Tata Teleservices (Maharashtra) will connect 2,000 villages in the state by March 31, 2003, as part of its village public telephones (VPT) obligation. By the end of the calendar 2003, it plans to connect another 5,000 villages across the state.

Ajay Pandey, chief operating officer, said, "Till date we have connected 1,450 villages and invested about Rs 10 crore. After meeting the full obligation of connecting 7,996 villages, our investment in VPTs will be to the tune of Rs 20-25 crore."

Tata Teleservices is using CDMA as well as GSM infrastructural route to connect these villages. Pandey pointed out that each village will have only one telephone which will be with the village sarpanch or popular personality in the village. The company has also used on an experimental basis cordect phones in 75 villages near Pune. "We have deployed these technologies as it is difficult to reach far flung villages across the state", he added.

The company is also moving away from the traditional switch centres to soft switch centres. "These soft switches are smaller in size, occupy one tenth of space, consume less power and help reduce cost", says Pandey. These switches are being provided by Motorola. Currently, the company uses switches provided by NEC of Japan & Lucent (Bell Labs) to provide wireline and fixed wireless services to customers.

The broadband network based telecommunication service provider would be launching its CDMA mobile services in Mumbai, Pune, Aurangabad, Nagpur and Nasik in the next 8-12 weeks. The company has recently endorsed Tata Indicom brand and relaunched its services.

Tata Teleservices Maharashtra plans to invest up to Rs 3,500 crore in the state for basic and limited mobility projects. For broadband infrastructure the company has already invested around Rs 2,900 crore. At present, it offers telephony and ISP services in Mumbai, Navi Mumbai, Pune, Nagpur, Nashik, Aurangabad, Kolhapur, Panaji, Sangli, Thane and Ahmednagar.

The company has recorded revenues of over Rs 276 crore in 2001-02. Having a subscriber base in excess of 2.1 lakh lines and an average revenue per line of over Rs 1,500 a month, the company has already become cash positive.