Tata Tele plans Rs 750 cr spread

Company To double number of subscribers to five lakh by March 2005, cover more towns

Tata Teleservices Ltd has embarked on a major expansion plan, under which its coverage in the state will increase from 13 towns at present to 75 towns in the next one month and to 150 towns by December 2004.

Tata Teleservices provides CDMA cellular, fixed wireless phone and wireline phone services under the name Tata Indicom.

The company has planned an investment of over Rs 750 crore in the current calendar year, through which it aims to double its customer base from around 2.50 lakh to five lakh by March 2005.

Almost all towns and cities, highways and other places are planned to be brought under coverage by the next one month.

"It has been a year and a half since we began testing the market and the time has now come for a full-fledged expansion of our network in Gujarat. Tata Indicom will be available in over 75 cities and towns of the state within the next 30 days," said Jagrut Vyas, chief operating officer, Tata Teleservices Ltd, in Ahmedabad on Friday.

A major part of the expansion will take place in the north Gujarat region of Ahmedabad. Coverage along all the highways of the state, especially the Palanpur-Ahmedabad, Ahmedabad-Umargam and Ahmedabad-Rajkot-Porbander link will be strengthened.

"The company will invest Rs 750 crore this year alone in making the Tata Indicom network among the most efficient in Gujarat," said Vyas.

Of the total 2.50 lakh customers, the number of CDMA and FWP connections are almost equal. In addition, the company has around 25,000 wireline telephones installed. Tata Indicom STD/PCO booths number around 4,000. The company recently introduced Axesstel instruments for its FWP subscribers in addition to LG phones it has been providing.

"The elaborate network expansion will make it possible for the company to increase its subscriber base substantially and Tata Indicom will have as many as five lakh subscribers by March 2005, double the present number," said Vyas.

Vyas said despite enhancing its network and coverage and customer touchpoints, the tariffs of Tata Indicom are among the lowest in the industry.

"Depending on the plan one chooses, a Tata Indicom subscriber gets services that are 22 per cent to 55 per cent cheaper than the rest," said Vyas.