invested Rs 1.6 lakh crore in the networks and installed 2.82 lakh base stations across the country covering 18,000 cities and 2 lakh villages.

"Jio said that it has made all effort to provide good consumer experience but non-availability of point of interconnection from Airtel, Vodafone and Idea has led to high call failure rate on its network. Minister (Sinha) then directed telecom operators to resolve PoI issue among themselves at the earliest," the source said.

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) has recommended to impose Rs 3,050 crore penalty on Airtel, Vodafone and Idea Cellular holding them responsible for congestion in RJIL network.

Airtel, Vodafone, Idea Cellular and Reliance Jio attended a meeting called by Trai on Tuesday to resolve interconnection issue.

The meeting, which lasted for more than two hours, was attended by Bharti Airtel MD and CEO Gopal Vittal, Vodafone India MD and CEO Sunil Sood, Idea MD and CEO Himanshu Kapania and Reliance Jio Director Mahendra Nahata.

Trai Chairman RS Sharma asked them to mutually resolve interconnection issue at the earliest and warned action against those found liable for poor service quality benchmark around network congestion, call drop etc.

The incumbent operators received no respite from Trai on penalty of Rs 3,050 crore recommended by it.

According to sources, Sharma asked them to look at present and future plan of action to resolve quality issue in networks.