Unfazed by the cancellation of its 2G licences, Sistema Shyam Teleservices (SSTL) today announced expansion of its mobile broadband network in the two telecom circles of Uttar Pradesh East and Uttar Pradesh West.
The company, which provides telecom services under the MTS brand, has expanded its mobile broadband service ‘MBlaze’ in 11 towns, SSTL said in a statement.
These are Jaunpur, Faizabad, Jhansi, Haridwar, Mathura, Pantnagar, Roorkee, Vrindavan, Saharanpur, Firozabad and Rudrapur.
With this roll out, MTS MBlaze service has a footprint in 23 towns across UP East and UP West circles, it said.
Sistema Shyam is one of the new telecom players that have been impacted by the Supreme Court’s order cancelling 122 2G licences that were allotted in 2008.
However, the company has expressed its intention to bid for spectrum in the auction that is to be held by the Government at a later stage.
In a statement, Sistema Shyam COO UP (E) and (W) circles, Mr Arvind Kumar, said: “We are immensely proud to expand the MBlaze network to 11 more towns extending our reach to 23 towns across the UP (E) and (W) circles. This latest expansion is in sync with our endeavour to make MBlaze service available to maximum number of customers in the shortest possible time.”
The company has over 16 million mobile subscribers and provides wireless broadband services under the MBlaze brand to over 1.5 million customers in over 300 cities across the country, it added.
It employs over 3,500 people, operates through 300,000 retailers and has made investments of over $3.1 billion.