Aircel Launches (gsm) In Bangalore

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http://www.business-standard.com/india/new...a/00/06/349897/

Into the second phase of its expansion in Karnataka, telecom operator Aircel will invest Rs 1,100 crore over the next year to set up base stations across the state. Aircel marked its formal entry into the state by launching GSM mobile services in Bangalore on Monday.

Aircel chief operating officer Gurdeep Singh said on the occasion that the company has so far spent Rs 550 crore as start-up investments in Bangalore, and become the ninth cellular operator to start operations in the city.

A late entrant into the state, the Chennai-based firm plans to set up 1,200 new base stations in Karnataka over the next two months, from the 500 base stations it has employed currently to start operations in Bangalore Urban and Rural districts.

“Bangalore has a penetration rate of 78 per cent, and this is indicative of the huge potential the market holds for us. Many overseas markets have penetration rates in the region of 130 per cent or so. Hence, we see huge scope to widen the market further through innovative product launches and value-adds,” Singh said.

Aircel has operations in 11 telecom circles, which include the states of Tamil Nadu, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, Bihar, Orissa, Assam and Kerala. Last week, Aircel announced plans to invest Rs 500 crore in its first phase of expansion in Kerala. Services in Hyderabad are scheduled to be launched within two weeks, and New Delhi, Mumbai and east and west Uttar Pradesh circles are expected to come under Aircel’s footprint by September this year.

“We expect to close 2009 with a topline of over $1 billion (from about $600 million in 2008), operating in 18 circles in India out of a total of 23 circles,” Singh said. He added that the company, which sponsors the Chennai Super Kings team, is keen to acquire a pan-India presence before the next edition of the Indian Premier League sets in.

With a market share concentrated predominantly in Tamil Nadu, Aircel has a national subscriber base of over 16 million currently.

also see

http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/busine...us/15231863.htm

BANGALORE: Aircel, one of the fast growing Pan India telecom operator in the country, on Monday launched its GSM mobile services in Bangalore, With a subscriber base over 16 million, Aircel, the fifth largest service provider, rolled out its 12th cir cle with Bangalore.

Mr Gurdeep Singh, Chief Operating Officer, Aircel said, 'we will be introducing products and services uniquely tailored to meet the special needs of our Bangalore consumers. To reward high usage in a simple manner there is an inbuilt reduction in tariff on all local calls after the first minute to 50p for all subsequent minutes'.

The Bangalore launch augments the next phase of our Pan India rollout. Aircel will be launching a rich bouquet of VAS services with localised content including a WAP portal page in the local language that would work on any GPRS handset, he said.

Bangalore, having a strong business corridor with Kerala and Tamil Nadu, Aircel has introduced segment wise tailored offers for its customers. It enables subscribers in Bangalore to make STD calls to Kerala and Tamil Nadu Aircel to Aircel at only Rs 1 p er minute.

Also in view of the high ILD traffic to the Gulf and US/Canada from Karnataka, to facilitate usage, Aircel has an attractive inbuilt ISD tariff of call to Gulf at Rs 5.99 per minute and calls to US/Canada at 3.99 per minute, Mr Singh said in a release.

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Details of karnataka plans here :

http://www.aircel.com/Circles/karnataka/plan-150.asp