Airtel starts service in J&K with Rs 125 cr

Airtel today became the first private telecom service provider to launch mobile services in the state of Jammu & Kashmir.

The company has earmarked an investment of Rs 125 crore during the current financial year for network expansion in the state.

Speaking on the occasion, of the launch Sunil Mittal, group chairman and managing director of Bharti Enterprises, said, "The launch of Airtel mobile service will have a profound impact on the economic growth of the region because it will provide employment and boost tourism in the region."

With the launch in J&K, Bharti has expanded its network to 19 of the 23 telecom circles in the country. In the initial phase, Airtel will launch services in 46 towns of the state including Jammu, Srinagar, Samba, Akhnoor, Vijaypur, Kathua, Baramulla, Badgam, Anantnag, Sopore, Brijbehara, and Pampore. The company plans to expand its services to 54 more towns by March 2005.

Initially, the Airtel network would have 90 cell sites, which would go up to 118 shortly, a company executive said.

Ericsson, which has deployed the network infrastructure, will also manage the network. The network is 2.5G GPRS enabled and will operate in the 900 Mhz spectrum band.

Airtel will offer post-paid and pre-paid services to its subscribers.

The company has also introduced a special offer under which the post-paid subscribers will be able to call any Airtel mobile in the country at Re 1 a minute.

It also proposes special packages for corporates and small and medium enterprises in the state.

Airtel subscribers in the state can avail of facilities like national and international roaming and other value-added services offered by the company.