Indian mobile operator buys British WiMax firm

ON THURSDAY, INDIAN mobile operator giant, Reliance Communication, announced that it had snapped up British company Ewaves, a wireless telephony services provider that offers fourth-generation (4G) services.

Reliance (part of the ADA group), which is India’s second biggest mobile operator, bought up 90 per cent of Ewaves through internal accruals, but it’s as of yet unknown just how much it set the company back. The firm will now be looking to push 4G worldwide, and Punit Garg, the new section’s chief executive, said at a press conference that his company had taken a gigantic step in the broadband direction and looked at 4G WiMax to be the next step in our global aspirations".

Garg also said that his firm would shell out $500 million over two to three years for WiMax, and voice services, in 50 different countries, but mainly focusing on developing and emerging Markets.

Emerging markets are believed to represent about 50 per cent of growth in WiMax expansion, according to Ewaves founder, Jay Metcalfe, who put forward that “readily available, reliable and affordable broadband service is critical to the development of any economy”.

Ewaves already has an in with the Chinese, as they’ve been working with them on a join venture in China, so Reliance obviously hopes they’ll be able to use the connection to gain access to the biggest broadband market in the world. µ

L’Inq
The Financial Express