44. Fascel

Fascel, which provides cellular services under the brand name Celforce in

Gujarat circle, posted a total revenue of Rs 173.39 crore in the FY 2000-01. The

subscriber base grew by 53 percent to reach a figure of 1,67,997, almost double

the base of its competitor.

Fascel covers an area of approximately 6000 square kilometer in Gujarat and

has recently extended its coverage from Bhuj to Silvassa, covering all the

important cities and town. Its highway coverage has been extended between

Palanpur in North to Umargam in South Gujarat. CelForce is the only operator in

the state to provide connectivity on the Ahmedabad-Rajkot-Junagadh highway. The

company has 152 cell cites operational in the state and plans to add 100 more by

the end of this year. It also plans to launch GPRS services.

The company has recently launched a slew of value-added services, such as IVR

based messages, ringtones, etc, apart from slashing its outgoing rates by 35

percent and incoming rates by 28 percent.

Fascel is currently building a 3,000 km multi-purpose optic fiber backbone in

the state, and has already laid 230 km of cable from Ahmedabad to Rajkot. This

is with the objective to launch ISP services and sell bandwidth to other ISPs in

the state. Hutchsions Max has recently picked up a 43 percent stake in the

company.