India Mobile phone operators: Reliance Mobile

In India, Reliance does not need any introduction. The largest business conglomerate in India, set up by Dhirubhai Ambani in 1966, Reliance has an annual turnover of $35.9 billion and profit of $4.85 billion (as of March 2008). It is also one of the Indian companies to be included on the list of Fortune Global 500 companies. Petroleum and petrochemicals are the primary business of the group but it also runs various businesses including garments, retails etc. The company’s official website claims that out of every four Indian investors, one holds Reliance share. The company has more than three million stock holders and it is one of the best performing companies in India.

After the death of Dhirubhai Ambani, the company was split into his two sons Mukesh Ambani and Anil Ambani. After this split, Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group was formed which controls nine companies including Reliance Communications Ltd. It is the flagship company of Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group.

Reliance Communication Ltd. formerly known as Reliance Infocomm, was founded by late Dhirubhai Ambani. The company started its business in 1999. Dhirubhai’s ultimate goal was to make tools of information and communication available to people at an affordable cost that would overcome their lack of literacy and mobility. On December 28, 2002, on the day of the Dhirubhai’s 70^th birthday, the company started laying 60,000 km long pan-India fibre optic cable that would serve as the backbone of Reliance Communications. Reliance Communication Ltd is listed on National Stock Exchange and Bombay Stock Exchange. The company has a subscriber base of 71 million.

Reliance Mobile is one of the many businesses of Reliance Communications Ltd. One of the leading mobile service brands in India, Reliance Mobile operates in more than 20,000 towns and 4,50,000 villages in India. Previously named Reliance India Mobile, the company was launched on December 28, 2002. Reliance Mobile offers a wide range of value added services including mobile telephony and data services.

Anil Dhirubhai Ambani- Chairman, Reliance Mobile:

Anil Dhirubhai Ambani is the youngest son of late Dhirubhai Ambani. He is also the chairman of all the listed companies of Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group. He is also the Chairman of the Board of Governors of Dhirubhai Ambani Institute of Information and Communication Technology at Gandhi Nagar in Gujrat. In his long corporate career, Anil Dhirubhai has some great financial innovations to his credit. He is one of the pioneers to go to the overseas capital market through international public offerings. From 1991, he raised $2 billion for Reliance Industries.

Network:

Reliance Mobile has pan-India wireless network. It supports CDMA2000 1x technology that offers better voice and data capabilities compared to other cellular service providers. It is also cost effective and requires lesser radio spectrum. It has better voice clarity and supports data speed of 144 kbps.

Vision:

• Leverage strengths to execute complex global-scale projects facilitate information and communication among people and make them affordable.

• Offering great value to the customers and increase productivity.

• Generate value beyond India’s borders and establish India as a global knowledge hub through enabling India’s knowledge workers.

Reliance Mobile World:

The Reliance Mobile World is a Java-based application that enables users to access internet through his/her mobile phone effectively and quickly. Everyday, rworld.co.in, the official website of Reliance Mobile World gets more than 1.5 million page views per month from Reliance mobile users. Reliance Mobile World offers more than 150 data applications which is a unique achievement for an Indian mobile service provider. The Reliance Mobile World is a great source of knowledge, information, entertainment and business. Nearly 90% of Reliance handsets are data-enabled. As a result, they can access hundreds of Java applications on Reliance Mobile World.

Services offered by Reliance Mobile World:

• Hot n New: Offers you all the lates MP3 ringtones and images.
• Ringtones: If you want to have the ringtones of your favorite Hindi movies then this is the place where you should be.
• Callertunes: Entertain your caller with your favorite song.
• Cricket N More: Get the latest score of Cricket and know what is going on in the sports world.
• Games: Who does not love to play games on mobile phones? Download and play great games on your mobile phones.
• Movie Masala: Know what is the latest movie in Bollywood.
• Pics N Fun: Offers a wide variety of pictures of places and people to download on your mobile phone.
• Astrology: Feng Shui, Zodiac sign, Vaastu, Numerology and Asto-Yogi.
• Love N Friendship: Enjoy love chat, friend finder, love match and send romantic messages to the person you love.
• News N TV : Catch live news and various television programs from different channels on your mobile phone.
• Finance: Get the last update of various stock exchanges of India. In addition, you can get information of your bank account on your mobile phone.
• Message: Enter your Yahoo Messenger and send written SMS and voice SMS and MMS and check your mailbox.
• Devotional: Enjoy devotional videos like Anulom Vilom, Kapalbhati, Gayatri Mantra, download devotional ringtones, animations and wallpapers for only Rs.25.
• Other services: Ticket booking, bill payment, job search, matrimonial, travel guide, TV guide, dictionary and many more on R World.

Trivia:

• In 2003, AC Nielsen voted Reliance Mobile as India’s Most Trusted Telecom brand.

• That same year in July, Reliance Mobile created world record by adding one million subscribers in ten days with its ‘Monsoon Hungama’ offer.

• Reliance Mobile also revolutionized the India mobile phone sector by offering a large number advanced multimedia media handsets at affordable prices. Such low price handset definitely contributed in increasing the country’s tele-density in the last four years.

• Reliance Mobile is one of the oldest cellular mobile service providers in India. It obtained its license on December 12, 1995. It launched GSM services during October 1997. Currently, it operates in eight circles in India.

Useful Links:

Wikipedia- Reliance Industries

Reliance Communications

Reliance Mobile

(This entry was originally published in march 2009)