MUMBAI: Reliance Mobile and BBC World Service have announced a strategic alliance to offer live audio service through Reliance's VAS platform R-World. This is the first such international offering to be launched by an Indian telecom company.

The new partnership, aggregated by Worldwide Records, will see BBC World Service content available live across India through the medium of mobile phones. Reliance subscribers will now be able to listen to BBC World Service news in a choice of five different languages, seven days a week.

BBC World Service will offer news in English, which will switch to Hindi at 6.30am, 8.00am, 7.30pm and 10.30 pm; Tamil, at 09.15pm; Urdu, at 7.00am, 8.30 pm and 11.00pm, and Bangla, at 5.00 am, 6.00 am and 6.00pm.

Commenting on its partnership with BBC World Service, Reliance Communications Value Added Services Business and Marketing head Krishna Durbha said, Radio is a very popular medium in rural India. Through this service we wanted to offer same experience to our customers in their preferred language. Introduction of this service is part of our strategy to provide innovative services in local languages....

BBC World Service India Business Development Manager Indu Shekhar Sinha adds, "We want to reach out to the widest possible audience across India, both linguistically and geographically, and this deal is part of that strategy  We're delighted to offer 24/7 live streaming radio on Reliance mobile phones; this new platform will help us provide even more for our listeners."

Reliance subscribers can access the BBC World Service Radio by dialling 51234378.