Reliance Communications (RCOM) has earmarked a capex of Rs 24,000 crore ($6 billion) for the next financial year, which would be used for its expansion plans and increasing of services in the country. The Anil Ambani group company has also revised the capex for the current year (till March 31, 2008) to Rs 21,000 crore, from the earlier declared capex of Rs 18,000 crore.
"We have a capex guidance for the next fiscal of Rs 24,000 crore, which is more than double the capex of other telecom operators. We are also revising the capex for this year to Rs 21,000 crore, as against the initial planned capex of Rs 18,000 crore," RCom chairman Anil Ambani said in an analysts' conference.
The incremental amount for this year is taking into account the fees paid towards expansion of GSM services under existing Universal Access Service Licence (UASL), and includes the proposed spend for expanding CDMA services during the year, he said.
On the capex for the next financial year ending March 31, 2009, the company expects Rs 8,000 crore ($2 billion) capex in the next financial year in Reliance Infratel, the tower subsidiary. Rcom expects a capitial expenditure of Rs 5,000 crore ($1.3 billion) for its GSM expansion plans.
Rcom has received letters of intents from the Department of Telecommunications for commencing operations in all the 23 circles in the country. At present, the company provides GSM services in around eight circles, and intends to commence the launch in other circles within the next 12 months.
The company would require a capex of around Rs 10,800 crore ($2.7 billion) for expansion plans of Flag Telecom, Direct-To-Home (DTH) and Internet Protocol TV (IPTV) among others.
On Reliance Infratel, he said that the company intends to increase its total number of towers to around 60,000 by March 2009. The total number of towers would be around 25000 by the end of this financial year. |
