Idea in Mumbai

Idea Cellular will launch mobile services in Mumbai by the year-end and is expected to spend about Rs 700 crore for its network rollout in the metro. The department of telecom (DoT) on Friday is learnt to have allocated spectrum to Idea Cellular for the GSM-based service provider’s foray into the Mumbai circle. Economic Times has reported that Idea was allocated 5 MHz spectrum in the 1800 MHz frequency band by TRAI. (GSM players are allocated spectrum in the 900 MHz or 1800 MHz frequency bands for second generation cellular service). This implies, Idea Cellular will be entitled to additional 2G spectrum only after its subscriber base crosses the million mark. Idea Cellular is the fifth largest cellular operator in the country and the fourth largest GSM operator after Bharti Airtel, Vodafone Essar and State-owned BSNL. The company currently offers services in 11 circles and has over 16 million subscribers and a market share of about 12% in the GSM space. As of June-end, Mumbai had over 7.2 million GSM subscribers with Hutch Essar being the largest player with 2.7 million subscribers followed by Bharti Airtel at 2 million, public sector MTNL has 1.5 million and BPL Mobile has just over a million customers. With this Idea’s entry competition in Mumbai is set to touch an all-time high as the metro will become only the third telecom circle in the country after West Bengal and Himachal Pradesh to have five GSM players offering services.