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Eyes pan-India footprint, to begin services in HP, Bihar

New Delhi , Nov. 15

Malaysia based Maxis promoted cellular operator Aircel is in talks with Airtel and Reliance for sharing infrastructure. The company is planning to become a pan-Indian player with operations in all the 23 circles in the country by early 2009. At present, the company has services in nine circles with 5,000 base stations.

"`We have applied for telecom licences in 14 circles and are already present in nine cirlces. The launch of Aircel service should begin in Himachal Pradesh and Bihar in the next 45 days. We should have rolled out in most of the 23 circles by 2008-end or first quarter of 2009," said Mr Jagdish Kini, Aircel Group CEO.

Although Mr Kini declined to give any investment for the expansion, industry estimates show operations of a pan-Indian presence could cost about $1 billion.

Aircel is a leading operator in Chennai and North-East regions with four million subscribers and now looking at cutting operating costs through outsourcing its networking and IT requirements other than sharing infrastructure with other cellular operators.

"We want to share infrastructure with existing players once we start rolling out all-Indian operations. We would like to strike a strategic alliance on cell sites-sharing. We have 5,000 cell sites and are willing to share 5,000 more with others," Mr Kini said.

Aircel has also applied for NLD and ILD licences.

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