The Mukesh Ambani-controlled Reliance Industries (RIL) on Monday said that its subsidiary, Reliance Jio Media, has received a provisional registration from the government to operate as a multi-service operator (MSO) at the pan-India level in the digital cable TV space.
A RIL spokesperson said that the provisional licence obtained by Reliance Jio is subject to final clearance from the ministry of home affairs.
The spokesperson, however, didn’t reveal the timeline when the company expects to get the final clearance.
Mukesh Ambani had on June 12 — at RIL’s 41st AGM — announced that Reliance Jio would launch its 4G services by December. He had also said that Reliance Jio, which applied for a pan-India cable television MSO licence earlier in 2015, would enter into broadcast television distribution after obtaining the licence.
After obtaining the clearance, Reliance Jio will be able to distribute its media content on cable TV and also roll out its 4G broadband services.
The company is planning to launch 4G services that can also be used to transmit video content on mobile devices and the experience will be almost similar to that of watching video on TV sets.
RIL, which acquired control of Network 18, including its 17 news channels, 14 entertainment channels and internet businesses, plans to make RJio an integrated TV and mobile set of content in India by 2017-18.