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Undeterred by controversies over investment, equity and corporate governance, Reliance Infocomm, headed by Mukesh Ambani, on Monday said it would complete the planned investment of Rs 24,000 crore (Rs 240 billion) by March 2006.
Reliance Infocomm would invest Rs 9,000 crore (Rs 90 billion) over the remaining period in addition to Rs 15,000 crore (Rs 150 billion) pumped in so far, Kamal Nanavati, chief operating officer, said in New Delhi, but did not comment on the issues pertaining to the company, which have been raised in the course of the fight between Mukesh and his younger brother Anil.
Nanavati said Reliance India Mobile Service would expand to cover four lakh villages during the year 2005.
Reliance Infocomm on Monday announced it would cover up to four lakh villages and 5700 cities and towns by December 2005 under its new expansion initiative.
Announcing the expansion plan, Kamal Nanavati, chief operating officer, Reliance Infocomm, said "This massive operation will touch nearly 65 crore (650 million) Indians. The expansion covers 91 per cent of the country's highways and 85 per cent rail routes."
At present, the coverage extends to 1850 cities and towns, which will be taken up to 5700 by the year end.
Asked if Reliance Infocomm would complete the Rs 24,000 crore investment by the end of next fiscal, Nanavati said, "May be before that."
Reliance Infocomm has emerged as a major point of contention between Ambani brothers with Anil first questioning flagship company RIL's Rs 12,000 crore investment in it and changes in equity pattern and then raising issues of corporate governance relating to the telecom venture of the Reliance group.
On the source of funding of the Rs 24,000 crore project, Nanavati said, "It is a fully funded project."
He claimed that the company has a subscriber base of over 1 crore (10 million) across its 20 circles as on December 31, 2004, which it hoped to double by the end of 2005.
With regard to spectrum, which is essential in maintaining the quality of the services, the company said they have taken up the matter with the wireless planning council and department of telecom to get additional spectrum.
The company has also raised the issue of differential spectrum allocation between CDMA-based operators like Reliance Infocomm and GSM based players.
"We are getting 5 Mhz whereas the GSM operators get 11 Mhz. We have taken up the matter with the authorities concerned and hope to resolve the matter soon," he added.