Aircel to infuse $5 bn by 2014

Pan-India telecom operator Aircel Ltd today said its investment in India would get doubled to USD 10 billion (Rs 45,370 crore) in the next four years to rollout new services and expanding its existing network.

Pan-India telecom operator Aircel Ltd today said its investment in India would get doubled to USD 10 billion (Rs 45,370 crore) in the next four years to rollout new services and expanding its existing network.

“We have already invested USD 5 billion,including 3G spectrum price and network rollout,and by 2014,we will pump another similar amount to take up our investment to USD 10 billion to ramp up our capacity,” Aircel COO Gurdeep Singh said.

He said the company was hoping to rollout wireless broadband in its circles in the next 6-9 months.

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The company has won licence in 8 circles for Broadband Wireless Access (BWA) and paid around Rs 4,500 crore as spectrum fees,Singh said.

He was in the city to launch 3G services in Kolkata circle today and said by mid-March,the company will rollout 3G services in all its 13 circles.

Singh said the non-voice revenue of the company is currently at 11 per cent but it was expected to grow significantly in the next few years.

Besides launching its 3G services,Aircel today also unveiled Huawei’s IDEOS phone with Android operating system.

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On association with Infosys Technologies,Singh said they were developing an application store with an aim to offer a host of applications to its users.