Ericsson, Alcatel-Lucent and Huawei are competing to supply broadband equipment to Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) for its re-entry into the telecom space, according to news reports.

In June 2010, the company, headed by Mukesh Ambani purchased a 95 per cent stake in Infotel Broadband, which won broadband wireless spectrum in all 22 circles, for Rs 48 billion.

It is believed that RIL is currently testing the three vendors’ broadband equipment which is based on long-term evolution (LTE) technology. The vendor is expected to be shortlisted in the next one or two months and will roll out services in the next six to nine months.

RIL had, in fact, chalked out its telecom-related plans in June 2010. The company planned to invest $5 billion over the next two years in its telecom venture, which included Rs 128.5 billion paid by Infotel for broadband spectrum.