Videocon to start mobile services by year-end

Consumer electronics manufacturer Videocon on Friday said it will roll out its mobile services by the end of this year and expects 10 million subscribers in three to four years of the launch.

Videocon is also planning to rope in a global services provider as partner at an appropriate time, the company said in a statement.

"The company plans to use its extensive all-India dealer network (over 10,000 dealers) to reach customers and expects to have 10 million subscribers (on a conservative basis) in 3-4 years of launch," it said.

Videocon's subsidiary Datacom yesterday received a Letter of Intent from the Department of Telecom for GSM-based mobile services on a pan-India basis. Datacom has deposited Rs 1,507 crore as license fees along with a bank guarantee of Rs 847 crore with DoT.

Videocon said that a number of local and global banks and financial institutions have expressed interest in providing fund, non-fund and service-based support to the project.