Aircel to invest Rs 200 cr in Punjab

GSM mobile service provider Aircel intends to invest Rs 200 crore in Punjab by 2012 in order to strengthen its 2G network, expanding the retail presence and infrastructure. The company has already injected Rs 800 crore in rolling out 2G and 3G services in the state.

Speaking to Business Standard, Aircel COO Gurdeep Singh said, “We have already invested Rs 800 crore in Punjab and are planning to inject Rs 200 crore more next year. We have plans to increase our cell sites, besides the retail presence.” The company has plans to set up about 1,000 cell cites in the state, which will take the total number to 3,000 by the end of next year.

The company launched its GSM services in Punjab in August last year and has a subscriber base of 600,000. It is the eighth GSM player in Punjab, which has the highest telecom density of about 80 per cent, compared to the national average of 65 per cent. The state has seven GSM players — Airtel, BSNL, Idea, Vodafone, Tata Docomo, Reliance and Videocon — besides three CDMA players — Tata Teleservices, Reliance and HFCL Connect.

Meanwhile, the company today announced the rollout of its 3G services in Punjab, which will be available in 31 cities initially. It is the fourth player in Punjab to offer 3G services after BSNL, Reliance and Tata Docomo. It is worth mentioning that there were four private operators who have been awarded 3G licences for Punjab including Idea. He added, “We are excited about 3G, as we see it as something that will begin to transform our lives in many ways. The youth comprise over 50 per cent of the country’s population and are among active internet users and also avid users of Facebook, YouTube and other social networking sites. The launch of 3G services on Aircel will address the high speed digital needs of the consumers. In Punjab we expect that 10-15 per cent of our total subscribers will shift to 3G platform.”

“Across India, we are expecting that 30 per cent of our subscribers will shift on 3G platform in next three to four years,” he said. Currently, it has 55 million subscribers in India and of the total, about 400,000 are 3G subscribers. Further, the company expects the total subscriber base would be 100 million in the next three to four years. It is worth mentioning that Aircel is a joint venture between Maxis Communications Berhad, a leading regional telecom group headquartered in Malaysia and the Apollo Hospitals Group.