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Mumbai: Reliance Communications
has tied up with Microsoft for internet protocol television (IPTV) technology
and mobile phone software development. Reliance
Communications chairman Anil Ambani and Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer are expected
to make a joint announcement on when the latter arrives is in India on Monday,
according to a report. Reliance
Communications is planning to launch IPTV services in Mumbai and Delhi by the
end of this year, and had finalised the technology for this. Reliance
Communications, meanwhile, is set to reduce mobile phone charges by a third with
the launch of its pan-India GSM telecom services. The
company is planning to minimise the difference in the Rs1.11 a GSM subscriber
pays for every minute of a call he makes with the Rs0.85 a CDMA subscriber pays
for a minute of call time. This
33 per cent differential is what Reliance Communications plans to leverage as
it rolls out of its GSM services, for which it got a licence last month. Reliance
Communications already has a nationwide CDMA network. Ambani
told an analysts'' conference on Thursday that his company''s GSM expansion would
leverage existing infrastructure and the dual network for cheaper tariffs. Mahanagar
Telephone Nigam Ltd and private sector Bharti Airtel have already launched IPTV
services, while several other operators are in the process of rolling out these
services.
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