Idea to invest Rs 300 cr in Karnataka

Leading telecom services, Idea Cellular, today forayed into Karnataka by formally unveiling its logo and brand identity and announcing an investment of Rs 300 crore in the next 15 months for the growth of its business in the state.

Idea Cellular, which had recently acquired Spice Communications (paving its entry into two major telecom circles Karnataka and Punjab), would build on the current over 14 lakh subscriber base of Spice in Karnataka.

Part of the Aditya Birla Group, Idea hopes to increase its 40 per cent coverage of the 57.3 mn population in the state to 78 per cent by March 2010, said Sanjeev Aga, managing director, Idea.

With this launch, Idea is the third largest private GSM players with over 36 million subscribers. Idea planned to begin operations in Orissa and Tamil Nadu and have a pan-India presence in the next 12 months, he said.

Announcing a massive expansion plan in small towns and rural areas, state and national highways and rail routes in Karnataka, Himanshu Kapania, director, operations, said the company planned to increase its coverage from current 3,410 to 11,200 towns and villages by March 2010 in the state.

Idea planned to offer one stop shop for all telecom services through 27,000 retail outlets and 1,200 direct sales team.

Its plans for the state include setting up ring protected network, converting long hops into short hops, ensuring audio quality and bringing call congestion capacity to zero and incrementally enhance capacity utlisation by March 2009.

Idea would spearhead data speed in the IT capital by releasing 4.0 architecture in network, he said.