Tata Indicom is looking at increasing the subscriber base in the eastern region to 50 lakh by 2008-09 from 43 lakh at present.
“We have been adding 2 lakh customers on a gross basis per month in the region,” said Sanjiv Sinha, regional head of the eastern region.
The company, which has almost 11% market share in the region, is looking at maintaining the share this fiscal.
According to the Association of Unified Telecom Service Providers of India (AUSPI), Tata Indicom has added the highest number of subscribers, around 61,000, in Bihar for mobile and fixed wireless phone service in November, pushing the number to 14.2 lakh from 13.6 lakh in October.
The telecom services provider has added 35,000 subscribers in Kolkata, 24,000 in West Bengal and 16,000 in Orissa. It has also launched services in the northeast recently.
Tata Indicom has planned to invest Rs 600 crore in the east mainly for network expansion. “We should be completing the investment,” said Sinha. According to sources, the company has a target of setting up almost 2,480 base transceiver stations (BTS) in the region by March 2009.
Present at the inauguration of a tune-download kiosk in Kolkata, Sinha said the company is planning to launch hi-speed internet access soon. “We are yet to decide on the bandwidth that will be provided for the service,” he added.