Date:23/04/2005 URL: http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/2005/04/23/stories/2005042300941700.htm

Back Airtel to invest Rs 120 cr in Maharashtra, Goa

Our Bureau

Pune , April 22

MOBILE service provider Airtel announced here on Friday it will invest Rs 120 crore in the Maharashtra and Goa circles where it plans to rapidly roll out its network, add capacity and infrastructure to grab market share.

The company said it has almost doubled its market shares over last year to reach the level of 23.8 per cent in fiscal 04-05 Addressing a press conference in the city, Mr Christopher Tobit, Chief Operating Officer, Bharti Cellular, Maharashtra and Goa, said the company has firmed up plans to add an additional 100 new towns in its network, taking the total to 330 out of the total 650 towns that the State has.

The year just ended also saw the mobile service provider notching up a 6.5-lakh subscriber base, Mr Tobit said.

Mr Tobit said the company is also working in the current year towards providing seamless connectivity on the maximum number of highways with a view to increase the quality of service to its subscribers.

"For the current fiscal we will be also rapidly adding cell sites which are expected to go up from 750 to an estimated 1200," Mr Tobit said.

The company kick-started its expansion drive by launching its services in Narayangaon, in the outskirts of Pune which is home to the world's most powerful radio telescope, the Giant Metre Wave Telescope (GMRT).

Concerns over a possible clashing of frequencies has resulted in the town, with its population of 40,000 people, being kept out of the ambit of cellular service providers.

Replying to queries, Mr Tobit said that a joint team from Airtel and GMRT conducted detailed night-time trials in the area to determine if the frequencies did in fact clash and the team found no disturbances whatsoever. "The team found that GMRT and GSM operations at 1800 MHZ can co-exist," Mr Tobit said. Airtel operates on the 1800 MHZ frequency and the new service, which has been given the go-ahead by the Standing Advisory Committee for Frequency Allocation, will benefit residents of Narayangaon and the Nashik highway stretch, he added.

GMRT, the world's largest and most sensitive metre wave radio telescope is located at Khodad, 80 km north of Pune, on the Pune-Nashik highway.

The GMRT is considered a versatile instrument for investigating a variety of radio astrophysical problems ranging from the nearby solar system to the edge of the observable universe.