Shyam Telelink comes with 'Rainbow'

JAIPUR, INDIA: Shyam Telelink, a basic telecom service provider in Rajasthan, today launched its CDMA mobile service in the state in association with Russian company Sistema.

The pan-India service from Rajasthan has been under brand named “Rainbow” is offering aggressive tariff plans that include local calls and SMS for 50 paise, said a press release.

The company has also bundled handset for Rs 999 with lifetime validity. Shyam Telelink-Sistema is the first operator among nine companies, who have been given new licences in 2008, to start services, the release said.

The company plans to head southwards and launch services there in next few months. STL has already invested around $1 bn and is likely to invest more than $1.5 bn next year.

“We have a pan-India license and we want to rollout the services in all the 22 circles. STL will follow a phased approach and will ideally focus on launching services in two circles per quarter,” STL CEO Vesvolod Rozanov said.

STL has also applied for a GSM technology as it has huge potential vis-à-vis Indian telecom space is concerned, said the company sources.

However, at present it wants to start operations with CDMA 800 standard only, said Rajiv Mehrotra of Shyam . Mehrotra flaked the Indian regulator pitched for cost-based tariff, saying that such a tariff structure will help bring down the call-costs for the consumers.

STL also asked TRAI to ensure that new operators get cost-based mandatory inter-connection from the existing service providers.

Speaking at the launch of the services, chairman, Sistema, Vladmir Evatushenkov said the company considers India to be one of the markets with high potential growth.

 “Considering that GSM technology has greater prospects, it would be more beneficial to invest in a GSM licensee rather than bid for the spectrum. But we are ready to wait. 3G regulations are not very good poor foreign players. We are not in a haste to acquire a company immediately,” he said. He added that Sistema has plan to invest about $4-7 billion in India, but that will not be in telecom sector alone.