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CHENNAI, April 18

TATA Teleservices Ltd plans to launch basic telephony services in Tamil Nadu between July and August.

Announcing the launch plans here on Thursday, Mr R. Balachandran, Chief Operating Officer, Tata Teleservices (Tamil Nadu Circle), said that the company planned to start with the services in Chennai and Coimbatore, and extend it to 25 cities by mid-2003.

It hopes to cover the entire geographical area of the State over the next seven years, a project which will entail investments of over Rs 1,000 crore.

The company's product offerings will include wired, fixed wireless, limited mobility, data services and integrated solutions aimed at positioning it as a complete telecom company.

Through Tata Internet Services Ltd, which is to be merged with Tata Teleservices, a suite of data products are already in the markets here. These include dial up Internet access, Internet data centre services, co-location and virtual private networks.

Of the Tata Teleservices' offerings, the limited mobility solution is expected to attract significant number of subscribers because it will provide the mobility advantage of a cellular phone at regular landline cost. Customised and need-based services will be available for corporate customers.

Work is on to deploy more than 2,000 km of optical fibre backbone network in the State and the infrastructure required will involve both wireless and wired facilities.

The company's investment is expected to generate 12,000-15,000 jobs and catalyse IT-enabled services, call centres and e-commerce. The company's strategy in the fixed line market will involve emphasis on value added services, special solutions, IN platform and data products like ISDN, ADSL and xDSL.

In the wireless market the emphasis will be on limited mobility, fixed wireless and wireless data. Tamil Nadu represents significant potential for Tata Teleservices with the basic infrastructure well in place.

The teledensity is 5.8 per cent compared to the all India average of 3.71 per cent; revenue per line is about Rs 840, and in Chennai, Rs 1,250, the highest in India in 2001 — an indication of the usage.

The information technology industry is on a growth path, exports are high and with the development evenly distributed State-wide, the demand potential too will be evenly distributed.

Mr S. Ramakrishnan, Managing Director, Tata Teleservices Ltd, said that the company was considering expanding into Punjab, Haryana and Kerala. But any decision would depend on how the regulatory issues evolved over the next 12 months. At present, it is in Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Gujarat and Delhi. These areas represent significant potential in telecom. They contribute to more than 50 per cent of BSNL's subscriber base, 65 per cent of telecom revenue and 75 per cent of subscribers to the mobile services. The company hoped to build on its experience in Andhra Pradesh where it has invested about Rs 1,400 crore, is present in 10 cities, and has a 1,050 km optical fibre backbone, and 150,000 subscribers. It has planned to extend its services to eight more cities, he said.

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