• Investment World
• eWorld
• Brand Line
• Mentor
• Life
• Canvas
• Praxis
• Urban Pulse
• Brand Quest
• The New Manager

Stocks

• Quotes
• SE Diary
• Scoreboard
• Open-End Mutual Fund

Cross Currency

• Rates
  
  

Shipping

• Ports
  
  

Archives

• Yesterday
• Datewise
• Resources
• In Focus
• In Depth

Group Sites

• The Hindu
• The Hindu ePaper
• Business Line
• Business Line ePaper
• Sportstar
• Frontline
• The Hindu eBooks
• The Hindu Images

Our Bureau

Essar, Modi Group plan major investments

The MobileStore: Former cricketer Kapil Dev (left), and Mr Rajiv Agarwal, CEO, Essar Telecom Retail, at a press conference in the Capital on Wednesday. - Ramesh Sharma

New Delhi March 14 The telecom retail segment is hotting up riding on a surge in mobile user base in the country.

The B.K. Modi Group-promoted multi-brand technology retail chain — Hot Spot — on Wednesday announced that it would invest $100 million in two years to expand its presence from 50 outlets at present to 1,500 outlets across the country.

The Ruias-promoted Essar Group also announced that it would invest around $250 million over the next three years in its telecom retail venture called The MobileStore. The Essar Group is expecting revenues to the tune of Rs 5,000 crore from the outlets.

Hot Spot: Mr Dilip Modi

These telecom retail chains sell a wide range of products including mobile handsets, accessories and gadgets, recharge vouchers, gaming devices and even direct-to-home television services.

Mr Dilip Modi, Vice-Chairman, Hot Spot Retails Private Ltd, said, "India is the fastest growing mobile market in the world and customers needed something like Hot Spot which offers a multi-brand option with world class service in a very congenial environment. Hot Spot relies on its understanding of the products and the customer need-gaps to provide unmatched mobile solutions. We are all set to enter other related telecom categories"

Essar Group's MobileStore retail chain is also increasing its head count by ten fold to 10,000 in the next three years from the current 1,000.

The company currently has 60 MobileStore outlets across India. Essar is planning to increase its retail presence to 4,000 touch points in three formats — large, medium and compact— besides shop-in-shops in malls and large retail outlets.

More Stories on : Telecommunications | Retailing

Article E-Mail :: Comment :: Syndication :: Printer Friendly Page

Stories in this Section
Telecom retail segment hotting up

Copyright © 2007, The Hindu Business Line. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu Business Line