Date:12/01/2006 URL: http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/2006/01/12/stories/2006011202210400.htm

Back Reliance Info plans big roll-out

Kripa Raman

Mumbai , Jan. 11

RELIANCE Infocomm plans an aggressive rollout of its mobile and fixed telephony access network to reach more towns and cities across the country during the next six months.

The company, which plans to augment its network to cover 9,000 cities and towns (up from 4,500 currently) across the country, will cover half these additional locations by June , said a senior official with the company.

The newer tariff plans and packages that are the trend today will be of great appeal and use to populations in the B and C class cities, said the official. "We need to be where the growth is, where the numbers can come," he said.

Moving into smaller towns means that villages in their periphery would also get covered, said the official, according to whom the company has 1 million rural customers, the largest of any private telecom operator in the country.

The company's record of experiences shows that the customer potential in the hinterland could be vastly underestimated, said the official.

One strong factor is also the availability of information on commodity trade, weather and agricultural data.