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Dolphin delayed -- Mumbai launch slated for March 2
Neeraj Jha
Mumbai: MTNL will launch Dolphin, its cellular service in Mumbai on March 2, and not February 28 as envisaged earlier. "We will now launch our cellular services in Mumbai on March 2. There won't be any further delays," said Mr Ramani Aiyar, chief general manager, MTNL Mumbai. "We thought everybody, including the media, would be occupied with the Budget on February 28," said Mr Ramani by way of explanation on the delay. The real reason, though, appears to be the minister's (Mr Ram Vilas Paswan) availability. Mr Aiyar also said that the cellular operations would be headed by Mr Gopal Das, general manager, GSM, after it has been "operationalised". Mr Das will report to Mr JM Mishra, chief general manager, in-charge of the company's cellular division and based in Delhi. Operationalisation, Mr Aiyar, might take a few more days. "The change over can't happen in one stroke. Sites are coming up, antennas have to be adjusted and so on," he said. In the absence of any official notification on who will head theoperations here, speculations had started doing the rounds on whether it was Mr Das or somebody else. According to Mr Narendra Sharma, chairman and managing director of MTNL, the company is to have a separate structure manning its newly set up cellular division. "Our cellular operations will be headed by a chief general manager in Delhi, and one general manager each in Delhi and Mumbai, who will be reporting directly to the former," he had told this correspondent a few days back. Though MTNL Mumbai is understood to have earmarked one GM and three DGMs for the job, the size of the other staff is not yet clear. "The team is not yet fully set up. But it should be in place by the month-end," said an official. Mr Das could not be contacted. MTNL will charge Rs 2,000, Rs 4,000 and Rs 6,000 as security deposit for the local, STD and ISD subscribers respectively, while the activation charge is Rs 1,050 for all.Copyright © 2001 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
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