RCom crosses 100 mn subscriber base

Anil Ambani-led Reliance Communications (RCom) today said it aims to add 100 million users over the next three years after crossing the 100 million subscriber base milestone.

RCom has crossed the 100 million wireless customers base in seven years of operation and now aims to achieve the next 100 million customers within the next 1,000 days, RCom said in a statement.

"The landmark 100 million mobile customer base makes us the youngest telecom operator to achieve this milestone in such a short span of time. As we take the leap to achieve the 200 million mark, we will lead it from the front with more customer-centric innovations and service approach," Reliance ADA Group Chairman Anil Dhirubhai Ambani said.

Apart from RCom, Bharti Airtel is the only other operator to have crossed the 100 million subscriber base mark. With additions of over 19 million subscribers a month, India's wireless subscriber base stood at 545.05 million by January-end this year.

As part of its plans to achieve the next 100 million subscribers, RCom will expand its GSM network and CDMA mobile broadband network, it said.

The company will be planning to rollout CDMA mobile broadband network offering Internet speed up to 3.1 Mbps beyond 60 cities within the next 100 days, taking the total number of cities covered to 125 offering mobile broadband service, it added.

The operator, which offers nationwide CDMA and GSM mobile services, had launched its its mobile services in 2003. RCom has become the fourth operator in the world to serve over 100 million customers in a single country, it said.

"Going forward, the customer additions will continue to be complemented with profitable growth. Our market leadership in the CDMA space and our recent entry into pan-India GSM service gives us an opportunity to go after the revenue growth," RCom CEO (Wireless Business) Syed Safawi said.