Bharti Airtel plans to set up 12,000 new mobile sites across Tamil Nadu in fiscal 2018-19 to enhance network capacity.
The largest telecom operator in India does not reveal circle specific investment detail. The strategy of Airtel is to enhance customer experience by adding more sites in both urban and rural locations in Tamil Nadu.
The network expansion plan in Tamil Nadu, including Chennai, effectively translates to 32 new Airtel mobile sites going live every day across the state.
The number of mobile sites across Tamil Nadu will increase by 30 percent to 52,000, said Airtel.
Airtel plans to lay out 3,000 kms of fresh optic fiber across the state to take its fiber footprint to 17,000 kms. The addition of fresh fiber capacity will support the growth of high speed data services in the state, Airtel said.
“As part of Project Leap, our network transformation initiative, we will continue to channel investments towards building a world class future ready network that touches every citizen of the state,” Manoj Murali, CEO – Tamil Nadu & Kerala, said.
Airtel has over 23 million customers in Tamil Nadu. Vodafone is the second largest telecom operator in Tamil Nadu. Vodafone India has a subscriber base of 20.191 million in Tamil Nadu, according to statistics released by telecom regulator TRAI. The mobile subscriber base of Idea Cellular in Tamil Nadu was 12.611 million.
Following the completion of the merger between Idea Cellular and Vodafone, Airtel will become the second largest wireless operator in the state. The Idea-Vodafone combined entity will have 32 plus million subscribers on their mobile network.
BSNL has 11.111 million phone subscribers in Tamil Nadu. Reliance Jio’s wireless subscriber base in Tamil Nadu stood at 12.509 million.
The 17 million plus subscribers of Aircel is up for grabs in Tamil Nadu. Telecom operators are making investment in Tamil Nadu in order to bring customers of Aircel. The Maxis Telecom-owned Aircel has already filed for bankruptcy in order to out come of the financial issues.
