Indian service provider Reliance Communications Ltd. has joined forces with Burlington, Mass.-based iBasis to establish the first Internet protocol eXchange connection in India. According to iBasis, a provider of data services for mobile operators, its IP eXchange network offers an alternative to the public Internet and allows mobile network operators to offer their customers voice-over long term evolution networks, Internet protocol videoconferencing and high definition voice services.

“We have always believed in taking bold steps to offer innovative and first-of-its-kind services to our customers, and our partnership with iBasis to leverage their extensive IP expertise and IPX network is yet another step in that direction,” said Punit Garg president of Reliance Communications. “With the forthcoming advent of LTE and other innovations in the country, we are confident that IPX will be an important component that will enable us to support and deliver the next generation of high quality voice and exciting new data services and provide a unique experience to our subscribers.”

“Guaranteed high quality VoIP is the most immediate and compelling business case for the IPX today,” said Willem Offerhaus, chief executive officer of iBasis. “IPX is also essential for LTE roaming and will accelerate the development and growth of exciting new services such as HD voice and IP videoconferencing. The iBasis IPX provides the security, scalability and guaranteed quality necessary to be a robust innovation platform for a new generation of services.”

Reliance Communications is the flagship company of the $19 billion Reliance Group. Reliance Communications has a customer base of over 158 million, including over 2.5 million individual overseas retail customers, ranks among the top-4 telecom companies in the world by number of customers in a single country. Reliance Communications’ corporate clientele includes 35,000 Indian and multinational corporations, and over 800 global, regional and domestic carriers.

A wholly-owned KPN company, iBasis offers a portfolio of voice and mobile data services for many of the world’s largest fixed and mobile operators. Customers include KPN and its mobile operators, KPN Mobile, E-Plus, and BASE, and more than 1,000 other providers, including Verizon, Vodafone, China Mobile, China Unicom, Skype, TDC, Telecom Italia, and Telefonica.