Tata Teleservices to invest $2 bn in GSM

Agra, Aug 9: Tata Teleservices on Saturday, Aug 9 said it will invest 2 billion dollars in rolling out GSM-based mobile services in the country by the end of this year.

''Over the next two years, the company will invest two billion dollars for setting up a pan-India GSM network. We are rolling out the network very quickly wherever we have been given spectrum so far,'' Tata Teleservices Managing Director Anil Sardana told reporters here. The company, which currently offers mobile services on CDMA platform, has received spectrum in five circles even though it had applied for a pan-India allocation.

On the recently announced 3G policy, he said there was no clear roadmap for the CDMA operators and the matter has been taken up with the government, which has assured the players of looking into their case.

The company is excited about the opportunities that will be leveraged with the roll out of 3G services. ''I think value-added services (VAS) will benefit the most from these services,'' company President (VAS) Pankaj Sethi told sources.

The company is also aiming to increase its subscriber base to 35 million from the current 27 million.

''We are rolling out the network very quickly wherever we have been given spectrum so far,'' Mr Sardana said adding that all orders have been placed.

The company, which currently offers mobile services on CDMA platform, is planning to launch the service by the end of the year, but is concerned about the slow pace of spectrum allocation by the government.

UNI