Idea ready to ring in Mumbai
16 Aug, 2008
MUMBAI: Two years after it first got the Indian government’s approval to launch wireless telephony services in the country’s financial capital, Aditya Birla group’s Idea Cellular has finally landed in Mumbai.
According to an Aditya Birla group official, the services will be formally launched in the next few days with the entire infrastructure now in place. “We are ready... all of us at the Birla group have shifted to the Idea network,” the official said asking not to be named. The company has set up a network of 200-odd stores to offer its services, the official added. In some places, the marketing team is also offering the product.
The official said all beta tests were successful and now the sales and marketing team would takeover for the rollout of the operations. When contacted, Idea managing director Sanjeev Aga declined to comment on the impending launch of services.
India’s fifth-largest network, Idea Cellular’s journey to Mumbai was fraught with hurdles over spectrum allocation and it was finally allocated to the company this March. Idea had earlier targeted to launch its service by the last quarter of calendar 2007.
According to an extraordinary general meeting notice sent to the shareholders, Idea Cellular said it had set aside Rs 650 crore for the Mumbai roll out from its initial public offering funds raised in February last year.
Idea would be the seventh wireless telephony services provider in Mumbai which has more than 10 mn customers with Vodafone Essar leading the pack with 37.89 lakh customers, according to Cellular Operators Association of India statistics till end July.
The Mumbai launch also comes at a time when the Department of Telecom (DoT) has asked the company to surrender one of the two telecom licences it holds for the circles of Punjab and Karnataka.
Idea Cellular, which had acquired a controlling stake in Spice Communications for around Rs 2,700 crore in June, now holds two licences in these circles on account of this acquisition. The DoT, however, ruled out any move to refund the licence fees paid by Idea after it surrenders the licences.
Idea ready to ring in Mumbai- Telecom-News By Industry-News-The Economic Times
16 Aug, 2008
MUMBAI: Two years after it first got the Indian government’s approval to launch wireless telephony services in the country’s financial capital, Aditya Birla group’s Idea Cellular has finally landed in Mumbai.
According to an Aditya Birla group official, the services will be formally launched in the next few days with the entire infrastructure now in place. “We are ready... all of us at the Birla group have shifted to the Idea network,” the official said asking not to be named. The company has set up a network of 200-odd stores to offer its services, the official added. In some places, the marketing team is also offering the product.
The official said all beta tests were successful and now the sales and marketing team would takeover for the rollout of the operations. When contacted, Idea managing director Sanjeev Aga declined to comment on the impending launch of services.
India’s fifth-largest network, Idea Cellular’s journey to Mumbai was fraught with hurdles over spectrum allocation and it was finally allocated to the company this March. Idea had earlier targeted to launch its service by the last quarter of calendar 2007.
According to an extraordinary general meeting notice sent to the shareholders, Idea Cellular said it had set aside Rs 650 crore for the Mumbai roll out from its initial public offering funds raised in February last year.
Idea would be the seventh wireless telephony services provider in Mumbai which has more than 10 mn customers with Vodafone Essar leading the pack with 37.89 lakh customers, according to Cellular Operators Association of India statistics till end July.
The Mumbai launch also comes at a time when the Department of Telecom (DoT) has asked the company to surrender one of the two telecom licences it holds for the circles of Punjab and Karnataka.
Idea Cellular, which had acquired a controlling stake in Spice Communications for around Rs 2,700 crore in June, now holds two licences in these circles on account of this acquisition. The DoT, however, ruled out any move to refund the licence fees paid by Idea after it surrenders the licences.
Idea ready to ring in Mumbai- Telecom-News By Industry-News-The Economic Times
