Bharti to expand Chennai operations

By Our Staff Reporter

CHENNAI, OCT. 4. The Bharti Group has re-christened SkyCell Communications, taken over by it sometime ago, as Bharti Mobinet Ltd. and proposes to infuse another Rs. 100 crores over the next year in network expansion. The group has invested around Rs. 100 crores in the venture since it took over the company.

Addressing a press conference here today, Mr. Sunil Bharti Mittal, Chairman and Group Managing Director, Bharti Enterprises, said the cellular services hitherto made available under the SkyCell brand would now be provided under AirTel brand. This followed Bharti's acquisition of a majority of 89.5 per cent stake in SkyCell Communications which has now been renamed. It may be recalled that the group had only recently acquired the individual 24.5 per cent stakes of both Bell South International Inc. and Millicom International Cellular SA. Earlier, it had acquired 40.5 per cent stake of Crompton Greaves in the company. Mr. Mittal expressed optimism that the Bharti group would eventually be able buy the balance stake from DSS as well.

SkyCell, he said, had a subscriber base of 1.05 lakhs. He expected this figure to reach 1.5 lakhs by the end of the financial year. By next financial year, this could swell to 2.5 lakhs, he said.

Chennai, he said, was one of its focal points. He cited the laying of optical fibre cable network, mobile, fixed line and undersea cable operations, Internet services and the like to drive home this claim. Chennai was a gateway to Southeast Asia and a host to leading financial and automotive sectors. The AirTel network, he said, would be beefed up with an initial coverage of over 100 cities and provide a host of value added services.

He said Bharti had recently acquired Spice Telecom's operation in Kolkata. With this, the group had acquired rights for eight new cellular circles. Similarly, it had also got cellular services licence for Punjab. Over a period, Bharti, he said would strive to bring all the cellular companies under one fold, marketing a national brand in AirTel.

Mr. Mittal said the Bharati group was the largest mobile service provider in the country with a footprint that spanned across 15 States, covering 700 million people. It planned to offer a nationwide broadband and long distance services in addition to providing fixed line services in Delhi, Haryana, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Madhya Pradesh.

He said the submarine cable project undertaken in tandem with Singapore Telecom would become operational from April next. The landing station would be in Chennai.

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