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Airtel to expand coverage
BS Reporter / Kolkata May 09, 2008

Airtel is likely to invest close to Rs 600 crore this financial year to expand its network coverage in West Bengal and Kolkata.

It is also planning to put up close to 2000 cell sites this fiscal, which is expected to help Airtel cover the entire West Bengal population and road routes.

Currently Airtel has 4,000 cell sites in the state covering 95 per cent of the state's population, and 90 per cent of the road routes.

According to Ajay Puri, Airtel CEO - mobility of West Bengal,"We have 23 per cent market share in Kolkata and West Bengal. We are expecting to have one-third of the mobile subscriber base of West Bengal."

Airtel currently has a subscriber base of 37 lakhs in West Bengal.

The company is also planning to increase its branded outlets by close to 30 per cent this fiscal from 100 right now.

"We have recently got the four acres for our campus in Rajarhat. We will build around five lakh sqft of campus there which should be up and running in another 18 months," Puri said.

The West Bengal Housing Infrastructure Development Corporation (HIDCO) has recently given the permission to Bharti Airtel to take over the possession of four acres of land in the Rajarhat area. Airtel will have to pay Rs 30 crore for the plot.

Airtel was discussing with the state government of West Bengal for the telecom hub venture since the year of 2006 and though the government allotted three acres at Nonadanga, the company declined to take as it felt the site was unsuitable.

Airtel plans to shift its headquarters to Rajarhat from Salt Lake at present.

It will also place all its 800 direct employees to the new location. Around 450 more employees of Airtel's technology partners - Nokia, Ericsson and IBM - will be housed in the new plot. Rajarhat office will also have Airtel resource and development (R&D) laboratories and datacentres.

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