Processing .....please wait.. 
The article has been forwarded.... 
After CDMA, Tata to rollout GSM
By siliconindia
|
Tuesday, 12 August 2008, 19:30 IST
Agra: After exploring the CDMA sphere, Tata Teleservices are set to step into the GSM for augmenting its revenues. The telecom service provider is planning a $2 billion rollout in India by the end of the year.
The company has begun its spread out in the five circles allocated to it. Though it applied for a pan-India allocation and the delay in the rest of the allocation is posing a threat from its rival Reliance Communication, who is already on its way for a soft launch of GSM services. The impatience of the company can be viewed in the words of Anil Sardana, Tata Teleservices Managing Director, who says, "We do understand that there are security concerns in some of the states/circles where spectrum cannot be allocated. But wherever it is available there should not be any delay as the government had earlier announced in January this year that enough spectrum is available in most of the circles to accommodate all the new players as well to meet the needs of the existing operators." The company plans to invest $1.5 billion on GSM services and $500 million on its CDMA services. The investment would be raised through a combination of debt, internal resources and promoters contribution and will be spread for over two years. Moreover, the company seeks this option to increase its subscriber base from 27 million to 35 million by 2009 and 100 million by 2011, Sardana said.
The company eagerly waits to implement the new concept of number portability to lure in more subscribers.
The company has not considered its step in 3G services as the governments guidelines for spectrum allocation haven't made a proper mention in the line of 3G policy for CDMA operators.
