The Hindu Business Line : Aircel targets 14 new circles

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Chennai March 1 Aircel Cellular, now part of Malaysia-based Maxis Communications Berhad, will complete the rollout of its mobile services across 14 new telecom circles over the next two years. It recently bagged licences to operate in these circles. The company also plans to double its subscriber base to 10 million in this period.

According to Mr Jagdish Kini, Aircel Group Chief Executive Officer, the company will focus on small communities to launch operations in new circles. For instance, in Bihar, where it started operations last year, about 75 villages were targeted, he told Business Line on the sidelines of a press conference on Thursday.

At present, Aircel provides mobile services in nine telecom circles besides offering WiMAX services in Chennai, Hyderabad, New Delhi and Bangalore. "We plan to take WiMAX to 40 cities this year," said Mr Kini. It recently concluded WiMAX tests in Pune and Baramati.

Aircel has also completed 3G trials at Chennai. Aircel tied up with Chinese telecom equipment maker and programmer ZTE to upgrade its 2G network in Chennai to 3G and test it. At a press conference, Mr Kini and his team demonstrated video calls at 64 kbps and streaming of movies at about 3 Mbps.

When asked if Aircel would upgrade all its networks to 3G, Mr K.V.P. Baskar, Director and Chief Executive Officer, said the Government had not permitted telecom companies to commercially launch 3G technology. "We obtained permission only for trials so that we can be 3G ready when the Government allows commercial implementation. Most of our network investments in future will be towards 3G. We will not be spending on 2G networks," he said, without sharing details of investments in 3G.

Upgrading to 3G would not require overhaul of existing 2G-network equipment. Additional components such as radio network controller, base stations (also called nodes), media servers and content servers would help 2G networks offer 3G services, Mr Baskar said.