Tata Tele to invest Rs 400cr in Gujarat

Tata Teleservices Limited will be investing around Rs 400 crore in Gujarat this year.

The investment would mostly be for raising coverage capacity from the current Rs 2 crore to over Rs 3 crore by expanding the number of Base Transceiver Stations (BTS) and backbone network for data communications through fibre optic cables. It plans to expand the data network to over 3,000 km.

One of the major CDMA telecom players, Tata Teleservices would be raising its installed capacity from the current one million to 1.5 million.

On the expansion plans, chief operating officer, Suneel Bandhu, said, "We will be investing around Rs 400 crore in the state to raise our footprint. We will be preparing ourselves in advance for the spectrum licence that is awaited for 3G services. If the licence is provided timely, we expect to begin our 3G services in the next six months and will be the first to do so."

Bandhu said that unlike GSM players, CDMA players will not have to overhaul their whole networks. "Moreover, it is not about more number of BTS but about how much population does a BTS cover. It is here that the CDMA technology scores over the GSM since the BTS for CDMA have higher density," added Bandhu.

The company is also planning to introduce more variety of handsets of enhanced version data online (EVDO) technology. Tata Teleservices' CDMA 2000 1X EVDO handsets are 3G compatible and many of them are already in the market.

The company is gearing up to be the first to offer 3G services and has already conducted a trial run on its EVDO handsets for speedier data applications in Maharashtra sometime back.

According to Bandhu, 3G services would be a revolution in the industry since it would be introducing more value-added services along with speed for data as high as 2.4 mbps. Currently, its inherent packet data capability is up to 153.6 kbps, claims Bandhu.

The company is also tying up with several enterprises for specialised services in remote areas. It has partnered Essar for its Hazira plant and Reliance for its Jamnagar refinery. It is also in talks with other enterprises in Mundra, Dahej and Surat.

With the advent of 3G services, Bandhu expects the usage of value-added services to overtake voice services.