Mobile telephony in Andhra Pradesh is not yet affected by bifurcation as the telecom service providers have so far not received any instructions from the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) on the change that the A.P circle has to undergo once the two new States come into existence on June 2.
“Customers in both the States (Andhra Pradesh and Telangana) have to pay roaming charges as they will be in two different circles, in compliance with rules of TRAI, but it has not give any guidelines on that so far. Therefore, we are for the time being operating as a single entity across the State,” said Satish Kannan, business head of A.P Circle.
Announcing the roll-out of 550 additional sites in Andhra Pradesh, including 70 in Vijayawada Zone comprising Krishna, Guntur and West Godavari districts, here on Wednesday, Mr. Kannan said by the end of June, Uninor would have 3,200 network sites offering better services, for which 1.4 MHz of spectrum has been recently acquired in the 1,800 MHz band.
Mr. Kannan said network expansion by 30 per cent facilitates superior voice and data services and eventually helps in improving the market share which stood between 15 per cent and 17 per cent taken on the basis of new activations and eight per cent on the overall subscriber base.
Six to seven sites are being rolled out everyday as part of the expansion project. In another three months, customers could buy SIM/re-charge cards at 60,000 POS (points of sale), 175 exclusive stores of Uninor and 375 distributors. The number of mobile communication towers (in A.P) was 3,000 and it was poised to reach 3,500 in a few months, Mr. Kannan added.
Head of Marketing (A.P) P. Gitanjali and Vijayawada Zone Manager Anil Surana were present.
