Reliance to start a $12bn telecoms network in the world’s second-most populous nation

Reliance Industries, controlled by India's richest man, will start a €8.84 billion telecommunications network next year to meet voice and data demand in the world's second-most populous nation.

The company, which also runs the world's largest crude oil refining complex, will offer so-called fourth-generation services covering 5,000 cities and towns and more than 215,000 villages, billionaire chairman Mukesh Ambani told shareholders yesterday at the company's agm in Mumbai. The network would eventually span 600,000 villages, he said.

The rollout will mark the return of Mr Ambani to a business he handed to younger brother Anil Ambani nine years ago as part of a split following a family feud.

Telecommunications is part of a 1.8 trillion rupee (€22 billion) expansion plan that includes Reliance’s traditional businesses of polyester, petrochemicals, refining and natural gas. “Ambani’s focus on telecom and the non-oil businesses stand out in his speech this year,” said P Phani Sekhar, a Mumbai-based fund manager at Angel Broking, which owns Reliance shares. “Non-oils will define Reliance over the next five years, but the market wants quick results, and a three-to-five-year timeframe doesn’t excite investors too much.”

Reliance’s shares fell 2.1 per cent to 1,066.75 rupees at the close in Mumbai. The stock has risen 19 per cent this year, tracking a similar gain for the benchmark S&P BSE Sensex, in which Reliance has the highest weighting. – (Bloomberg)