Idea may enter STD, ISD segment

Encouraged by the licence fee cut in the long distance segment, Idea Cellular on Friday said it was looking at the possibility of entering that market but only if it made business sense.

"We are open to it (entering the long distance market). We have to study if it makes business sense to enter the segment. Licence fee is not the issue any more," Vikram Mehmi, CEO, Ideal Cellular said in New Delhi.

As for passing any benefit to the customers on account of the cut in annual fee, he said, "99 per cent of the cut would be passed on to the subscribers". He said the long distance telephony in India would not remain the same.

On the proposed IndiaOne calling rates that will envisage a uniform calling rate, Mehmi said, "We have to see what form it will take".

Idea, which is 51 per cent owned by Birla group with a little less than 49 per cent with the Tatas, is in the process of expanding its reach in three more circles - UP (East), Rajasthan and Himachal Pradesh.

"We will invest Rs 300 crore (Rs 3 billion) in the three circles in this fiscal", Mehmi said, adding that the services in these circles would start by the first quarter of next fiscal."

With this, Idea will be present in 11 circles out of the total 23 present in the country.