BANGALORE: Bharti Tele-Ventures, which owns "Airtel", is expanding the network and services in the State with an investment of Rs. 380 crores in 2005-06.

Chief Operating Officer of the firm Deepak Mehrotra told presspersons here on Tuesday that Airtel will expand its services to cover Maski, Ghataprabha, Kudalasangama, Kudchi, Dulakhed, Gurmitkal, Kiravatti and Lokapur in north Karnataka and Ripponpet, Anandpuram, Nagarhole, Sathnur, Harohalli and Ghandsi in south Karnataka.

Airtel plans to reach approximately 45 per cent of the population in the State with a network that will span close to 730 towns by the end of March 2006. For implementing its plan, Airtel will set up 600 more sites (towers) in the State.

New unit

Airtel is setting up a "Future Factory" in Bangalore where a dedicated team will explore innovation and development of applications for mobile customers across the country, mr. Mehrotra said. The "Future Factory" will look at enhancing the user experience on Airtel Live using 3G, mobile entertainment and multi-media applications. It will drive applications that use mobile phone as a payment instrument.

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