Idea lines up Rs 1200 crore investment plan

Idea Cellular today announced its plans for investing Rs 1,200 crore in the current financial year for expanding its network in three new circles as well as in the eight circles in which it is present now.

Vikram Mehmi, chief executive officer, Idea Cellular, said, "We are spending Rs 1,200 crore this year on infrastructure expansion and for upgrading technology. We will also be doubling our call centre capacity in every circle."

With a subscriber base of 6.7 million in eight circles, Mehmi detailed his plans for further penetration.

"By March, we will cover over 2,000 towns in eight circles and we will be doubling the number of towns covered in the coming year. We will also launch our operations in three new circles-Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Himachal Pradesh in the current financial year. We plan to instal over 1,200 cell sites in the the next 12 months," he said.

Detailing the long term plans for the three new circles, he said, "Over the next 2-3 years, we will spend over Rs 1,000 crore and look at gaining a subscriber base of one million in these circles."

Speaking on the Maharashtra and Goa circle, Lakshmi Narayana, circle head of the company said, "This circle accounts for 33 per cent of our revenues and we have 1.6 million subscribers here across 300 towns."

Narayana said, "We plan to invest Rs 150 crore for increasing our coverage, services and distribution outlets in the Maharashtra & Goa circle."

He added that the company will be increasing its coverage to 450 towns by March.

Also on the cards is the launch of 'Grameen phones".

Explaining the concept, Narayana said, "We are in the formulation stages of working on a business model for the rural areas under the 'Grameen" plan, whereby we will look at fulfilling the business as well as the communication needs of the rural people. We will conduct a pilot project in Maharashtra and then will scale up the model for other circles. But it is premature to talk about it right now."