Tata Teleservices has decided to invest some Rs 300 crore to roll out its services in Assam and the North-East by April-May 2008.

It has already kicked off the groundwork in terms of tower site selection and initiated talks with operators such Bharti Airtel, BSNL and Reliance Communications for infrastructure sharing in these two circles.

The company, which operates its telecom services under the Tata Indicom brand, has set out to achieve about 0.5 million subscribers in Assam and NE circles.

Nearly 80% of the proposed investment will be in network rollout, largely due to the mountainous terrain in the region.

"We've already received the letter of intent from the Centre to start operations in these circles and hope to get spectrum in 2-3 months…" Tata Teleservices regional head (east) & COO (Kolkata circle) Sanjeev Khera said.