All the major telecom players are strengthening their mobile connectivity in the rural hinterland.

Tata Teleservices (Maharashtra) Limited (TTML), India’s second largest telecommunication service provider in the code division multiple access (CDMA) space, is eyeing rural India for growth in the mobile sector.

The company will invest Rs 600 crore this fiscal, of which Rs 100 crore will be earmarked for rural Maharashtra. H D Khosla, head network operations, TTML, said, “We are giving a major thrust to rural telephony development in Maharashtra. There is a huge untapped rural market.”

According to him, the metros already have a teledensity of 60%, with a rural penetration of a mere 9.7%. TTML will provide services to 162 towns by the end of December 2006, up from the current 128 towns. It will touch 30 more towns next year.

The company will add 173 new cell sites and six more switches in next the next three to four months. At present, TTML has 429 cell sites in Mumbai, 374 in the rest of Maharashtra (ROM).

The company will invest Rs 100 crore over the next three months in new new mobile services switching centres, and 173 additional cell sites to provide robust and congestion free services to its subscribers in Mumbai, Maharashtra and Goa.

It isn’t the only one. State-owned Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) and Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited (MTNL) propose to invest Rs 20,000 crore to install additional 60 million lines in the next three to four years. Recently, communications and IT Minister, Dayanidhi Maran, said 50% of these proposed connections would be in rural areas.

Reliance Infocomm will set up information kiosks and high-speed public tele-information centres at block headquarters and in villages with a population of more than 2,000. A kiosk which comprises a multimedia personal computer with an Internet connection, is owned and operated by rural entrepreneurs to ensure better customer interaction.

These centres will be rolled out in a phased manner to cover one lakh villages over the next three years. The project is said to cover nearly 48% of the total rural population in the country, informed a Reliance company official.

Khosla further said that Tata Teleservices is committed to provide customers with seamless network coverage and the newly installed Ericsson Switches and Motorola radio elements will reduce the call drop rates and congestion in the network and offer enhanced usage experience.

TTML has recently launched a host of new value added features like caller ring back tones and various data and voice content in Mumbai and Goa. These features will be launched in Pune next month.

The company presently offers telephony and ISP services in Mumbai, Pune, Nagpur , Nashik, Aurangabad, Kolhapur, and Panaji. It focuses on all market segments, like commercial, residential and PCO (public call outlets).

(www.dnaindia.com)