AirTel enters Chennai market

CHENNAI: Bharti Enterprises, a private telecom company, has launched its ‘AirTel’

mobile phone services in Chennai. This follows the company's recent acquisition

of 89.5 per cent stake in SkyCell Communications, a mobile service provider in

this region.

"We are finally here. Chennai has been chosen the hub and focal point

for our various services including mobile, fixed line and undersea cable

operations," said Sunil Bharti Mittal, chairman & group managing

director, Bharti Enterprises.

"The company has invested Rs 100 crore in building and upgrading the

network infrastructure here and an additional investment of Rs 100 crore is

expected to be pumped in, in the next one year to provide world-class cellular

services in Chennai," said Mittal. SkyCell Communications has been

rechristened as Bharti Mobinet after the acquisition.

Bharti Enterprises' AirTel mobile service has a good customer base in

Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh, and is confident of making big in Chennai.

"We have close to 53 per cent of the market share in Chennai now, with a

customer base of over one lakh and planning 1.5 lakh registered users by this

year end," he said. The company expects to serve 2.5 lakh customers by the

next financial year.

While talking about the company's OFC project, Mittal said the network would

be in place shortly and the commercial service would be launched early next

year. "We are in the final stages of the program and the fat pipes capable

of carrying loads (bandwidth) in terabits would be linked to the global network

through the Chennai gateway. This would offer unlimited global communication

access for Indian customers, added Mittal.