Kolkata, July 07: Bharti Cellular Limited (BCL), the second largest GSM service provider in Kolkata circle under the brand 'Airtel Magic' today said it plans to double its customer network to 4.60 lakh in less than a year's time and announced introduction of In Xpress enabled benefits like full roaming to prepaid customers of Kolkata. "We will increase distribution network and go close to customers by entering into better communication mode in order to make the prospective customers aware that cost of mobile has come down to as low as Rs 300 per month. We will launch a campaign soon," BCL chief executive officer Deepak Gulati told reporters here.
The company would spend about Rs 55 crore during the next three months on introducing new technology on the back of investing Rs 20 crore on intelligent network (IN) benefits.
The total spending of Rs 75 crore in Kolkata by October next was part of company's Rs 1200 crore spending programme on network improvement throughout the country, Gulati said.
"With these facilities, we expect to double our customer base from 2.30 lakh at present to 4.60 lakh in less than a year's time," he said, adding most of the new customers were expected to join prepaid facility.
To a query, he said about five per cent of their revenue was presently coming from SMS which according to him was not that bad considering the fact that even in developed countries the average earning from SMS was about 10 per cent of the total. Bureau Report