Reliance Jio Infocomm, the telecom subsidiary of Reliance Industries, said it will take a loan of $1 bln from Korea Trade Insurance Corporation to purchase goods from Korean companies Samsung and Ace Technologies.
“The Facility is K-SURE’s largest deal in India as well as the largest deal supported by K-SURE in the telecom sector globally,” said India’s largest telecom operator by volume.
The Indian company, which made the announcement, did not specify what kind of equipment would be sourced from Samsung and Ace. However, Jio has in the past sourced antenna equipment from Ace Technologies.
Jio was in extensive talks with Samsung about well before it launched its services two years ago to source handsets and other equipment.
However, the company went with other suppliers for the supply of handsets, while sourcing a large part of its network equipment from Samsung.
The deal to take a 10-year loan comes days after the finalization of the 5G standard by the international body responsible for standardizing the wireless telecom technologies, and could indicate the potential for a large 5G-related sourcing deal between the three companies.
Jio is expected to be on the forefront of the 5G upgrade in India, expected to start by early 2019.
“This transaction marks the fourth K-SURE covered facility for Reliance group in last 5 years and the second K-SURE covered facility for RJIL in the last 3 years,” the telecom company said.
The term loan was arranged by Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Limited and The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Limited.
It also involved banks such as BNP Paribas; Commerzbank AG; Citibank N.A.; ING Bank; JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A.; Mizuho Bank, Ltd.; MUFG Bank, Ltd. and Banco Santander, S.A.
Reliance Jio is estimated to have invested around Rs 2.5 trillion in its telecom network, which has already overtaken all other players in terms of its size and data carrying capacity.