The Hindu Business Line : Tata Tele targeting 1-m subscriber base in AP

TATA Teleservices Ltd, which is targeting a subscriber base of one million users in Andhra Pradesh in the current fiscal, is offering customers a new range of services.

The company has expanded services in 40 towns so far this fiscal, taking the total number to 95. While 10 new towns were included yesterday, efforts are on to add 13 more by next week.

The expansion would see the company reaching out to 166 towns by the fiscal-end and its subscriber base doubling from the current half-a-million.

Addressing a press conference here today, the Chief Operating Officer of Tata Teleservices, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka, Mr Prabhat Pani, said that the launch of the pre-paid service and `Walky', the fixed wireless terminal service, in addition to expanding into new towns rapidly, has helped tap newer markets and segments.

It is interesting to note that Walky has in fact opened up new markets such as small traders and homes, who were earlier not having telephones, he said.

This was possible due to low entry level and lower rentals. These services are offered for a fixed registration charge of Rs 1,000 and come with rental options of Rs 250 and Rs 150. This is amongst the lowest in the country, he said adding that it compares with the one offered by BSNL in the rural areas.

The True Paid service, an offering from Tata Teleservices, has a one-second pulse. This means, a Tata user would be billed for exactly the number of seconds he talks and not for a segment pulse.

This has made it attractive for people. With the launch of range of new handsets in league with Nokia, the True Paid subscriber base is gradually growing, he explained.

"For the fixed wireless terminal — Walky, we have tied up with AccessTel and LG. With the terminal we have entered into hitherto untapped areas in the State.

While offering the advantage of bypassing the requirement of taking copper wire to the house, its ease of deployment has become an attractive option for subscribers.

In many cases, not only new users, but additional phone connections are coming through this offer. Further, the advantage of Internet access with various options has been received well by the customers," he explained.

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