Airtel to invest Rs 60K cr in 3 yrs on network upgradation

New Delhi, November 30

Country's top telecom firm Bharti Airtel will invest Rs 60,000 crore in the next three years to upgrade networks and improve quality of services as competition intensifies in the sector.

The company's announcement today came against the backdrop of consumers facing problems of frequent call-drops.

The government has been asking telecom operators to invest in network infrastructure to improve the quality of services.

Besides, as per a recent Fitch Ratings report, Mukesh Ambani owned Reliance Jio is likely to launch its cheaper and faster 4G-focused data services in first quarter of 2016. It has invested about USD 14 billion – partly to acquire 800 MHz spectrum in 10 circles and higher-bandwidth spectrum of 2300MHz/1800MHz in 22 circles. RJio entry will further intensify the competition in the sector.

As part of its 'Project Leap', which will entail investments of Rs 60,000 crore, Bharti said it will undertake a massive transformation of its network and will deploy over 70,000 base stations in 2015-16, making it the largest deployment in a single year since its inception.

In three years, Airtel will deploy over 1,60,000 base stations, effectively doubling its presence from what it has currently on the ground.

Airtel said a majority of this investment will be used on infrastructure to improve quality of call and data services.

"Bulk of this investment will be on capital expenditure as over the last couple of auctions, we have bought a large spectrum and we are well covered in almost all circles. There are only a few pockets where we need to pick up more spectrum," Bharti Airtel (India & South Asia) MD and CEO Gopal Vittal said here.

The planned investment will be raised largely through cash accruals and includes the capex target of $ 2.2 billion for the current fiscal, he said.

He added this fiscal, India's capex is highest in the history of Airtel at about Rs 16,000 crore.

"We have seen improvement in quality of network in the last six months. I would like to reiterate that we are not where we need to be. There are locations and localities where we still struggle...we are working with all the concerned authorities," Vittal said.

Telecom regulator Trai has said that there is no significant improvement in call drops and it will conduct another drive test in December to check the situation.

The regulator had in June and July conducted drive tests in Mumbai and Delhi, which showed unsatisfactory network quality. Trai than convened a meeting of all telecom operators to improve quality of network.

To assess the improvement, Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) had undertaken repeat drive test in Mumbai and Delhi on September 27 and 28, 2015 to assess improvements, which also was found unsatisfactory. — PTI