Tata Tele ropes in Sania Mirza as brand ambassador

Launches signature series of handsets, Sania Fone & Sourav Fone

Tata Teleservices Limited (TTSL) announced tennis player Sania Mirza as its brand ambassador with the launch of the signature series of handsets "� Sania Fone "� here on Thursday.

The telecom player that already has Indian cricket captain Sourav Ganguly as its brand ambassador, also launched a similar signature series "� Sourav Fone "� on the occasion.

This apart, the company is also looking at increasing its presence to over 1,000 more towns in the next 12-18 months. Tata Tele currently has a customer-base of over three million across the country.

Addressing a press conference, Prabhat Pani, chief operating officer (Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka), Tata Teleservices, said, "We are launching a limited edition of signature series of handsets "� Sania Fone and Sourav Fone. These signature series of handsets are supported by cricket and tennis content like wallpapers, ringtones, live cricket scores, news and contests that provide the customers an opportunity to meet the personality associated with the handset."

Sania Mirza has a one-year contract with the private telecom service provider for this purpose and may also appear on the television commercials of the brand. While Sourav Fone is priced at Rs 2,449, Sania Fone comes at Rs 4,999.

The Rs 64,350-crore Tata group has already invested Rs 9,000 crore in the telecom sector and plans to invest an additional Rs 9,000 crore in the next couple of years.

"This investment will be for the additional roll-out plans. Currently, we have our presence in 1,000 towns in 20 circles. We are looking at expanding our operations to another 1,000 towns in the next 12-18 months with special focus on the North and the East," Pani said.

"In Andhra Pradesh, we are present in 215 towns and will be expanding operations to another 10 towns by the end of this March," he added.