Bangalore: Aircel, the joint venture between Malaysia's Maxis Communications Berhad and the Reddy family-promoted Apollo Hospitals and Indo National Ltd., plans to roll out mobile services in Karnataka soon.

Aircel will thus compete with Airtel, Hutch, Tata Indicom, Reliance Communications, Spice and BSNL to grab a slice of the booming mobile market in the State.

"We have applied for licences to start operations in more circles, including Karnataka. A decision is expected shortly," an official with Aircel told The Hindu here on Thursday. Maxis holds 74 per cent stake in Aircel with the Reddy family accounting for the balance 26 per cent equity.

The rollout of mobile services in Karnataka will complement its plan to provide wireless Internet services in Bangalore through the Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access, popularly known as WiMAX technology, that enables `last mile' connectivity using `near line of site' (NLOS) wireless equipment.

Aircel is targeting corporates and small and medium enterprises (SMEs) for its WiMAX business having a speed range of 2 to 10 Mbps based on 802.16d standards. Subsequently, WiMAX will be made available to retail (residential) users.

Aircel Business Solutions (ABS), a division of Chennai-based Aircel and Microsense Pvt Ltd have been selected by the State Government to launch a WiMAX trial in the city area free of cost to users. It has enabled WiMAX-based Internet connectivity at Palace Grounds, the venue for the Bangalore IT.in exhibition being held from October 28 to 31 and is also in the process of `Wi-MAX'ing Vidhana Soudha and the adjacent buildings that houses several government ministries and departments.

ABS is also in the final stages of implementing WiMAX network for SMEs and enterprise markets across Bangalore's prominent locations such as the Electronics City, Airport Road, St. John's Road, Commercial Street, M.G. Road, Jayanagar, Rajajinagar and Koramangala and can provide pan-city coverage across commercial areas shortly.

Bangalore is the second Indian city after Chennai to be WiMAX-ed by ABS, the first company in India to launch the technology and one among the five global operators to achieve this feat. WiMAX enables high-speed wireless Internet accessibility to end users based on portable technologies at an affordable price.

The State Government has invited competitive bids from five entities, including the public sector ITI Ltd., Spanco, Microsense Pvt. Ltd. and KBIT to set up a $ 20 million project to unwire Bangalore city covering a serviceable area of more than 500 sq km from January-February next year.

ABS would team up with either ITI or Microsense depending upon the outcome of the bidding process, the official said.

ABS, a registered member of the WiMAX Forum, has also received requests from IT majors such as Intel, TCS, Infosys and Wipro to provide WiMAX facility to their employees so that they can work out of homes in case of emergencies.

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