Tata Tele to expand to 13 new towns soon

Tata Teleservices Limited (TTSL), the telecom division of Tata Group, plans to launch its services in 13 new towns across the state next week.

Addressing a press conference, Prabhat Pani, chief operating officer (AP and Karnataka circle) of Tata Teleservices Limited, said: "The company added 10 new towns in the last few days taking the total number to 95 towns in the state, where the company offers its services." TTSL expects to provide its facilities in 166 towns before the end of December 2004.

The new towns that the company plans to launch its services are Kovuru, Gooty, Hindpur, Nirmal, Kadiri, Penugonda, Proddutur, Miryalaguda, Mancherial, Siddipet, Kothagudam, Bhadrachalam and Medchal. The company also plans to be operational from 18 circles from the present six circles.

He also said that the company for the first time has launched a SIM card for CDMA compatible mobile phones.

"At present, this T-SIM facility is compatible with three mobile phones and we expect to increase the range once more products like this are available," Pani said.

"The company through distributors is facilitating exchange programmes for customers who wish to change their handsets," he added.

TTSL has launched two plans for the fixed wireless phone service, 'Walky'.

"The single rate plan for Walky customers would consist of rental and plan fee at Rs 240 per month, CLIP facility at Rs 50 a month, free value of Rs 144 and a call rate of Rs 1.20 for three minutes. The other is the 150 Plan where the monthly rental is Rs 150, which is mainly targeted at customers having low voice usage and small towns," Pani said.

The tariff plan also gives customers a discount of 5-25 per cent on bills and facilitates internet access on the move.

The company is company is targeting to have 10 lakh customers by the end of the current fiscal from the present five lakh.

"The highest growth is expected to come from the mobile segment followed by Walky," he said. TTSL at the moment has 1.5 lakh mobile customers and two lakh customers in the fixed wireless segment.