Can the Badal govt expedite MCorp projects?

MCorp Global has high hopes from the new Punjab government. Many of the company's projects have been delayed because they were not approved in the previous regime.

Talking to the media in Chandigarh, MCorp Chairman BK Modi said the company was keen to replicate the concept of its state-of-the-art mega mall at Noida in Punjab.

The company expects to pursue those (mall cum multiplex) projects at the locations already identified as Punjab is a lucrative market for entertainment business, he said.

MCorp is also contemplating a tie-up with a local FM radio station and a vernacular TV channel to provide VAS (value added service) on mobile. "The content for the visual VAS need to be modified as the size of the screen on the handset is small and we need to give close shots. The duration of the visuals will also be short", said Modi.

Discussing about Spice telecommunications, Modi informed that the company is getting a frequency of 7.6 Mhz in Punjab where as on the basis of subscriber base it can have 10 Mhz of frequency. We would propose the governemnt to allow for MVNO (mobile virtual network operation) where we could obtain frequency from a player like BSNL in Punjab for a price, he added.

Modi informed that the company was open for the infrastructure sharing but would prefer to lend their infrastructure to others rather than going the other way round. "We might share 100 cell sites with HFCL in Punjab shortly", The company presently has a network of 1400 telecom towers and plans to add 100 every month for the next four to five months in Punjab.

"We plan to invest subatantially in telecom business in Punjab," he said.

Modi said that the company's vision was to reach out the low end segment of the society and would launch a Rs 1000 worth of a handset in the month of June this year. He apprised that his R&D teams were working out the feasibility of providing the option of pencil cells instead of conventional battery that would make the handset more user friendly for the people in the hinterland.

A BPO centre in Mohali employing 3000 persons is also on cards to provide VAS to the Indian Railways as the comapny has entered a 10 year contract with the Indian railways.