The Hindu Business Line : Hutch to launch services in Andamans

HUTCH will launch its cellular operations in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands in the current fiscal. The islands are part of the West Bengal Telecom Circle, wherein Hutch is among the telecom players who have bagged the licence to operate cellular services.

This was stated by Mr Sridhar Rao, Chief Executive Officer of Hutchison Telecom East Ltd, at a press conference held here on Wednesday to announce the launch of "Chota Recharge" for all Hutch and Orange pre-paid mobile phone users across the country. With this, Hutch pre-paid users can now recharge for as low as Rs 10 and enjoy full talk time, minus the service charge on it.

Until now, pre-paid customers who bought a recharge card for Rs 199 having a validity of 30 days were required to pay the access fee every time they bought a fresh recharge card within the 30-day validity period. Now, with Chota Recharge, customers can recharge any number of times within the validity period without paying any extra access fee.

The initiative is expected to facilitate increased mobile usage and add to the company's bottom line in the long term, especially when around 70 per cent of the customer base comprises pre-paid customers. "Since we will not charge the extra access charge within the validity period, we shall be losing revenue during the initial period. After a gestation period of about 3-6 months, we expect to generate more business," Mr Rao said, adding that the flexibility offered by Chota Recharge would ensure increased mobile usage by pre-paid customers "depending upon their budget".

In West Bengal, Hutch offers its services in around 220 towns. Plans have been firmed up to extend them to over 700 towns by 2006, according to Mr Rao.

He, however, expressed his inability to quantify the investment that the company would make towards this end.

Article E-Mail :: Comment :: Syndication :: Printer Friendly Page