Date:23/06/2007 URL: http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/2007/06/23/stories/2007062301702100.htm

Back Essar Telecom opens new outlet in Chennai

Our Bureau

Mr Rajiv Agarwal

Chennai June 22 The red and white Rolls-Royce Phantom with the brand names AirTel and The MobileStore painted all over it turned many heads in the city's busy roads today — a joint effort by these brands to improve visibility in the city.

The Event: Essar Telecom Retail Ltd, retail venture of the Essar Group, opened its 20th outlet in Chennai.

With a venture in the retail business in a tie-up with the UK-based Virgin group early this year, the $10-billion Essar Group, a conglomerate with business interests in steel, energy, power, shipping and construction, has planned to open 2,500 `one-stop mobile solution shops' across the country under the brand name The MobileStore.

"With this, now we have rolled out 180 stores in cities including Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata, Hyderabad, Chennai, Bangalore, Pune, Chandigarh and Ahmedabad," announces Mr Rajiv Agarwal, Chief Executive Officer and Director, Essar Telecom Retail.

According to him, the company has earmarked over Rs 1,000 crore for the retail venture. Apart from CDMA and GSM handsets (all brands), these outlets, owned and run by the company, sell accessories, mobile connections and recharges; and other entertainment products such as MP3 players, gaming devices and DTH (at present Tata Sky).

Besides, they also feature touch-screen kiosks too to enable customers download games, audio tracks and wallpapers. They offer after-sales service and services such as mobile phone repairing too.

"The key strength is that our stores are equipped with professionals who have undergone an extensive training programme for imparting an in-depth knowledge of the products and brands available at the store. This will help our customers to select the right telecom product or service to match their needs," Mr Agarwal explains.

The company has so far trained over 1,000 people and all of them are deployed across its stores.

According to Ms Arti Mehta, Chief Marketing Officer of the company, the size of the country's mobile phone market is Rs 35,000 crore; airtime consumed is worth Rs 80,000 crore and value-added services such as downloads add another Rs 4,000 crore and they are growing at 60 per cent. The MobileStore targets 10 per cent of this market.

"This fiscal, we are on track to achieve at least Rs 1,000 crore turnover," declares Ms Mehta.