AIRTEL PLANS `60,000-CRORE INVESTMENT
Bharti Airtel on Monday said it will invest `60,000 crore over three years on expanding networks that will help improve the quality of services and reduce call drops.
The move comes as Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries prepares to launch it 4G network by September next year.
The proposed investment is over and above `1.6 lakh crore that Airtel has already invested in its active and passive network, spectrum, fiber, submarine cables and systems till date.
As part of Project leap, the company will set up over 70,000 base stations in the current fiscal, and 1,60,000 over the next three years, in a move to improve voice and data services in the country.
The planned investment, to be raised largely through cash accruals, includes the capital expenditure target of about $2.2 billion for 2015-16, said Gopal Vittal, Bharti Airtel’s chief executive for India and South Asia. “There still are problems with the network...We are still not where we need to be,” Vittal said referring to congested airwaves that leave calls disconnected in the middle of conversations. “The primary purpose of this is a commitment to building a world-class network in India.”
There are more than 970 million mobile phone users in India. The number of smartphone users topped 140 million last year, and is expected to reach 651 million by 2019, according to a study by Cisco.
Airtel will lay 550,000 km of domestic and global fibre cable and expand mobile broadband coverage to 500,000 Indian villages in three years, from the current 250,000, Vittal said. The investment plan also comes amid the government’s Digital India push to connect 250,000 villages by 2019.