Reliance Infocomm targets 30% growth

[Arun 795]

Press Trust of India, MARCH 05, 2004

Source: Times of India

MUMBAI: Reliance Infocomm is targeting around 25-30 per cent growth rate of the industry total of two to 2.5 million subscribers per month in the current year, even as it has garnered a subscriber base of around 3.5-4 lakh connections for its recently launched pre-paid connections.

"Indian telephony industry is growing at a rapid pace and we are aiming at a marketshare of around 25-30 per cent, which would give us a commendable presence by the end of the year," Reliance group chairman and managing director Mukesh D Ambani told reporters here on Friday.

"The company's total post-paid subscriptions were over 6.3 million connections, he said.

Reliance Infocomm is also planning to build on its existing partnership with LG Electronics, a major CDMA handset provider to the company.

Apart from LG Electronics, the company would also strengthen its existing partnership with Samsung, Nokia and the recently included Motorola, he said.

On the infusement of capital to Reliance Infocomm, Ambani said that the company was looking at all options and would "take appropriate decision".

Reliance group director Nikhil Meswani said that the company was planning to offer international roaming over its CDMA handsets, which would enable the user to globe-trot without changing the handset or number.

However, he did not specify a date for the proposed launch, citing tests were being conducted on this front.

[Chirag 5]

Slowdown in Indian mobile growth continues

James Middleton, james.middleton@informa.com

Telecom.com News

09 June 2004

The slowdown in mobile subscriber growth in India continued throughout May, with new additions totaling 1.29 million. GSM adds dipped slightly, with operators adding 979,256 customers, compared to 1 million in April, while CDMA operators fared slightly better with new subscribers totaling 307,854 in May from 259,233 a month earlier, to bring the country's total mobile subscriber base to 35.87 million.

GSM operator Bharti Group added 585,000 subscribers in May, to bring its total to 7.34 million or around 26% of the GSM market. Hutchison Telecom increased its GSM market share to 19.86%, adding 203,000 subscribers during the month to end May with 5.59 million users. BSNL trailed Hutchison slightly, adding 172,000 subscribers to bring its total to 5.52 million and a GSM market share of 19.63%. Idea Cellular actually added 1.14 million GSM subscribers in May to bring its market share up to 14%, but this was due to the recent completion of Idea's acquisition of Escotel with over 1 million subscribers, bringing Idea's total subscriber base to 3.96 million. India's total GSM subscriber base stood at 28.15 million at end-May. The country's CDMA customer base grew to 7.72 million end-May with Reliance Infocomm adding 272,728 subscribers to take its total to 7.01 million. Tata Teleservices had a good month, adding 140,000 new subscribers after suffering negative growth in April, to bring its total to 652,000. Tata yesterday launched BREW services across six states.