Spice looks at 70-80% coverage in Karnataka

Spice Communications Ltd is looking at expanding its network in Punjab and Karnataka where it is the second and the fifth largest cellular services provider. The wholly-owned subsidiary of Telekom Malaysia (TM) is looking to increase its coverage from 70-80 per cent in Karnataka and to over 90 per cent in Punjab.

At present, the company has a coverage capacity of 23 per cent in Karnataka and 50 per cent in Punjab. Spice Communications is also setting up an unspecified number of cell sites for this.

"We have applied for licenses in 21 circles across the country but we are suffering from lack of spectrum. But at the same time, we are looking to increase our footprint in these two states where we are presently present and increase our subscribers. For this we are raising money through a public issue as well," said Vivek Bali, Director - Brand & Marketing, Spice Communications Ltd.

The public issue of over 113 million equity shares of Rs 10 each will open on June 25, 2007. The price band for the Issue has been fixed between Rs 41 and Rs 46 per equity share. The proceeds from the IPO will be mainly utilised towards repayment of long-term debts, payment of licence fee for National Long Distance (NLD) and International Long Distance (ILD), for which the company has received Letter of Intents (LOI).

Spice enjoys a combined market share of 14.49 per cent in these two states and already has around 2,400 cell sites.