The Hindu : Business : Aircel Tele's plans

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Apr 06, 2004

Business

Business

Aircel Tele's plans

By Our Special Correspondent

CHENNAI, APRIL 5. The Chairman of Sterling group, C. Sivasankaran, said the group had applied for cellular licence in eight circles — Uttar Pradesh (West), Uttar Pradesh (East), Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Orissa, Assam, North-East and West Bengal & Andaman Nicobar Islands. He was hopeful of landing them sooner than later. Company sources said the Sterling group was also keen on making a foray into the Jammu & Kashmir region.

Answering a question, he said the group would invest Rs. 102 crores in the next ten days or so in Aircel Cellular to improve the operations in the Chennai region. The investment was to boost the quality of service and increase the capacity of the system, he added. Further, it would invest around Rs. 78 crores to strengthen the Tamil Nadu operations.

The group is not averse to selling its cellular business if a `reasonable price' is offered. Aircel and Aircel Cellular are owned by Aircel Televentures. Aircel is a mobile service provider in the Tamil Nadu Circle. Aircel Cellular, formerly RPG Cellular and renamed since it was taken over by the Sterling group, provides mobile service in the Chennai region. Put together, they have crossed the one million-subscriber mark in Tamil Nadu. Mr. Sivasankaran claimed that some offers had indeed come from Hutch, Idea and Bharti. He, however, said he had neither accepted nor rejected them. Sources insisted that the group had opened up parleys with Idea.

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