The flagship company of the Reliance-Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group – Reliance Communications is aiming to be one of the top five mobile phone operators of the world, and for that the company is looking to hike up the number of its subscribers by one third to 100 million by the end of the current year – reports the Financial Times.  

The Financial Times has reported that Reliance Communications has witnessed record increase in the number of subscribers during the first quarter, after the company set up its GSM network in India. The company is now eyeing for 100 million subscribers, the milestone that will place the company parallel with major telecom players, including Vodafone, China Mobile, China Unicom, and Bharti Airtel, and the 100 million subscribers milestone will enhance the impact of the company in the domestic mobile market.   

The Financial Times has quoted the Chief Executive of Wireless division of Reliance Communications claiming that in the past three months, the company has gained 11.3 million subscribers, of which nearly 9 million belong to GSM network, and the company has set up its GSM network in 11,000 cities and 200,000 villages.

According to Financial Times, Reliance Communications started setting up in 11000 cities and 2-lakh villages, after Mukesk Ambani, Anil’s elder brother threatened legal action when the company tried to merge with South African company MTN, in $40 billion deal. Reliance Communications boasts of its successful CDMA network, and its GSM network impacted Vodafone, Bharti Airtel and others, who argue that the GSM license shouldn’t have given to RCom, as much of the spectrum bandwidth in India is locked by the Defense Ministry and is scarce.

Currently, Reliance Communications is the seventh-largest mobile phone operator in the world, with about 75 million subscribers. The company is positive to achieve the 100 million subscribers milestone, as the country's telecom market is growing. India has become the fastest-growing mobile market, edging out China. With 350 million subscribers, India is gaining more than 10 million subscribers each month.