Mukesh Ambani’s new telecom business unit Reliance Jio has received a provisional license to operate as a Multi Service Operator (MSO) from the Indian government. This license would help Jio to foray into cable distribution business in the country. The provisional MSO license is a pan-Indian one.
TeleAnalysis has first reported this story in January this year that Reliance Jio had applied for the pan-India MSO license.
“We wish to state that Reliance Jio Media Private Limited, a subsidiary of Reliance Industries Limited, has been granted provisional registration by Ministry of Information and Broadcasting for operating as Multi Service Operator (MSO) in Digital Addressable System (DAS) in PAN India,” Reliance Industries said a filing to the Bombay Stock Exchange. The Indian bourse had sought clarification from the company pertaining to a similar report in some sections of the media last week.
Once Reliance Jio gets MSO license it will compete with Hathway, IMCL, Siti Cable Network and DEN Networks. Promoted by the Raheja Group, Hathway is one of the largest MSO and cable broadband service providers in India. The company’s cable operations straddle across key Indian geographies and offers cable television services across 140 cities and towns and high-speed cable broadband services across 21 cities.
Siti Cable Network is part of the Essel Group is one of India’s leading MS. With 56 analog and 14 digital head ends and a network of more than 12,000 Kms of optical fiber and coaxial cable, it provides its cable services in India’s 60 key cities and the adjoining areas, reaching out to over 10 million viewers. SITI Cable delivers multiple TV signals to enhance consumer viewing experience by providing analog cable television, digital cable television, broadband and local television channels.
DEN Networks is India’s leading cable TV distribution company reaching an estimated 13 million households in over 200 cities across 13 key states in India. The company has also done a soft launch of its super fast broadband services branded as ‘Boom Band’ on DOCSIS 3.0 technology in certain localities of Delhi, one of its biggest markets and its home base.
Reliance Jio is focusing on convergence space and has bagged BWA (Broadband Wireless Access) spectrum in 2010 and ISP (Internet Service Provider) license was bagged through acquisition of Infotel Broadband Services in 2010 and is in the process to bag Cable MSO license. All these services will help Reliance Jio to offer broadband services through wireless media, wireline media and cable TV media thereby focusing on all types of broadband services pan-India.
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