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Indus to invest Rs 1 billion in pay-phone venture

The investment will be mainly to set up the retail distribution and marketing network in the state.

T O D A Y

• The Good Doctor • Essar's $140 m order • Bhubaneshwar STP • Indus to invest Rs 1 b

The project is spread over three phases, according to Kumar Subramanian, controller-marketing, Indus Telecom.

During the first phase, the company will set up about 4,000 pay phone franchises in Bombay, New Bombay and Pune by using 5,000 lines provided by Hughes Ispat.

In the second phase, it will expand its services to other locations in rural and semi-urban areas. In the third phase, the company will set up unmanned pay phones and an integrated network across the state.

Besides, as part of its plans to go national, the company is close to sealing agreements with other basic service operators like Bharti and Reliance.

It is also negotiating with the Department of Telecommunications for phone cards. Subramanian said phone cards, which is one of its business lines, would also be launched in a couple of months.

Phone cards usually are of two types: PIN-based cards which can be used from any place and from any instrument and smart cards or intelligent cards which have a magnetic strip and would require special phones.

Indus' PIN based phone cards would be launched first.

The company plans to market them along the lines of any other FMCG product and is putting in the retail distribution network.

A substantial part of the Rs 1 billion investment would be spent in the current financial year, Subramanian said. The other lines of business, like that of the phone instruments and management of pay phone franchise locations are also on schedule and much would depend on the ongoing talks with different basic service providers.

Indus Telecom is an associate company of Industar Inc of Wisconsin, US, and has strategic alliances with AT&T Wireless and equity participation from Hughes Network Systems, US, Uniden Corp, Japan, and Kanematsu Corp, Japan.

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