Videocon rolls out GSM services in Chennai, plans Rs14,000-crore investment

The Videocon Group has become the 13th mobile operator in India to launch its GSM services.

Its services were launched in Chennai yesterday and the consumer appliances major, which has forayed into the telecom sector, is targeting 100 cities and towns in the next 100 days to emerge as a pan-India operator by the end of September.

Launching the services, Venugopal Dhoot, chairman, Videocon Group said, although it would seem like the market was flooded with new players, the truth was that India's teledensity stood only at 46 per cent. There was, therefore, a large market the group planned to target with its attractive plans. He added that with its target customer base of 100 million customers, the group wanted to be among the top three players in this market in the next three years.

He said the group would invest Rs14,000 crore over the next three years - Rs 7,000 crore had been allocated by State Bank of India and the balance would come from equity and suppliers credit.

Meanwhile, the booming mobile industry added 250 million subscribers in the last three years and the figure is expected to touch 800 million by 2015.

Playing on the price factor like most of the recent players, Videocon plans to roll out a sub 1-paise tariff plan, the details of which have yet to be announced. "In this industry, you don't make profits from day one. It's a volume-driven business where value-added services (VAS) too plays a significant role. Besides, the Videocon brand has always stood for value for money," Dhoot said.