The Hindu : Hutch-Essar tie up for Rajasthan

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Jan 18, 2004

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Hutch-Essar tie up for Rajasthan

By Our Special Correspondent

JAIPUR, JAN. 17. Hutch has entered the cellular services market in Rajasthan tying up with Essar. Hutchison Essar, a joint venture of Hutchison Telecom and Essar Group, has earmarked Rs.200 crores for investment in the State during the current year for providing "world class'' telephony, customer care initiatives and value-added services.

The arrival of Hutch, which derives its technology from Hutchison Whampoa Limited, a Hong Kong-based multinational conglomerate operating in 36 countries, marks big competition in the desert State for the existing major players like BSNL and Oasis. The tie-up between Hutchison Telecom and Essar Group here was made four months back but the entry of Hutch was formally announced here the other day. Essar has been in the cellular service market in Rajasthan for some time.

"The brand Hutch was launched in 2002 and now we are in 10 circles covering 70 per cent of the country's purchasing power,'' Rajiv Sawhney, executive director of Hutchison Essar, said talking to mediapersons here. "We are here to redefine the mobile experience in the State and benchmarking Hutch with the best in the world,'' he asserted.

The group has a combined subscriber base of over 4 million, spread over Mumbai (with the brand name Orange), Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Rajasthan, Haryana and eastern Uttar Pradesh, Mr. Sawhney said.

Hutchison Essar has already invested Rs.120 crores in Rajasthan. "With the investment in network, the subscribers will now experience seamless connectivity across the State, on highways, even in basements besides enhanced call processing speeds, higher call success rates and congestion free network,'' G. Udayan Dravid, chief operating officer of the company for Rajasthan and Haryana, said.

Both Mr. Sawhney and Mr. Dravid described the Rajasthan market as one of high potential. Compared to 5.4 per cent mobile penetration in neighbouring Gujarat, the State has only 2.5 per cent mobile users at present. "We expect the number of mobile customers to double from the existing 7-8 lakhs in the near future,'' they said.

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