MUMBAI, INDIA: Aircel, the venture of Malaysia based Maxis Communications Berhad, today announced the launch of its GSM mobile services in Mumbai.

With the roll out of mobiles services in the city, Aircel has extended its presence in 17 telecom circles across India, with a subscriber based of over 18 millions.

Commenting on the launch, Gurudeep Singh, Aircel's chief operation officer (COO) said,

"We are proud to be here in Mumbai and present to our customers a national brand with a strong local connect. We will be introducing products and services uniquely tailored to meet the special needs of our Mumbai consumers."

He added that to reward high usage in a simple manner there is an inbuilt reduction in tariff on all local calls where in the first minute is at Rs1, the second minute at 50 paisa and third minute onwards it is at 30 paisa. The Mumbai launch augments the next phase of their Pan India roll-out.

Aircel is highly emphasizing on VAS (value added services) and localized content including a WAP (wireless application protocol) portal in Hindi for GPRS handset along with services such as music on demand, CRBT (calling back ring tone) and an innovative voice based doctor-on-call services. Singh pointed that VAS and localized content remains part of the business strategy.

For Mumbai circle, the telco has invested big amounts on EDGE enable networks and IT infrastructure. Nokia Siemens have provided their networks that can support 3G services in future. Presently, the company has about 22000 towers across India and would increase to 40000 towers by the year end.

"We have invested about Rs 550 crores in setting up the telecom networks and IT infrastructures, data call centers, along with retails outlets and company owned stores for providing our services to customers in the city," informed Singh.

The company has tied with Wipro, which is in-charge of setting-up data call center in Bangalore. The center would be run by staffs having in-depth knowledge and understanding of handsets, telephony and the telecom domain to support the customer's needs.

"We have about 1500 retails outlets, 25 company-owned stores and 25 automatic kiosks to offer applications and services to reach out to our subscribers. Also we will double the investment amounts to Rs 1100 crores in next three years time to expand our foot prints in Pan India," added Singh.

Singh pointed that customers in Mumbai are unique compared to other circles, which high level of education, demands and understanding.

About company's strategy he added, "Aircel is focusing on four segments – students, migrants, business and elderly people as their potential subscribers. The strategy is looking at different segments and their needs and as per the customers' need provide VAS and other services. We want to be dominant player of future as we entered the Mumbai circle behind other companies; we are highly focusing on VAS and customer services."

Currently the company offers pre-paid connections for Rs 99 with lifetime validity and within two weeks time, it would offer post-paid connections.

Apart, Aircel also launched pocket Internet cards in two variants, one cost Rs 98 which has unlimited Internet browsing and music shuffle per month with 10 wall papers, five games and three downloadable features. The other is a sachet pack worth Rs 22 with 1500 minutes limited browsing time and other features.