Reliance Info to invest Rs 1,500cr in phase-II of network rollout

Reliance Infocomm is to invest Rs 1,500 crore in its telecom network rollout in Tamil Nadu, the second phase of which is expected to finish in two months.

The second phase of the rollout is to increase the company's coverage to 600 towns from the current level of 100 towns, said V G Somasekhar, business head (Tamil Nadu and Kerala), Reliance Infocomm.

The company today announced that it had introduced a new scheme that would allow subscribers in Chennai and Tamil Nadu telecom circles (the whole state excluding Chennai) to receive free incoming calls while roaming in the two circles.

The scheme also allows subscribers to make outgoing calls at the regular rate while roaming in these circles. This is the first time that Reliance Infocomm has made such an offer, Somasekhar said.

The offer was triggered by the company's observation that a large number of people in towns such as Chengelepet and Arakonnam commute to Chennai to work. Consequently, they have to pay roaming charges when the mobiles are used in Chennai.

Somasekhar said that the company hoped to offset the initial loss of roaming revenue through a higher volume of subscribers. At present, Reliance Infocomm has a subscriber base of about 1 million in Tamil Nadu, of which 4.8 lakh subscribers are from Chennai. The company's release said the total subscriber base is over 10 million.

Reliance's post-paid subscribers would have to pay a special monthly subscription of Rs 49 to avail themselves of the new benefits while roaming. Pre-paid subscribers would have to pay a special top-up of Rs 45 on their vouchers to qualify for the new scheme.