Aircel to launch services in 3 more circles

Aircel, the Indian subsidiary of Malaysia’s Maxis Group is planning to roll-out its services in Haryana, Punjab and Rajasthan circles in April. The GSM brand has chosen Nokia Siemens Networks (NSN) to supply the network and manage it for a period of four years as part of a deal valued in excess of $300 million (over Rs 1,385 crore).
Under the contract, NSN will supply the core, microwave and radio network equipment required for the expansion. An official statement released by NSN says that its offerings will not only help Aircel reduce its carbon footprint, but will also prepare it for 3G service launches in the future.
NSN earlier supplied GSM network and related services to Aircel for Delhi, Kolkata and Mumbai circles. In terms of subscribers, Aircel is India’s fifth largest GSM service provider with a subscriber base of over 31 million as of December 31, 2009. It is present in 18 of the total 23 telecom circles and plans to expand across India in the next 2-3 months.
Aircel offers both prepaid and postpaid GSM services. It is a joint venture between Maxis Communications of Malaysia and Apollo Hospitals Enterprise Ltd of India. Maxis and Apollo Hospitals have a 74 per cent and 26 per cent stake in Aircel, respectively.