"RCom has written to the Department of Telecom, informing (the department) that it will be using Reliance Jio Infocomm 4G network to provide 4G data service to its CDMA customers from next week. Only those CDMA customers who opted for the upgrade will get the service," an official source told PTI.
“Other seven circles in phase I are Maharashtra, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh East, Uttar Pradesh West, Orissa, Madhya Pradesh and Bihar. RCOM customers to experience 4G LTE in six more circles by mid-July,” one of the sources said. This is in line with the company’s earlier letter to the government that said it will start upgrading CDMA customers to 4G LTE from May 2016.
Reliance Jio network to its CDMA customers in select circles at a starting price of Rs. 93 per 10GB. Of the 8 million RCom's CDMA customers, over 90 percent have opted for the offered upgrade to 4G services, the data shared by the company with DoT showed.
RCom will provide 10 GB of 4G data at the starting price of Rs. 93, which is sharply lower by about 94 percent than that of its competitors offering 4G service. In most circles, the rates will vary between Rs. 93 and Rs. 97 per 10 GB, as per the rate published on the RCom website.
RCom has liberalised its 850MHz band spectrum in 20 circles by paying over Rs. 6,600 crore and put in place spectrum trading and sharing agreements with Reliance Jio in most telecom circles. In the other two circles, RCom had purchased liberalised spectrum in the 850MHz band through auction in March 2015.
A company holding liberalised spectrum can go for any kind of technology to offer mobile service to its customers. Older CDMA handsets of RCom customers will not work on the new network as it is being upgraded to 4G. RCom will phase out CDMA technology over the next couple of months, the source said.
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