India's Reliance Communications and Reliance Jio Infocomm are reportedly considering expanding their collaboration to increasingly function as one telecom business.
The operators could agree to enter pacts for the sharing of spectrum as well as infrastructure, the Economic Times reported, citing people familiar with the negotiations.
Reliance Communications is owned by Indian tycoon Anil Ambani, while Reliance Jio Infocomm is owned by his brother Mukesh. The two brothers were estranged for years due to a dispute over how to share their deceased father's business empire, but have since made peace.
The two Reliances have already signed agreements covering the sharing of infrastructure including towers and fiber infrastructure.
Now, the companies are reportedly considering extending their alliance to cover infrastructure maintenance, common NOCs, data centers and retail outlets, as well as intra-circle spectrum sharing agreements once India's telecom rules are changed to permit them.
Together, the two companies would have adequate spectrum across all of India, operate 2G, 3G and 4G services and own an extensive fiber network, according to the sources.
Reliance Jio Infocomm plans to launch 4G services next year. It is a subsidiary of Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Industries, which has committed around 700 billion rupees ($11.6 billion) to the rollout.