The Hindu : Karnataka News : Reliance Infocomm to cover 300 towns

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Dec 03, 2004

Karnataka

Karnataka

Reliance Infocomm to cover 300 towns

By Our Staff Reporter

BANGALORE, DEC. 2. Reliance Infocomm, a mobile-phone service provider which is part of the Reliance group of industries, will cover 300 towns in the State by March 2005, a company executive told presspersons here on Thursday.

The company plans to install equipment in 253 towns, at the rate of "at least two towns a day" till March, according to the official. The second phase of the expansion programme of the company was inaugurated with a phone call from the tahsildar of K.R. Nagar to Bangalore.

Viney Singh, chief executive officer for the company's wireless business in the State, said the company offered coverage in 47 cities and towns in the State at present. Reliance Infocomm had 6.12 lakh customers in the State, and that made it the second largest cellular service provider in the State, he added.

Of the 6.12 lakh customers, about 60 per cent used pre-paid cards. By March, about 500 towers, which would transmit and receive signals, would be built in different parts of the State. Each tower would have the capacity to handle between 3,000 and 4,000 connections, Mr. Viney Singh said.

On the national level, Reliance Infocomm had about 900 lakh customers in 1,100 cities and towns, Jimmy Mogal, company spokesperson, said. The expansion of the network in other circles in the country was going on. When the work was completed, "we aim to be in 5,100 cities and towns." The company's optic fibre network would increase from 80,000 km to 1,20,000 km in that time, Mr. Mogal added.

Reliance Infocomm would spend about Rs. 300 crores in the second phase of expansion in the State. Starting last year, the company expected to spend about Rs. 25,000 crores in the country to build up its network, set up sales outlets and improve marketing, Mr. Mogal said.

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