Anil Ambani group owned telecommunication company Reliance Communications (RCom) has signed up a joint venture (JV) contract with telecom infrastructure company Alcatel-Lucent to offer up Managed Network Services (MNS) to telecom service providers in the country.

Under the agreement, the companies will frame up a new entity that will provide managed network services to both CDMA and GSM networks in 12 circles in northern and western India.

According to the sources, the joint venture will support RCom’s growth as well as progression outside India when the Indian market is saturated.

RCom will spend $500 million over seven years for this service.

The JV will help RCom focus on its core abilities - telecom services, whereas Alcatel-Lucent will look after the infrastructure. This in turn helps in bettering the competition by lessening operating expenses without sacrificing network quality.
Moreover, it would also perk up RCom’s competitiveness by reducing operating expenses, without sacrificing network quality.

In the long-term, the JV will also form practical infrastructure, which will handle networks of a few of the other companies including Unitech, Adonis, Nahan, Volga, Loop, Shyam Telecom, Spice among others.

For Alcatel-Lucent, the JV will mark a foray into MNS in India.