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Cellular major Airtel would be offering its services in Jammu and Kashmir by June next year thus becoming the first private sector operator to enter the militancy-affected state.
"We are hopeful to start our services within six months and we are already moving in this direction to realise it," Bharti Mobile CEO and director (mobility) Vinod Sawhny said.
The Union government has given the letter of intent to Bharti Mobile Limited, which provides cellular service under the name Airtel, and the company is in the process of procuring the unified licence, he said.
Sawhny said Airtel would offer all the services covering entire state including full roaming facility. "We have been doing market research and we hope maximum people will subscribe from the day we launch our service."
Currently, only state-owned BSNL is offering its services in the state.
Asked what measures will the company take to prevent misuse of the service by militants, he said: "We will follow all the guidelines and instructions of the central government in this regard. Strict norms are already in place when a person applies for a connection and we will follow that.
Forms of both post-paid and pre-paid subscribers will be thoroughly scrutinised before they can avail our service".
He said the DoT guidelines to jam the signal within 10 km radius of the border will also be taken care of.