The Hindu Business Line : Tata Tele completes 4 corridors in AP

TATA Teleservices has completed four major corridors in the State - Hyderabad-Vijayawada, Visakhapatnam-Vijayawada, Hyderabad-Warangal and Vijayawada-Tirupati.

Announcing this at a press meet here on Wednesday, Mr Prabhat Pani, Chief Operating Officer of Tata Teleservices (Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka), said that the completion of the four key corridors would further improve service.

"The corridors covering 1,400 km cumulatively account for the highest movement of traffic in the State and it will give a fillip to our growth, especially in the Visakhapatnam region," he said.

He said the company had launched an expansion programme in the State in mid-2004 and as a result Tata Indicom could cover 180 more towns and semi-urban areas during the past six months.

More than 250 high-capacity cell sites had been erected to strengthen the network. Mr Pani said that at present the company had 419 cell sites in 200 towns and semi-urban areas in the State. For 2004-05, a sum of Rs 445 crore had been earmarked for network expansion in the State.

It had introduced for the first time in the country push-to-talk phones and the response was very encouraging. "It turns one's mobile phone into a sort of walkie-talkie. One can establish instant phone contact with a select group at the push of a button attached to the cellular phone. Of course, one can make use of all the other services through the phone," he explained.

At the national level, he said the company was operating in 14 circles with a customer base of 2.82 million. It would launch its services soon in Kerala, Madhya Pradesh and West Bengal (with special emphasis on Kolkata).

"It is our ambition to touch the 10-million mark and we are confident of achieving it," he added.

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