The Hindu Business Line : Aircel applies for licences in 11 more circles

The Chennai-based Aircel Ltd has applied for 11 new mobile licences in a bid to become a pan-Indian operator. This is the second company to go for a pan-India telecom licence in the last few months. The Aditya Birla Group-promoted Idea Cellular has also applied for 12 more new licences to add to its 11 circles.

The Malaysia-based Maxis Communications Berhad owns 74 per cent equity in Aircel and 100 per cent subscription of cumulative redeemable non-convertible preference shares in Deccan Digital Networks Private Ltd, the joint venture company incorporated in India holding the balance 26 per cent stake in the cellular company. This effectively gives Maxis 99.3 per cent economic returns from the investment in Aircel as per official information recently released by Maxis Berhad. The company has also lined up over $1 billion worth of investments this year for expanding its operations in the country through Aircel.

Service operational

At present, Aircel's cellular services are operational in Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Orissa, Assam, North East, and Jammu & Kashmir. The company is in the process of launching mobile services in Bihar, Himachal Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh (east) and Uttar Pradesh (west).

The operator has now applied for licences to offer services in Delhi, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Kerala and Maharashtra, among others. This will enable Aircel to compete with the likes of Bharti Airtel, Reliance Communications, BSNL and Hutch.

Maxis has identified Aircel as one of its key investments in the region to get a foothold in the rapidly growing cellular market. Aircel already accounts for nearly 20 per cent of Maxis' telecom subscribers across the Asian market. Aircel contributed a pre-tax profit of $43.6 lakh to the Maxis Group in the first quarter of this year.