For growth in UP, Uninor connects to countryside

Mobile phone operator Uninor is focusing on the semi-rural markets for growth in the Uttar Pradesh (East) circle.

Under its “aggressive expansion” in the countryside, the company is launching ultra low cost retail outlets ‘Uninor Express Stores’ at the tehsil levels.

This new franchisee format requires smaller space of 80-120 sq ft and merely 7-10 days to open, Uninor Chief Operating Officer (COO) Yogesh Malik has said.

“Besides, it requires much less investment than any normal franchisee retail outlet,” he informed.

The company has launched about 30 new such stores in the circle in the past three days in Allahabad, Azamgarh, Gorakhpur, Kanpur, Lucknow and Varanasi districts.

These franchisee stores provide all the services, including selling new connections, recharges and resolving customer queries.

Earlier, 100 such stores had been launched in UP (E), most of which are located in major cities and towns.

“Now, we are penetrating deeper in the market and launching the unique ultra low cost stores at the tehsil levels,” UP (E) business head Upanga Dutta said. These are being set up in towns with population of around 50,000.

Meanwhile, the company has also planned to increase the number of its base transceiver station (BTS), commonly known as cell sites/towers, from 4,000 at present to 4,500 in the next couple of months to fortify its voice/data network.