100 mn cell users in 2 years: Mittal

The 42 million mobile phone subscriber base will swell to 100 million in the next two years with growth coming mainly from non-urban and non-metro circles, Bharti group CMD Sunil Mittal said today.

"The country will move to 100 million phones in two years. And 200 million in five years," Mittal said.

Bharti is planning to extend its Airtel services to Bihar and Jharkhand next month, he said. "We will cover north-east and Assam by March. By the end of this fiscal, we will cover 5,000 small and big cities."

Bharti is now present in 20 out of 23 circles, and has a subscribers base of 95 lakh. It rolled out services in J&K and Orissa recently.

Mittal said three-fourth of the earmarked investment of Rs 3,500 crore for the current fiscal has been already made in rolling out networks.

Asked if tariffs could come down further, Mittal said: "It is aleady in paise. It is yet to be seen how much lower it can be brought down to. Aaccess deficit charge (ADC) and licence fee should be lowered. Today, a telecom user is paying levies of 35-40%."