Tata Tele eyes 5 million users this year

Tata Teleservices Maharshtra (TTML) is set to increase its subscriber base by five-fold within this financial year.

"Along with Tata Teleservices Ltd (TTSL), its holding company, TTML is hoping to increase its subscriber base to 5 million," said Firdose Vandrevala, chairman of TTML, at the company's 10th annual general meeting.

As on June 2005, both the companies had a combined subscriber base of 1.2 million.

The company plans to aggressively target Maharashtra and Goa markets and enhance its network. For this purpose, the company has envisaged a project cost of Rs 5,400 crore, which has been appraised by the lenders. The additional funding requirement of Rs 2,000 crore for new expansion plans currently is proposed to be met out of additional debt and equity, Vandrevala added.

The telecom company sees its next big growth driver in the enterprise segment. Its various product offerings from fixed landline to wireless solutions and V-cards have made the company popular among the corporate sector.

In the fixed wireless segment, its brand Walky already has a 70 per cent incremental market share as on June 30, 2005.

Along with Tata Teleservices Ltd, TTML covers 20 of the 23 circles in the country and has a presence in over 1,400 towns. Vandrevala said that the company is targeting 1,600 towns by this year end.

The company continues to be in the red though. Its loss for the year ended March 31, 2005, stood at Rs 527.86 crore as compared to Rs 269.68 crore earned in the previous year.

Telecom revenue grew by 35 per cent to Rs 807.47 crore for the financial year 2004-05 as against Rs 597.50 crore earned last fiscal.