Business

Aircel plans $4-5 b investment

KOLKATA: The Aircel group is planning to spend around $5 billion within two years to mark a pan-Indian presence, Gurdeep Singh, Chief Operating Officer, Aircel Cellular Ltd., said here on Monday.

Aircel is a joint venture between Maxis Communications Berhad of Malaysia and Apollo Hospital Enterprise . Maxis Communications holds a 74 per cent stake in the joint venture.

Sandip Das, Chief Executive Officer, Maxis, and Director, Aircel, said the group had already invested $2 billion in India. The telecom company would fund its future programme through a mix of debt and equity.

To a question as to whether any equity dilution was being planned by Maxis, he said that there were no plans for a hive off now, but there were offers. “We are planning a national footprint by 2009 and we have three options before us — buys, mergers and doing this through our own funding,” he said.

The Aircel top brass were here in connection with the launch of Aircel’s GSM mobile services in Kolkata.

Beginning with a commercial launch in 2003 in Chennai, Aircel began its outward expansion in 2005. The circles where it now has a presence include Assam, Bihar, Orissa, West Bengal, Northeast, Chennai, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal.

Mr. Singh said Kolkata was seen as an opportunity by the company, since it was the least penetrated among the metros. “In Chennai, where Aircel is the number one telecom operator, the mobile penetration is 90 per cent whereas in Kolkata it is just under 50 per cent.” While Rs. 500 crore has been spent already on this entry, the total investment would touch Rs. 1,000 crore with a year, he said.

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