Mumbai: Cellular services provider BPL Mobile is on the track for rapid growth following completion of major network expansion and technology up-gradation at an investment of Rs200 crore.

As a result of the fresh investment, the company says that the network coverage has increased by 60 per cent to 900 cell sites. By year-end this figure will touch the 1300 mark. Also deployed is ''enhanced data'' rates for ''GSM evolution'' (EDGE) technology and new state of the art ''intelligent network'' (IN) technology from Comverse, leaders in software and systems that enable multimedia network based enhanced services.

EDGE technology will facilitate up to three times the data speed and will enable BPL Mobile to handle more subscribers and add extra capacity to voice communications. EDGE also allows the delivery of advanced mobile services such as downloading of video and music clips, full multimedia messaging, high-speed colour Internet access and e-mail on the move.

"Most of the funds that we had committed to capacity expansion late last year have been invested, while the rest will be utilised right through this year," says S Subramaniam, CEO, BPL Mobile. "All long-standing technology has been phased out and a new state-of-the art IN network system has been installed.

Subramaniam said that on the customer services front, BPL has revamped its call centre operations and added significantly to its on-ground customer touch points. "Huge investments have also been made in innovating and providing enhanced value added services to our subscribers, a lot of which are in the pipeline," he said.

"Results of all up-gradation work is already showing. Our network capacity has grown by about 75 per cent and the minutes of usage by 30 per cent, which is exceptional." He said and added, "Our pre paid versus post paid customer ratio which stands at around 68 per cent to 32 per cent is one of the healthiest and richest in the industry."

All set for mobile TV, Blackberry
These advances have paved the way for seamless execution of a number of value added initiatives that BPL Mobile is set to offer subscribers. The company is all set to roll out Mobile TV, which will bring real time television content to mobile phones. The beta testing process for this is already in process. Also on the cards is the launch of Blackberry, the implementation and testing process for which has already begun.

"In addition to the push mail service that we are already offering our subscribers, we are very keen on introducing BlackBerry devices at the earliest for the convenience of our subscribers. Some of our other popular VAS initiatives like Voice SMS have been the first in Mumbai. m-commerce, java enabled gaming services among others, are very frequently used by our subscribers", adds Subramaniam.

He also said, that the company was in the process of setting up 60 BPL Mobile stores all over the city in the next three months. "These stores will be smaller versions of our exclusive galleries and will aim at deeper penetration in a bid to reach out to customers to provide them enhanced customer services."