Bharti eyes 9 lakh customer base

Private telecom major Bharti Telecom is targetting a customer base of over nine lakh in Karnataka in the next three years, a top official of the company said.

"We have close to three lakh voice users and around 75,000 broadband users in Karnataka. We are looking at doubling our broadband base every year for the next 2 to 3 years," Prem Pradeep, Airtel's chief executive officer said here on the sidelines of its customer awards function here on Tuesday.

As far as voice users are concerned, Airtel is looking at a target of five lakh users by 2009 with a 50 per cent growth year-on-year, he said.

The telecom service provider having an overall fixed line customer base of 14 lakh is looking at "70-80 per cent growth year-on-year and are optimistic about tripling our base," Pradeep said.

The company is going to go aggressive on its broadband base expansion and is hopeful of achieving the 50 lakh mark by 2010, he said.

In tune with its broadband expansion plan, airtel will soon unveil "bundled tariff scheme" for its various telecom services, he said.

Airtel today gave away prizes for its various customer contests; dial and drive contest, kaun banega lakhpati, festival dhamaka and the go scheme.

The bounty included a ford fiesta, a maruti swift, star ship cruises, holiday package, laptops and air ticket vouchers. Pti bh ra