The Tata group is planning an additional investment of Rs 9,000 crore in Tata Teleservices in the next two years, and will roll out services in 12 more circles by March 2005."With an investment of over Rs 9,000 crore in telecom, the Tata group has a formidable presence across the telecom value chain. The group plans an additional investment of around Rs 9,000 crore in the sector in the next two years," Amit Bose, president (telecom) of Tata Teleservices, said today.The investment in Tata Teleservices, as of March 2004, stood at Rs 5,995 crore.The company also plans to have a presence in 20 telecom circles by the end of the current fiscal from the current eight circles. It has recently acquired universal access service licence for 12 more circles."Today, the company serves more than 2.52 million customers in over 500 towns in eight circles. With an ambitious roll-out plan, both within existing circles and across new circles, Tata Teleservices will offer services in over 1,000 cities in 20 circles by March 2005," Bose said.Tatas operate CDMA-based mobile services in Andhra Pradesh, Chennai, Gujarat, Karnataka, Mumbai, New Delhi and Tamil Nadu.The new circles Tatas plan to enter include Bihar, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Kolkata, Orissa and Punjab.Tata Tele launches PTT at Rs 99/mthTata Teleservices today launched the push-to-talk (PTT) services offering customers the facility to make unlimited calls without any long distance or roaming charges within the network on a monthly rental of Rs 99.The PTT service, which is the first by any mobile operator in the country, will offer instant connectivity across the country and Internet surfing at 3G speeds.Announcing the launch of the service, Amit Bose said it was targeted at corporates, SMEs and individuals, and will be available on a Kyocera handset costing Rs 5,000 with Qualcomm's BREW chat applications.Presently, up to four subscribers sitting anywhere in the country can talk to each other at Rs 99 each.The users can either buy a handset for Rs 5,000 or pay Rs 1,000 upfront with 12 installements of Rs 350 each.
