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— Bijoy Ghosh

South coverage completed : (From left)Mr Pradeep Shrivastava, Chief Marketing Officer; Idea Cellular Ltd ; Mr Rajat K. Mukarji, Chief Corporate Affairs Officer; Mr M. Srinivas, Senior Vice-President, Operations, Tamil Nadu and Chennai; and Mr Himanshu Kapania, Director, Operations, at the launch of telecommunication services in Chennai on Thursday.

Our Bureau

Chennai, July 9 Idea Cellular on Thursday launched its GSM services in Chennai.

With the roll-out, Idea’s network covers all the service areas in the South, as it expands its national footprint to become a pan-India operator this year, said Mr Himanshu Kapania, Director-Operations, Idea Cellular Ltd.

Idea Cellular had launched its GSM services in Tamil Nadu circle in May.

According to Mr Kapania, more than 25 per cent of Idea’s subscriber-base is in three service areas of Kerala, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka. The company has earmarked Rs 1,000-crore investment for its roll-out and marketing in the State, he said. “The plan is to set up a network of 1,700 cell sites covering 600 towns by the end of March 2010,” he said.

With a population of 7.2 million, Chennai has a mobile telephone penetration of 131 per cent and adds 1.5 lakh new subscribers every month.

As part of the inaugural offer, the company has introduced multiple tariff plans ranging from special tariff vouchers to variable talk time and validity offerings, based on the consumption patterns of the consumer.

On the retail front, the company is planning to develop a network comprising exclusive ‘My Idea Stores’, ‘Idea Points’ and other outlets. “The network will be expanded to over 25,000 retail outlets and 60 Idea showrooms in the State,” he said.

More Stories on : New Products & Services | Telecommunications | Tamil Nadu | Idea Cellular Ltd

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