Idea in Karnataka

Idea Cellular Ltd, telecom service provider, is planning to invest Rs 300-400 crore in the next 15 months to enhance network coverage in Karnataka.The company wants to reach out to 78% of Karnataka’s towns and villages by March 2010. At present, it’s penetration in to the Karnataka is close to 40%. Himanshu Kapania, director operations, Idea Cellular, said that by March, Idea’s coverage in the Karnataka will go up to 50%. “We will be taking our current coverage of 3,410 towns and villages to 6,400 by March 2009 and to 11,200 by 2010,” he added. The mobile service provider is trying to accelerate to pace of garnering market share in the state. Spice Communication’s share in the mobile telephony market had been lagging with just 9.5% in Karnataka due to very low coverage and technological snags. Its rival Bharati Airtel was way ahead with around 50% market share.Sanjeev Aga, managing director, Idea Cellular, said, “It was a one horse race, but that will change with enhanced services and coverage that we will offer.” Wider coverage in the Karnataka will also help the company to expand its market share in south India from current 20%. Two weeks back, the company transformed Spice into Idea in Punjab. On Monday, it made its entry into Spice’s second circle of Karnataka by unveiling the Idea logo and brand identity.
Aga said Spice’s 900 megahertz (MHz) circles provides immense opportunity to Idea and with entry into Punjab and Karnataka, it’s now present in nine 900 MHz circles.The other states, where it operates with 900 MHz licences are Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, UP (west) and Haryana.In the 900 MHz circles, Idea is leading and the fastest growing mobile service provider in the country with subscriber base of 27.41 million. In November, it grew at 63% y-o-y, with addition of 10.59 million new subscribers. In the same period, Bharati Airtel grew at 56% with subscriber base of 26.29 million.Aga said the company would not be launching services in any more circles in this fiscal. Currently, it is present in 15 of the 22 circles and will be in all circles in the next 12 months. Early next fiscal the company will launch its services in Orissa and Tamil Nadu.