Aditya Birla Group-owned Idea Cellular today launched its GSM mobile service in Assam. With this, the company is in near completion of its pan-India network rollout with presence in 21 telecom circles in India.

 The company has lined up a total investment of Rs 200 crore in the current year and total of Rs 300 crore in the first 3 years.

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 Idea’s mobile service will be available in 13 districts of Assam -  Barpeta, Bongaigaon, Cachar, Dibrugarh, Jorhat, Kamrup, Karbi Anglong, Kokrajhar, Nagaon, Sibsagar, Sonitpur and Tinsukia – at the initial stage.

 Ambrish Jain, director (operations) of Idea cellular, said that the company would double its network to 500 cell sites to cover 19 districts, including 56 major towns and over 1,400 villages in Assam, by March 2010. He added that Idea would set up a network of 450 cell sites in the North Eastern Region by March 2010.

 When asked how tough would be the competition for the company as Idea was a relatively late entrant in the Assam and North-East circles, Vijay Grover, chief operating officer (east operations), said, “Tele-density in Assam and North-East are one of the lowest in the country. With that kind of tele-density, there exists a lot of potential to unearth.” Assam has a tele-density of 22 and North-East as a whole has 31. Tele-density reflects the number of telephones per 100 population.

 He said that Idea’s “congestion-free network,” coupled with “state-of-the-art-technology” would make it the favoured mobile service provider in the North-East. “In every circle we ventured, we had a phenomenal success,” added Grover.

 Grover said that Meghalaya would be the next state to be brought udder its network, and would be followed by other states.

 Regarding tariffs, he said that the company would offer “value for money tariffs with attractive initial promotions.”

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