Bharti Airtel to share BSNL's mobile infrastructure

Chennai: In response to Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited''s (BSNL) offer to share its mobile phone infrastructure with other players, Bharti Airtel Limited has started discussions with the government company.
"Our circle heads have started discussions with the chief general managers of BSNL on the subject. The talks are in preliminary stage," said Deepak Mehrotra, director, South, Bharti Airtel.

According to Mehrotra, the company already started sharing of infrastructure with other global system for mobile communication (GSM) players.

"Sharing of infrastructure with code division multiple access (CDMA) technology players is bit tricky because of the signal issues. Though in some parts infrastructure is shared with CDMA players, it is not much in vogue," he remarked.

When queried about the possible impact on the company once the mobile number portability comes into operation, he said, "For us number portability is an opportunity and not a threat."

Meanwhile, Bharti Airtel has chalked out aggressive network expansion plans in Tamil Nadu. The company would increase the number of cell sites to 6700 by the end of March 2008, from the existing 4000 sites.

"We will also triple our short messaging service (SMS) capacity to 5,850 messages per second by next March," Mehrotra added.

The company would also set up infrastructure near national and state highways, colleges, places of tourist interest so as to offer seamless connectivity to its subscribers.

In the rural span, the company would increase coverage to 17,000 villages in Tamil Nadu from the existing 10,000 villages. However, Mehrotra declined to comment on the amount invested by Bharti Airtel towards its network expansion.