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Our Bureau

May monetise assets to plough cash into mobile services

Mumbai March 8 Tata Teleservices Ltd (TTSL) is planning to hive off its tower operations into a separate business, which could be eventually sold off or run by TTSL in partnership with another tower operator.

The company is in talks with five or six tower operators, both domestic and international, said Mr Darryl Green, CEO, on the sidelines of a news conference on Thursday.

The company has over 5,000 towers.

It would like to monetise its assets and plough the cash into its core business of providing mobile telephony services, he said.

TTSL's plan is in line with the trend of Indian operators planning to demerge their tower (or infrastructure) businesses.

Sharing of infrastructure reduces both capital and operating costs for mobile service providers.

TTSL will invest Rs 3,500 crore in 2007-08, the same amount it invested in the previous fiscal, to expand its network in the country to 1,000 more locations, said Mr Green.

It currently operates in 3,100 cities and towns in the country.

The company has applied for licences in Jammu and Kashmir, Assam and the North-East, he added.

New brand image

The company is creating a "new brand image" for itself and is launching a multi-media marketing effort, starting Friday, to aggressively grow its subscriber base, according to Mr Green.

The target for 2011 is 100 million subscribers, up from 15.5 million currently.

The company is committed to remain with the code division multiple access technology, Mr Green said.

Going ahead, it would aggressively offer more value-added data services, he added.

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