Financial Daily from THE HINDU group of publications
Monday, Jul 11, 2005
Financial Daily from THE HINDU group of publications Monday, Jul 11, 2005 |
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Info-Tech
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Telecommunications BPL Mobile hopes to rope in strategic partner by year-end Vipin V. Nair
Kochi , July 10 BPL Mobile, which operates cellular phone service in four circles, plans to go for a national presence through acquisitions after the company ropes in a partner, according to a top company official. "We are looking at inorganic growth. Our ultimate plan is to have a pan-India footprint," said Mr Sandip Basu, Executive Director and CEO of BPL Mobile. BPL Mobile currently operates in Mumbai through BPL Mobile Communications Ltd and in Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and Kerala through BPL Mobile Cellular Ltd. It has about 2.5 million subscribers in these circles. Revenues in 2004-05 stood at Rs 1,012 crore. Mr Basu said that BPL Mobile would set forth its future strategy after a partner comes in to take an equity shareholding in the company. BPL Mobile is in talks with a number of foreign and some Indian telecom companies to sell stake. The company is reportedly talking to Vodafone, DoCoMo, and STT, as well as Essar Holdings. "We will conclude it (the deal) by end of this calendar year or at the most by the end of the fiscal," Mr Basu said. He added that BPL Mobile would start looking at States such as Karnataka and Gujarat before rolling out its services nationally. BPL Mobile has more than doubled its number of subscribers in the past 18 months to 2.5 million. The 2004-05 fiscal has been the best year for the company in terms of growth, Mr Basu said. Revenues jumped to Rs 1,012 crore from Rs 728 crore a year back. Profits also grew by 35 per cent during the year. The company has lined up an investment of Rs 700 crore for the current fiscal, targeting doubling of the subscriber base. The number of base stations would go up to 2,800 from 2,000 while a host of value-added services such as EDGE, Zone, and International GPRS are being planned.Coverage would also be extended to 475 new towns, Mr Basu said.
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