Bharti Airtel invests US$ 200m for 2G, 3G mobile services

Shirajiv Sirimane

This is subsequent to the company being awarded the license to provide 2G and 3G mobile services in Sri Lanka.

President, Mobile Services, Bharti Airtel Sanjay Kapoor said they are planning to launch this service initially giving coverage to an area of nearly 70 per cent. The mobile services from Bharti Airtel will be launched under the Airtel brand and a major portion of their investment will be made during the first 12 to 18 months.

He said that Sri Lanka is strategically located and the fact that the country has a 2 million-subscriber growth each year makes it a very attractive destination. “We are excited to be in Sri Lanka as there is an untapped 70 per cent mobile market,” he said.

Bharti Airtel Limited, one of Asia’s leading integrated telecom service companies said their plans for Sri Lanka clearly demonstrate their commitment to the market and also the confidence in the potential that this market holds in Airtel’s overseas expansion journey,” he said.

Bharti Enterprises is India’s leading integrated telecom services provider with an aggregate of 44.67 million customers as of end of June 2007, consisting of 42.7 million mobile customers.

Bharti Airtel has been rated among the best performing companies in the world in the BusinessWeek IT 100 list 2007.

Executive Director of Bharti Airtel, Sanjay Nandrajog said they would roll out all their value added services (VAS) in Sri Lanka.

He said that the mobile phone has matured to the extent that people no longer talk about cameras and camcorders but uses mobile devices.

“Very soon there would be making transactions and even watching movies on the phone and these facilities would also be available in Sri Lanka through our services,” he said.

The 3G experience would open up so many opportunities such as these.

Bharti Airtel is structured into three strategic business units Mobile services, Broadband and Telephone (B&T) services and Enterprise services.

The mobile business provides mobile and fixed wireless services using GSM technology across 23 telecom circles. The company provides broadband and telephone services in 94 cities.