140 Cities Enjoy Cellular Facilities Till August

Three years after mobile telephony services were introduced in the country, the number of cities with cellular coverage has crossed 140 the end of August. Companies leading the pack of Indian cellular service providers are Escotel Mobile and Koshika Telecom.

Escotel Mobile - the cellular licensee in Uttar Pradesh (West), Haryana and Kerala - says it has covered some 60 cities with its network while Koshika Telecom, the operator in Uttar Pradesh (West and East), Bihar and Orissa, claims a presence in over 50 cities.

However, several cities in which the cellular service providers are present are common to two operators. There are two cellular service providers in each circle, which are mostly analogous to a state except in the case of Uttar Pradesh - split into east and west circles - and the Northeast (comprising six north-eastern states barring Assam).

A top Usha India (the promoter of Koshika Telecom) executive said here last week: "We have become the largest cellular telecom operator in the country operating in 54 cities. Our target date for breakeven (when a company starts making cash profits, the profits not including depreciation, but net of interest and tax) is July 1999. We may be a few months late on this target, but it (the breakeven) should happen before end-1999."

According to a list compiled by the Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI), the circles with the maximum number of cities with cellular coverage are Kerala (with 26 cities under the mobile telephony footprint), West Uttar Pradesh (24) and Haryana (11).

All three circles are licensed to Escotel Mobile with Koshika Telecom operating in Uttar Pradesh (West).

The number of cities that cellular service providers have covered reflect the investments made.

For instance, Escotel Mobile went into financial closure in early 1997 (syndicating $123 million or Rs 420 crore at the exchange rates prevailing then) and has invested in significant infrastructure in the cities.

Koshika Telecom, on the other hand, has used supplier's credit (from Alcatel), equity and subordinate debt to finance its network.

Apart from Escotel Mobile and Koshika Telecom, the other cellular operators which have rolled into significant number of cities are BPL US West Cellular (Kerala, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu) and Birla-AT&T Communications (Maharashtra and Gujarat).

In its circles, the BPL company has coverage in 22 cities, while Birla-AT&T has 12 cities under its footprint.