Yellow Pages to enter 100 more circles in two years

Indiacom, which publishes Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd's telephone subscribers' directory in 31 circles, has unveiled plans to spread into 100 circles in two years.

Divulging company's plans as Indiacom enters sliver jubilee year next year, Ashok Mandore, managing director, said, "In two years, we will be in 100 cities. We are also launching our online portal, indiacom.com, Yellow Pages CD and a Marathi edition of Yellow Pages by October." He was speaking at the launch of the Indiacom yellow pages of BSNL Pune.

Looking at entering into 10 cities by December, Mandore said, "By the end of December we will launch our operations in 10 new cities." On the radar immediately is Ludhiana, Chandigarh and Patiala in Punjab, Nashik and Nagpur in Maharashtra, he said.

He said, "We are launching a 24/7 helpline by October which will offer customers information on flights, train, travel, movies, entertainment, etc.

Updating the media on the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India's (Trai's) proposal based on the survey of Indian Marketing Research Bureau (IMRB) to the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) for bringing out a circle-wise telephone directory of mobile subscriber, V Srinivasa Rao, director and company secretary, Indiacom, said, "The DoT is expected to give the proposal a go-ahead within two to three months."

Currently mobile users have an opt-in option for publishing of their private mobile numbers and service providers are required to have separate directories for their subscribers.

DK Agarwal, general manager, BSNL Pune, said, "The directory is a value addition service to consumers distributed free of cost on receipt of the previous months' bill."