Airtel lines up Rs100 cr for Bengal network

Mobile telephony gets new buzz in east

Airtel will be investing Rs 100 crore in network expansion in West Bengal over the next four months.

The investment was in sync with the service provider's expansion of services in 17 new towns in the West Bengal circle. With this addition, Airtel's coverage would span across key highways, rail routes and more than 250 towns in the circle by the third quarter of the current fiscal.

Airtel has also launched services in Andaman Islands, thus completing its footprint in the West Bengal telecom circle. At present, Airtel's subscriber base was at more than 1.5 lakh.

Mrinal Roy, chief operating officer, mobility, West Bengal circle, Bharti Tele-Ventures Ltd. said, "At Airtel, we are committed to provide our customers with world class network and seamless coverage. It is our endeavour to seamlessly connect customers across the state by providing service even in smaller towns across the circle including the states of West Bengal, Sikkim and Andaman."

The new towns added include Balurghat, Gangarampur, Hilli, Gobardanga, Machlandapur, Kaliagunj, Adra, Ukhra, Panagarh, Salboni, Garbetta, Shankchuriya, Chandrakona, Bakreshwar, Mejia, Toofangunj and Dhupguri.

Airtel under the Bharti Tele-Ventures fold is structured into two main strategic business groups "" the mobility leaders business group and the Infotel leaders business group "" at a national level.

The mobility business group provides GSM mobile services across India in twenty three telecom circles, while the infotel business group provides broadband & telephone services, long distance services and enterprise services. All these services are provided under the Airtel brand.