Deliver Your News to the World

Reliance Communications and QUALCOMM Collaborate On CDMA2000 Expansion In India


WEBWIRE

Reliance Communications, among Asia’s five most valuable telecom companies, and QUALCOMM Incorporated (Nasdaq: QCOM), a leading developer and innovator of advanced wireless technologies and data solutions, announced their plan to grow CDMA2000® technology in India. At the same time, Reliance also announced their world leading CDMA2000 network expansion, covering more than 20,000 towns in India.

The two companies will collaborate to leverage the capabilities of the CDMA2000 technology in the world’s fastest growing telecom market. They plan to address the increasing needs of rural, urban and enterprise consumers through the introduction of even more affordable and feature-rich handsets, wireless Internet data cards and a host of exciting data applications.

Reliance’s network expansion is believed to be the world’s largest and fastest infrastructure deployment project. Once completed, this project is expected to help India meet its ambitious teledensity targets and provide telecom services across tens of thousands of Indian villages which do not enjoy any connectivity today. To address the needs of the enterprise segment, Reliance has launched Reliance Netconnect, which offers uninterrupted, anytime, anywhere wireless Internet connectivity in more than 8000 towns, three lakh villages and along major highways and railway routes in India.

“We are committed to the continued explosive growth of telecommunication services in India and with QUALCOMM our leadership in the domestic market will strengthen even further,” said Mr. Anil Dhirubhai Ambani, Chairman, Reliance Communications Limited. “We remain focused on achieving ever higher levels of profitable growth, by delivering long term value to our consumers.”

“Reliance is a key driver of the fastest growing telecom market in the world, and we are pleased to enhance our long standing collaboration with them,” said Dr. Paul E. Jacobs, chief executive officer of QUALCOMM. “QUALCOMM is committed to support Reliance in its mission to grow the CDMA2000 market in India. Having jointly achieved several milestones in driving down the costs of voice telephony in India, our latest goal is to bring consumers an exciting new range of data offerings in mobile broadband, including multimedia and entertainment.”

Reliance Communications is India’s leading integrated telecom company and ranks among the top 10 CDMA2000 operators worldwide. The company has a track record of success in the Indian market, powered by the launch of new and innovative offerings, such as zero roaming tariffs, hugely economical lifetime validity recharge and dramatic reductions in ILD call rates. These value propositions, supported by the recently launched segmented offerings of the Classic range, such as the Rs. 1888 color handset with FM radio, the Rs. 1234 color and Rs. 777 monochrome handsets, have further strengthened and enhanced the company’s market position.

CDMA2000 has a robust evolution roadmap to next-generation mobile broadband technologies with full backward compatibility. QUALCOMM has been working with its partners in the Indian market to bring wireless solutions for consumers across rural and urban India. It has focused on encouraging competition to bring affordable, feature rich handsets into the Indian market. The vibrant BREW® community continues to innovate with exciting wireless entertainment applications on music, games and videos that appeal to Indian sensibilities. The company offers a comprehensive family of QUALCOMM Single-Chip™ (QSC™) solutions, which drive affordability of devices while enabling features that are in-demand. QUALCOMM also introduced BREW for Very Low End (VLE) CDMA2000 handsets, enabling ringtones and a myriad of data applications.

Rated among Asia’s five most Valuable Telecom Companies, Reliance Communications is a truly integrated telecommunications service provider. The company has a customer base of more than 33 million, including more than one million individual overseas retail customers. It also has a corporate clientele, which includes 600 Indian and 250 multinational corporations and more than 200 global carriers.

Reliance Communications has established a pan-India, next generation, integrated (wireless and wireline), convergent (voice, data and video) digital network that is capable of supporting best-of-class services spanning the entire Infocomm value chain, covering more than 8,000 towns and 300,000 villages. Reliance Communications owns and operates the world’s largest next generation IP-enabled connectivity infrastructure, comprising more than 150,000 kilometers of fiber optic cable systems in India, the USA, Europe, Middle East and the Asia Pacific region. The company’s subsidiary, FLAG Telecom owns the world’s largest private undersea cable system, spanning 65,000 kilometers and connecting the top business centers in developed and emerging markets across 6 continents. Web site: www.reliancecommunications.co.in

QUALCOMM Incorporated (www.qualcomm.com) is a leader in developing and delivering innovative digital wireless communications products and services based on CDMA and other advanced technologies. Headquartered in San Diego, Calif., QUALCOMM is included in the S&P 500 Index and is a 2007 FORTUNE 500® company traded on The Nasdaq Stock Market® under the ticker symbol QCOM.

Except for the historical information contained herein, this news release contains forward-looking statements that are subject to risks and uncertainties, including the extent and degree to which the Company’s collaboration with Reliance grows CDMA2000® technology in India, the speed with which such growth occurs, the ability of the collaboration to timely cause the introduction in India of more affordable and feature-rich handsets, wireless Internet data cards and data applications to address the needs of rural, urban and enterprise consumers, the Company’s ability to successfully design and have manufactured significant quantities of CDMA components on a timely and profitable basis, change in economic conditions in India, as well as the other risks detailed from time to time in the Company’s SEC reports, including the report on Form 10-K for the year ended September 24, 2006, and most recent Form 10-Q.



WebWireID41829





This news content was configured by WebWire editorial staff. Linking is permitted.

News Release Distribution and Press Release Distribution Services Provided by WebWire.