| The company also plans to launch FM services at Mysore, Mangalore, Thiruvananthapuram and Pondicherry around the same time. |
| "We are currently in the process of analysing the need gaps of these cities, and we should be freezing on the programming content by early April. We plan to launch our Vizag station by mid-May and in Tirupati by April-end this year," Ashwin Padmanabhan, station head, Hyderabad, told Business Standard. |
| "We are also in the process of recruiting RJs and other technical staff for these stations, 20 in Vizag and 10 to 15 in Tirupati," he added. |
| Incidentally, two more FM players, Radio City and Radio Mirchi, are also gearing up to launch their services in Vizag by May. Sun Network too would launch its SFM in Tirupati, around the same time. |
| Adlabs, which has earmarked around Rs 400 crore for its FM radio initiative, currently runs 13 FM stations across the country. It plans to take this number to 18 by this month-end. |
| "By the end of June 2007, all the 45 stations will be up and running, including those in Mysore, Mangalore, Pondicherry and Thiruvananthapuram, making Big FM the largest FM radio company in the country," Padmanabhan said. |
| According to him, leveraging the extensive expertise of its sales team "� Big Connect, Adlabs had forged a sales alliance with Century Communications, which emerged as a major player by bagging licences for eight cities "� Mangalore, Gulbarga, Rajahmundry, Trichy, Kannur, Tuticorin, Tirunelveli and Warangal. |
| "We will invest in people for Century Communications and act as consultants for them to run their yet-to-be named stations at Rajahmundry and Warangal. Besides, our sales team will sell air time on a revenue-sharing agreement," he said. |
| Century's stations at Rajahmundry and Warangal are slated to go on air by April and May-end this year respectively. |
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