Hutch South to invest more on infrastructure

With a subscriber base of 7.7 lakh, as on March 2004, between the three circles that it is operating in, Hutchison Essar South Ltd is in the process of investing in infrastructure to beef up its network and presence.

However, Samuel Selvakumar, chief executive officer, Karnataka and Chennai, said that he was not ready to elaborate on the ongoing investments just yet.

Hutch South's biggest operations are in Andhra Pradesh where it has acquired about 3.49 subscribers (as March 2004), while in Karnataka it has a base of 2.31 lakh subscribers and 1.9 lakh subscribers in Chennai.

The company has simultaneously launched its 'Microsoft Outlook on Hutch' service in all the regions, which enables the corporate clients -- with office mailing systems using Microsoft Outlook -- to access their office mailbox on their handsets.

The tie-up with Microsoft in the development of this product will enable Hutch to grow its corporate business more aggressively.

"At present, corporates account for 20-25 per cent of our subscriber base in Chennai," Selvakumar told media persons here today. There is a clear direction to grow this component with the launch of the new product.

"Hutch and Microsoft will jointly promote the product with their existing corporate clients and also pitch for new client acquisition," he added.

The 'Microsoft Outlook on Hutch' service can be availed by subscribers across different generations of handsets. At the top end, the subscribers will need the Motorola MPX 200 or the Pocket PC "� iMate, so they access and work live with their official mailbox. Here the subscriber can read, download, edit and send mail attachments in Microsoft Word, Excel or Power Point formats.

On the handset with the GPRS facility, the client can log onto the mailbox directly but activity using the mobile will not get reflected in the mailbox. In the regular handset, the client can receive sms alerts on receipt of e-mails and can read them using certain commands.

Operating in 13 circles, Hutchinson Essar is offering discounts on the purchase of the Motorola MPX200 and the iMate. The service charge on availing this top-end facility is Rs 499 per month.

The GPRS-linked service is priced at Rs 99 a month. The SMS-oriented service carries an additional monthly charge of Rs 49, with each SMS costing Rs 2.