Bharti applies for 6 new licenses

NEW DELHI: Mobile services provider, Bharti Tele-Ventures Ltd, a has applied to the government for licences to provide services in six new telecom zones, it informed the Bombay Stock Exchange on Tuesday.

New Delhi-based Bharti said its subsidiary, Bharti Cellular Ltd, had applied for new permits for operating in Uttar Pradesh (East), Bihar, Orissa and West Bengal (including Andaman & Nicobar), northern Jammu & Kashmir and Rajasthan.

Bharti, which is 16 percent owned by Singapore Telecommunications Ltd, already provides mobile phone services in 15 of India's 22 telecom zones or circles.

India, one of the world's fastest growing mobile phone markets, has nearly 26 million mobile phone users.

The number is expected to surge to at least 100 million by 2005 as some of the world's lowest call charges lure in more users in the billion-plus country.

Reuters