Samsung Gets The Coveted RIL's LTE Deal

Hi ip4g, Not clear. But the deal with Samsung is as and when we get more info about the deal we will write about it. I wonder if Qualcomm bharti deal in May played some role in expediting RIL's plans. SamsungRIL deal was signed in June...

From what we hear it was Samsung's technology which clinched the deal. Another factor which might have played some role is that Samsung is not interested in any other operator. They didnt even conduct trials for any other operators. But the road ahead is difficult for Samsung. RIL is not known to be an easy client. Besides Samsung would still be learning how to do business in India (in networking side). They do not have much infrastructure on ground...they would need to form alliances with partners pretty soon.  I suspect RCom deal is not happening. If it was in the pipeline the contract to lay down fiber wouldnt have gone to HFCL... But yes it is heartening to see some action on the ground...  

Of course .. It is a mover for the Telecom Industry, especially when there is huge fog in this country. But then all said and done, I am a consumer What I would look for is on the tariff, and what devices - Whether its a dongle, or a tab, or a smartphone or a MiFi device so that I can turn on my Samsung Galaxy on top of it (Just tether !!) - Bharti Airtel offers say in Bengaluru this:  INR 999 for 6GB, 1399 for  GB, 1999 for 18 GB, 2999 for 30 GB (Of course with some cash back too). But then this is for Dongle I guess - Now compare this with $50 per month for a 5 GB Cap.. I think that is equivalence - What is to be seen is the disturbance that RIL brings in. [Apple] shipped 17M iPads, an 84% increase over the same quarter last year – a staggering number.”  - Can RIL bundle this and repeat the same here in India ? I would like to see WiFi everywhere and LTE taking it on its backhaul via MiFi or alternate techniques... and LTE when I have them embedded on to the Smartphones. That is where bundline helps. We know that beyond what Infocomm did to CDMA, bundling did not really work for in India. But then time has come for us to move to the next level of devices - True 4G devices.

Gagan, The deal is for Mumbai circle and RIL is planning to launch in Mumbai and Delhi. So is Vendor - 2 for Delhi or RIL plans to expand with Samsung for Delhi and further on?

This is interesting .. How was the deal snatched from the likes of AlcaLu, E///, NSN, H/// and Z/// - Samsung LTE is pretty strong on eNodeB and EPC or just that they have a better ecosystem (coz of the devices). They do have some big deal with Sprint for sure, and some in SK too. But beyond that - what is the experience they have in deploying LTE. Winning an Electronics deal and doing it turnkey are 2 different aspects. Does this include EPC too? Also RIL, unlike Bharti or existing brownfield guys, are greenfield players - So they would need IP Backhaul, Optics to be lit, Fiber to be laid, Towers to be erected and the other associated application systems and SPIT system to be constructed. How does Samsung LTE deal align with this or is this a cherry picking mechanism (Is it really a Cherry in this case). C Spire comes to my mind !! Will a repeat happen couple of years down the line !? Interesting though to see the traction on ground happening .. and moving from paper to reality is heartening to see !! Expect RCOM deal next ?

What other thinks about this Samsung new deal?  print canvas

Hi LTEind...yup because I believe the deal was signed about a month or so back. But for the rest of the world it is still news...

It seems like an old story for whoever is associated with this company for LTE equipment...