Reliance Industries Limited (RIL), largest private sector company in India, has acquired the US-based telecom solutions provider Radisys for around $75 million in cash (Rs 510 crore).
With the acquisition, Reliance aims to power its telecom carrier arm Reliance Jio’s 5G and internet of things (IoT) capabilities. As of now, Jio is a leading telecom operator in India, and the deal will help Reliance to position Jio as a technology company.
“Reliance and Jio have been disrupting legacy business models and establishing new global benchmarks. Radisys’ top-class management and engineering team offer Reliance rapid innovation and solution development expertise globally, which complements our work towards software-centric disaggregated networks and platforms, enhancing the value to customers across consumer and enterprise segments,” said Akash Ambani, Director of Reliance Jio.
“This acquisition further accelerates Jio’s global innovation and technology leadership in the areas of 5G, IoT and open source architecture adoption.”
Radisys provides open telecom solutions to service providers globally. The company, headquartered in Hillsboro, Oregon, has around 600 employees, with an engineering team in Bangalore, India.
“The backing and support of India-based global conglomerate Reliance, will accelerate our strategy and the scale required by our customers to further deploy our full suite of products and services,” said Brian Bronson, CEO of Radisys.
“The Radisys team will continue to work independently on driving its future growth, innovation and expansion. The addition of Reliance’s visionary leadership and strong market position will enhance Radisys’ ability to develop and integrate large-scale, disruptive, open-centric end-toend solutions.”
Reliance Jio posted an annual revenue of $3.6 billion in April this year, and the Indian telecom giant is planning to provide 4G internet to 99% of the Indian population by the end of this year. Reliance Jio has invested over Rs 2,50,000 crore ($2500 billion) so far to achieve its goal.
The acquisition is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2018.
