Tata Tele to launch GSM services by January

Mumbai: Tata Teleservices intends to launch GSM mobile services in nine circles by January.

The company has received spectrum for the circles of Madhya Pradesh & Chhattisgarh, Maharashtra, Mumbai, Bihar, Orissa, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu (including Chennai), Kerala and Karnataka, said Mr Anil Sardana, Managing Director, TTSL.

“We intend to launch our GSM services simultaneously in all the circles,” he said on the sidelines of a press conference here.

Earlier this year, TTSL had announced a capex plan of $2 billion (Rs 9,600 crore), most of which has been earmarked for the launch of GSM services.

The Tata group company which is better known for providing mobile services based on the CDMA technology has already received licences for launching GSM services across the country.

The announcement of a January launch for its GSM services comes a day after TTSL announced that DoCoMo has picked up a 26 per cent stake in it for $2.7 billion.

Mr Sardana also said that TTSL plans to issue fresh equity to NTT DoCoMo as part of the deal. However, he did not elaborate. Mr Ryuji Yamada, President and Chief Executive Officer, NTT DoCoMo, said his company had no immediate plans of further increasing its stake in TTSL.

“Tata Group’s partnership with NTT DoCoMo will give the public a wider range of products and excellent bases of service not only in current technologies, but in the technologies yet to come,” said Mr Ratan Tata, Chairman of the Tata Group.

Separately, NTT DoCoMo announced a Rs 949-crore open offer to the shareholders of Tata Teleservices (Maharashtra) (TTML), for mopping up to 20 per cent equity in TTML at Rs 24.70 per share.

TTSL holds 37.65 per cent stake in TTML. The open offer price represents a premium of 3.73 per cent over TTML’s Wednesday’s closing of Rs 17.99.

Reacting to the developments, the TTML scrip hit an intra-day high of Rs 20.94 before settling at Rs 20.19, 12.23 per cent higher than the previous day’s close on the BSE.