Tata tele plan Rs 3000 crore network expansion

New Delhi, May 10 (UNI) In a massive network expansion plan, Tata Teleservices will spend Rs 3,000 crore this year to spread its footprint to about 5,000 towns.

"We will invest about Rs 3,000 crore in 2006-07 to double our network reach in the 20 circles we operate. At present we are in 2,500 towns and we want to double it to about 5,000 towns by the end of the fiscal," TTSL Circle Head Debashis Sur said.

TTSL operates under the Tata Indicom brand and has about 9.4 million subscribers. About 5.2 million are mobile subscribers. It is present in Jammu- Kashmir and North East.

The Tata group company is also looking at procuring a national long distance licence. "We are exploring the possibilities of having our own STD network," Mr Sur said. The other Tata company VSNL, whose network TTSL currently uses, already has both NLD and ILD licence.

MTNL is the latest telecom company to get a NLD license after the government last year lowered the entry barrier for national long distance licence with a new fee of Rs 2.5 crore.

UNI/RT MP PC2056