India ’s newest mobile operator S Tel is set to spread its operations in the next few months in half a dozen category C circles of the country after commencing its operations in Himachal Pradesh on Thursday.
“After Himachal, we are soon entering Orissa, Bihar, Jharkhand, Jammu & Kashmir, Assam and the North East. With the number of mobile users to double by 2015, this is where the next wave of growth lies. Coming late, our advantage is advanced technology,” said, Director, S Tel P Swaminathan.
Executive officer, S Tel Shamik Das said, “The six growth circles with a population of 226 million people provide us a chance to deliver a tailored, relevant value proposition.”
Asked how many players among the 14 or so in the country will survive in India’s highly competitive mobile market where tariffs are still falling, Swaminatha said, “I think barely eight players will survive in the long run.”
“The vision of S Tel is to be among one of the five top players by 2015,” he said.
S Tel is a joint venture between Siva Group, a Delhi-based company and Bahrain Telecom (Batelco), a Bahrain-based telecom company.
Siva Group has the controlling stake in S Tel and is a $ 3 billion-firm with diversified business interests from wind energy to shipping, hospitality, education and agri business.
Batelco has operations across the Middle east, North Africa and Asia.
