Tata DoCoMo rolls out GSM service in Chennai, Tamil Nadu

Tata DoCoMo, the joint venture between telecom majors Tata Teleservices (TTSL) and Japan-based NTT DoCoMo today forayed into GSM operations by launching its service in Chennai and Tamil Nadu circles today. The telecom operator has earmarked around $2 billion (around Rs 10,000 crore) on its pan-India GSM network rollout.

The company has commenced the service saying “call anywhere in India for just 1 paise per second”.

TTSL has become the second telecom service provider after Reliance Communications to be providing services on both CDMA and GSM platforms under the dual-technology policy of the Indian government.

Speaking to reporters after launching the service in Chennai today TTSL's Managing Director Anil Sardana said that, the company is planning to roll out pan-India service by end of this year. The entire southern region will be completed over the next ten days.

He added, the company had received licence to operate GSM telecom services in 19 telecom circles and been allotted spectrum in 18, except Delhi. By end of October we will be operating in 16-18 circles.

The company had set a target to become one of the top three GSM operators in the country over the next 2-3 years.

Tata Docomo subscribers will now be able to enjoy the benefits of 'pay-as-you-use', at one paisa per second for all voice calls across the country, said Deepak Gulati, president, Tata DoCoMo.

He noted 18-22 per cent of the mobile users are paying for what they used. The company will work per-second pricing model for almost all the service including voice calls, VAS services, IVR interactions. Our network in Tamil Nadu to start will be 775 towns and 4370 villages and the products will be available in 20,000 outlets, said Gulati.

The company today launched its pre-paid service and said it will announce post-paid service within a week.

While TTSL along with Tata Teleservices Maharashtra, serves around 36 million customers, NTT Docomo, which recently picked up 26 per cent stake in TTSL and offers its services to 54.6 million subscribers and has a market share in of 53 per cent in Japan.