Idea Cellular on Tuesday said it would be investing upto Rs 1,300 crore (Rs 13 billion) in the current financial year for taking operation in three new circles and expanding the services in existing circles.
"We shall start services in three circles -- UP (East), Rajasthan and Himachal Pradesh, before the end of 2005 taking the total number of circles to 11. We have planned an investment of Rs 1,300 crore in 2005-06," Vikram Mehmi, CEO of Idea Cellular, told PTI.
Asked whether Idea had plans to have pan-India operations as Bharti and Reliance Infocomm, Mehmi said: "We do not have plans to enter each and every part of the country. We want to enter contiguous and good potential circles."
Idea Cellular's total investment till now in the mobile telephony would be about Rs 7,800 crore (Rs 78 billion).
"We have earned net profit last year. The EBIDTA margin for Idea stands at about 37 per cent," he said but did not divulge the net profit figures saying the company was not a listed company.
He, however, remained tight-lipped about the shareholding pattern in the company.
Last month, corporate giants Tatas and A V Birla group announced their decision to buy out the foreign partner Cingular Wireless from joint venture Idea Cellular for about Rs 1,300 crore. They bought out the 32.91 per cent stake in Idea Cellular from Cingular. But this still is to be approved by Department of Telecom.
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