Tata Teleservices on an expansion spree

16 July 2004

Tata Teleservices, the telecom arm of the Tata Group, recently announced big expansion plans for its existing circles in the country and is moving into newer territories nearly every day. The company is also increasing the number of its base stations and cell sites along highways to strengthen what company officials call its backbone.

Tata Teleleservices has also acquired a universal access service licence (UASL) for 12 new circles in Bihar, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Kerala, Kolkata, Madhya Pradesh, Orissa, Punjab, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh (East and West) and West Bengal where it plans to launch its services by September 2004. At present the company serves over 18 lakh customers in over 112 towns and plans include expanding to over 1,000 towns in 20 circles by March 2005.

Last month Tata Teleservices announced an investment plan of Rs 446 crore for the state of Andhra Pradesh and has already invested over Rs 2, 000 crore since its operations began in the state.

With this expansion, Tata Indicom will be present in 166 towns in AP by the end of 2004. It also plans to add 300 new cell sites to the already existing 160 cell sites by the end of the year.

At present Tata Indicom offers services in 21 towns in AP. The new expansion will take it across the three geographical regions namely Telengana, Costal Andhra and the Rayalseema region.

Mohini Bhatnagar spoke to Prabhat Pani, the COO of Tata Teleservices, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka circles on the comprehensive future plans of the company in the state.