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Archana Venkat

Plans to invest 50% of its funds in upgrading infrastructure

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Chennai Feb. 8 Idea Cellular plans to focus on its customer service and customer experience aspects to market itself in the Tamil Nadu telecom circle, according to Mr Pradeep Shrivastava, Chief Marketing Officer, Idea Cellular.

The company has applied for licences to operate in the telecom circles of Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Punjab and is awaiting clearances. "We expect to roll out operations in Tamil Nadu this calendar year," he said.

Marketing Strategy

Mobile penetration in the Tamil Nadu telecom circle is about 80 per cent — the highest in India — and would merit a different marketing strategy compared with other telecom circles, said Mr Shrivastava. Though there is no detailed marketing strategy in place yet, the company plans to leverage its `top quality' network infrastructure thereby assuring better customer experience, he told Business Line on the sidelines of the company's road show, organised in connection with its upcoming initial public offering.

"Today churn level (movement of customers from one mobile service provider to another) is low at about 5 per cent nationally. Customers are moving mainly because of network related problems such as instability, call drops and congestion," he said. The best way for Idea Cellular to enter the Tamil Nadu market would be by promoting its stable and efficient networks, he said.

Upgrading

In the coming years, the company plans to invest about 50 per cent of its funds in upgrading infrastructure in its existing circles of operation besides setting up fully integrated systems in new circles. In the last 9 months, it has invested about Rs 2,000 crore on infrastructure, said Mr Shrivastava.

When asked if the company would target any specific segment of services, Mr Shrivastava said the value added services market in the State had huge potential to grow. Earlier, at a press conference, he said the company was testing the `Television on Mobile' technology. When asked if the recent TRAI decision to cut roaming charges would affect the company, he said: "There will be annualised loss of about Rs 100 crore. But it won't affect us because the number of roamers across India is very less".

More Stories on : Customer Relationship Management | Telecommunications | Tamil Nadu

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