Reliance Industries Limited (RIL)Annual General Meeting (AGM)Wednesday June 18,2014

  

Reliance Industries chairman Mukesh Ambani (right) with his wife Nita (second right), mother Kokilaben and son Akash before addressing the company¿s annual shareholders' meeting in Mumbai

Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) chairman Mukesh Ambani made a big-bang announcement at the annual general meeting of shareholders in Mumbai on Wednesday June 18,2014 that will intensify competition in the already crowded telecom market. 

RIL's telecom unit Reliance Jio Infocomm (RJI) will start offering fourth-generation (4G) services next year, with an investment of Rs 70,000 crore. 

RIL unveiled a Rs 1.8-lakh crore investment plan across businesses aimed at catapulting it into the top 50 companies of the world.

RJI, the only company with nationwide permits for 4G services, will start field trials in August 2014 before a full-fledged rollout in 2015

The company, which returned to the telecom sector in 2010 with the Rs 4,800-crore acquisition of Infotel, said that the telecom venture will eventually span out to more than 6,00,000 village

About five years after buying out Infotel Broadband Services within hours of the firm winning nationwide wireless broadband licenses, RIL will start wireless-broadband services in 5,000 cities and 2,15,000 villages in 2015

 Nita Ambani, wife of Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) chairman Mukesh Ambani, became the first woman to be appointed on the Board 

The appointment helps RIL meet a new law requiring listed companies to have, at least, one woman in the boardroom to boost gender diversity.

Nita, 50, took the place of Mukesh's uncle Ramniklal H. Ambani, who retired at the age of 90.