Aircel to ratchet up TN business

Aircel Cellular will invest Rs 180 crore to expand its subscriber base to three million in Tamil Nadu, including the Chennai circle. The company is also in the race for licenses for eight other circles around the country.

Speaking to the media here on Saturday, C Sivasankaran, chairman, Sterling group, said that in Chennai, Aircel is embarking on the capacity expansion and improving the quality of its services thereof, in the next 90 days.

Lamenting the quality of the service of RPG Cellular was found to be dismal post-acquisition, he pointed out that there was an urgent need to attend to this. The expansion project in Chennai alone will come to Rs 102 crore.

Aircel will focus on States with higher (density) of population he informed. In Tamil Nadu he is ultimately targeting covering 10 million of its 60 million population.

On this drive, on 1 January Aircel will offer its subscribers of minimum four months' subscription, three supplementary connection free of cost that can be shared with only women or children.

The carrot is that there will be no monthly charge and all incoming calls on these connections will be free, while outgoing will be charged Re 1 a minute.

Also on the cards is an innovative product being sourced from Japan - a two-and-half inch diameter round cell phone - that will help parents keep tab on their children.

The phones bearing digital images of the parents, will be allowed only two numbers for outgoing calls to them. This service will not only enable parents to contact their children but also offer SMS alerts every time the child "strays out of range".

On being asked about earlier tariff plans of Aircel that the Telecom Regulation Authority of India (TRAI) had shot down, Sivasankaran remained unfazed.

"I am learning. I am going to put (forward) ideas that TRAI will not shoot down", he retorted.

Having now exited the internet service provider (ISP) business, Sivasankaran's focus is now on the broadband, with his well evidenced interest in the direct-to-home (DTH) segment. He is disappointed that the Government has turned down his offer of Rs 500 crore for additional spectrum.

"I even offered 15 per cent revenue sharing, where others are offering only eight per cent," he highlighted. Critical of the government's policy not being accommodative of the small players, he urged, "The Government needs alternative thinking".

Completely at ease with making it big investing in businesses and selling to realise its worth, Sivasankaran said, "Money is a by-product".

He is expecting get the promised Rs 130 crore for the remaining shares of Tamilnad Mercantile Bank well before the December deadline. "I have already recovered my investment in the bank," he pointed out.

So far he has already collected Rs 85 crore, he added, referring to the earlier transaction with the Nadar community. More recently, his other group company DishnetDSL sold its ISP business to VSNL for Rs 270 crore.