Aircel plans 3G rollout early next year
30 Sep 2010
Telecom service provider Aircel will launch its 3G services in the first quarter of next year and will spend over $500 million (Rs2,237 crore) in the first year for the rollout, the company said on Wednesday.
"Aircel will launch 3G services in the first quarter (January-March) of next year," chief operating officer Gurdeep Singh told reporters in New Delhi.
For the entire 2G and 3G range of services, the company will invest a little over $1 billion (Rs4,473 crore). It hopes to finalise the equipment manufacturer by next week.
The firm, which currently has a subscriber base of 45 million, targets to increase it to 75 million by next year, out of which 10 per cent will come from the 3G services.
Initially the company will launch 3G in top 10 cities of each circle and then will cover the rest of the states in which it has received spectrum. The company has won spectrum for 13 new circles across India. These include Delhi (Metro), Mumbai (Metro), Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Haryana, Karnataka, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra & Goa, Rajasthan, Punjab, UP (West) and UP (East).
The company is a joint venture between Malaysia's Maxis Communications and India's Apollo Hospital Enterprise, with Maxis holding a majority stake of 74 per cent.
