T K Rohit, TNN Jun 18, 2009, 01.42am IST
CHENNAI: Tamil Nadu has always been a very high penetration market for mobile companies in the country. Already, Chennai has the highest teledensity at 111% (111 mobile phone connections per 100 people) in the country and the state is set for another round of turf war among mobile companies with two more operators launching services in the next one month.
Tata Docomo, a joint venture between CDMA major Tata Indicom and NTT Docomo of Japan, will launch its GSM services in the state by June-end, while Idea Cellular, an Aditya Birla company with services in 17 of the 28 circles, is all set for a commercial launch in the southern metropolis. The state already has seven service providers, including BSNL.
More over, Reliance Communications, which rolled out its GSM services in Tamil Nadu in April with a soft launch, will soon start full-fledged services across the state.
With mobile number portability (MNP) also set to roll out in Chennai from September, the focus will now shift from pricing to quality of service. MNP, a facility where a subscriber can choose his service provider without changing his number, will compel operators to ensure quality of service, a marketing official with an existing player said.
"We have services across 17 circles in India and have over 45 million subscribers. Of this, 25% subscribers are from our operations in the three southern states -- Kerala, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka. Tamil Nadu is the important piece to be filled up in the southern market," Rajat Mukarji, chief corporate affairs officer, Idea Cellular, told The Times of India.
Tamil Nadu with its high penetration rate is an important market for telecom companies. According to recent statistics released by Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), the state had a total subscriber base of 28,601,906 mobile customers at the end of April 2009 compared to 27,778,512 in March 2009 (3% growth month-on-month).
Interestingly, Sistema Shyam Teleservices Limited (SSTL), a joint venture between Sistema of Russia and Shyam Group of India, which rolled out its telecom brand MTS' in Tamil Nadu recently, has clocked 55,000 subscribers within a month. "We have got 6% market share of new subscribers in a month. There is still a huge market of customers looking for good value, quality network and services," Srinivasa Rao, CEO (TN & Kerala), MTS, said.
