Tata Tele to cover 145 towns in TN

Tata Teleservices' mobile services in Tamil Nadu would cover 145 towns in a week, up from eight towns at the start of the current financial year. The company has invested Rs 350 crore in the roll-out of operations this year.

Of the 145 towns that would be covered in Tamil Nadu, fixed wireless services were offered in about 50 towns, said M A Madhusudan, chief operating officer for Tamil Nadu and Kerala regions.

Though fixed wireless services are offered only in a third of the towns covered in Tamil Nadu, they make up about 67 per cent of Tata Tele's customer base.

About 2.9 lakh customers of the company's 3.9 lakh customer base in Tamil Nadu (including Chennai circle) are fixed wireless customers.

The equation between mobile services and fixed wireless services is expected to change. Madhusudan said that eventually mobile services would be the dominant segment of Tata's telecom operations here.

The recent launch of the prepaid mobile services could make a significant difference, felt Madhusudan. Currently, the prepaid segment makes up about 60 per cent of the company's mobile service.

Generally, an increasing share of prepaid business brings down a company's management cost, said Madhusudan.

The lower management cost and an increase in the share of prepaid business would lead to better realisations from the segment, he added.

The prepaid business is expected to be more lucrative than the fixed wireless business in future.