Sistema Shyam to launch services in Delhi by August

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Sistema Shyam Teleservices Ltd (SSTL), a joint venture between Russia's Sistema and the Shyam Group, today said it is planning to launch its services in Delhi by August, a move that is likely to intensify competition among the seven telecom players in the national capital.

"We will launch our services in Delhi by August-September (this year). The company is already in talks with tower companies and infrastructure firms for rolling out operations in Delhi," SSTL President and Chief Executive Officer Vsevolod Rozanov told PTI after launching their mobile telephony services under the 'MTS' brand in Kolkata.

SSTL today launched its CDMA services for the Kolkata circle, and said it would invest $150 million in this telecom service area over the next four years. The company has already invested $80 million in Kolkata.

"We plan to invest around $150 million in the next three-four years in Kolkata and West Bengal," Rozanov added.

The company would launch its services in other parts of West Bengal by next month followed by Bihar and Jharkhand in July.

MTS, which provides mobile services in six other nations, has a subscriber base of about 100 million globally. SSTL is planning to complete its pan-India service launch by the third quarter of 2010.

"By the third quarter of 2010, we are planning to cover all the telecom circles," Rozanov said.

Headquartered in Gurgaon, SSTL had received licences and spectrum to provide mobile telephony services in all the 22 circles across the country.

Currently, the company offers its services in the Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Kolkata circles. The firm, which currently has about a million subscribers, is planning to get 30-40 million subscribers in the next three-four year.

"We are planning to get 30-40 million subscribers in next three-four years after the pan-India launch," he added.

Rozanov further said mobile number portability is likely to open a lot of opportunity for the new telecom players.

SSTL also has received GSM licence in Rajasthan circle. However, the company is yet to decide as to when it would launch its GSM services in the circle.

In October last year, SSTL had said it would invest $5 billion in expanding its operations in India.

Sistema is the majority shareholder in the joint venture with a 74 per cent equity stake, along with the Shyam Group, holding a 23.5 per cent stake and the rest 2.5 per cent being public partake.

The Shyam group is engaged in telecom, steel, cement port among others.