Mukesh Ambani owned Reliance Industries (RIL) is planning to bid for spectrum in the 1800Mhz band in upcoming 2G spectrum auction, according to a report by Business Standard. The report states that the company is planning to bid for spectrum across telecom circles in the country and intends to offer this service to complement its 4G data services as well as to act as a pure play telecom operator. As per the DoT guidelines, new entrants are required to bid for a minimum of 4 blocks of 1.25 MHz, and will also be allowed to bid for one additional block, if they participate in the auction for spectrum in the 1800MHz band. - Expect more competition: Note that RIL was in the voice business until both the Ambani brothers separated during the Reliance group split in 2005, following which the telecom business went to younger brother Anil Ambani and there was a non-compete agreement between the two which ended in 2010. When RIL launched its (limited) mobility services under the Reliance Infocom brandname, it played the price card offering handsets for as low as Rs 500. Also, the company had offered free access to data services including mobile TV on its R-World portal for years before making it paid. Although, it attracted a lot of subscribers, the company faced losses and had to write-off unpaid bills accounting to Rs 4500 crore. It would be interesting to see if RIL's entry will impact the existing operators in the 2G segment including Airtel, Vodafone, and Idea, among…
