Videocon eyes pan-India mobile operations in phased manner

Videocon Mobile Services, which has permits to operate in seven circles out of the country's total 22 circles, has plans to expand services pan-India in a phased manner.

"Videocon had been a national player and had a dominance in the market place. However, it lost momentum post the 2G licence cancellation. We plan to have a national presence again, however in a phased manner," Videocon Mobile Services CEO and Director Arvind Bali told PTI.

Videocon's 21 licences were among the 122 permits quashed by the Supreme Court order on February 2, 2012. It had acquired permits to operate across all circles in 2008.

The company, which recently won spectrum in six circles for Rs. 2,221.44 crore, operates in four circles of Punjab, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat, at present. It aims to add about 6 million subscribers in 2013-14.

Bali said the company's immediate priority is to roll out services in three other circles of Bihar, UP East and UP West.

Bali said that once operations get into full swing in these circles "in about two years", it will start looking for operations in other regions.

"As a strategy, we shall look at picking selective licences, say a corridor and roll-out, and instead of bidding for all circles in one go, we shall look at combination of circles that form a corridor, for example South corridor could be our next opportunity area," Bali added.

He said the time line for expansion will depend on the timing for spectrum auction and the manner in which government decided to allocate spectrum as well.

He said that the company will look provide both 2G and 4G services at 15-20 percent less rates compared to price offered in market.

"In peak hours we will use technology to provide 4G services on which people may get data speed (Internet) of up to 9 Megabit per second (MBPS) and in lean period, say during night, we may use more spectrum that can give people speed of up to 21 MBPS," Bali said.