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Thomas K. Thomas

Agra, Aug. 9 Outlining its road map for the telecom sector, Tata Teleservices on Saturday said it will invest $2 billion over the next two years in rolling out mobile services using both GSM and CDMA technologies.

The company, which until now was offering mobile services based on CDMA technology, is planning to launch its GSM network by the end of the year. Most of the future investments will go into setting up the GSM network.

Tata Teleservices is aiming to increase its overall user base from 27 million to 35 million subscribers by the end of March 2009.

Mr Anil Sardana, Managing Director, Tata Teleservices, told Business Line, “Our vision is to have 100 million subscribers by 2011. We will be rolling out CDMA mobile services in 3 more circles, which will give us a pan-Indian coverage. For GSM services, we have received spectrum for 6 circles where we are setting up our network quickly.”

While Tatas had applied for pan-Indian GSM services, it has been given spectrum in 6 circles.

Mr Sardana said the delay in receiving GSM spectrum from the Government for the other circles was hurting the company’s competitive edge.

“The Government had earlier said it had enough radio frequencies to accommodate all the new players for 14 circles. But it has released spectrum in only 5 or 6 circles. We have urged the Government to allocate spectrum quickly as our network is ready,” Mr Sardana said.

He said the company was banking on mobile number portability (MNP) to wean away subscribers from the existing GSM players.

MNP allows subscribers to change their operator without having to give up their phone number.

On Tatas’ 3G strategy, Mr Sardana said as the company had a strong CDMA network, it will deploy EVDO-based third generation network. However, the company will also evaluate bidding for spectrum for WCDMA technology as a future roadmap for its GSM play.

Tatas will have competition from other CDMA players, including Reliance Communications and Sistema, for EVDO, while all the existing GSM players are taking the WCDMA route for 3G services.

Tata Teleservices is planning to increase its coverage from 6,000 towns to 7,500 towns this financial year. It is also increasing the number of base stations across the country from 12,000 to 13,700. The company is rolling out optical fibre cable network through 59,000 route km to enhance its fixed-line services.

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