Telecom News --

S Tel launches GSM services in Jharkhand, a day after Bihar launch

Ranchi, 26th December, 2009

• Offers customers choice of two most sought after tariff plans
  
• Launches in major towns and over 3500 villages across the state
  
• Provides customers a superior wide area network that is 3G ready

S Tel Pvt Ltd, a joint venture between Siva Group (formerly Sterling Infotech Group) and BMIC Limited, a subsidiary of Bahrain Telecommunications Company (Batelco), today announced the commencement of services in Jharkhand within a day from launching its telecom services in Bihar and within a week of successfully launching in Himachal Pradesh and Odisha. Telecom circles for which S Tel has licenses are Himachal Pradesh, Odisha, Jammu & Kashmir, Assam and North East. By first quarter of 2010, S Tel’s mobile services will be accessible to customers in Assam and North East.

Speaking on the occasion, Mr. P. Swaminathan, Director, S Tel and President, Siva Group, said, “The launch of S Tel operations marks a significant milestone for the Siva Group. Siva Group aims to deliver an efficient business model with community welfare at the helm of it. I have full faith in the S Tel team and will like to assure them of continued support from Siva Group. We are happy to partner with Batelco and strongly believe that our association will be instrumental in extending a global telecom experience to the S Tel consumers in the country”.

“S Tel achieved financial closure in less than six months of initiating the process. Amongst the new telecom operators, S Tel was the fastest to roll out services with the best network in town”, he added.

The company launched two most preferred tariff plans which will charge the consumer @ 1 paisa/ second and 50 paisa/ minute respectively, both for STD and Local outgoing calls. Both the plans come with a special benefit of 60 minutes of free local calls per month for a period of 3 months. In addition, to sweeten the tariff the company has announced 3 Special Tariff Vouchers (STVs) of Rs. 9, Rs. 149 and Rs. 1499. On availing these, the consumer will gain 60 minutes of free outgoing local calls to any network per day for a day, month and year respectively. These have been offered by the company to appeal to a wide audience with light, moderate and heavy mobile usage.

Mr. Shamik Das, Chief Executive Officer, S Tel commented, “With the number of mobile users expected to double by 2015, we are witnessing an exciting phase in telecom growth. We are excited to be playing our part in the growth of the telecom sector which will contribute to India‟s economic growth and competitiveness.”

“Our value proposition is a simple and transparent brand that seeks to uncomplicate the life of Indian consumers by offering him simple plans (with no hidden clauses), caring customer service and best- in- class network coverage in his town. Through a combination of these and our strategic partnerships, we aim to create an impact on peoples‟ lives in this circle. By providing quality mobile services, I strongly believe that S Tel will bring about a significant and positive impact in the daily lives of its customers. Establishing a mobile operation of this scale in record time is truly an impressive achievement,” he added.

“We have forged best in class partnerships to leverage the latest technology and provide our consumers a world class experience. Our Microsoft CRM solution will put the consumer at the centre of our business and optimise our customer service delivery. Through our agreement with Indiatimes.com, one of the largest VAS content creators in the Indian VAS market space, we will offer rich localised VAS content to the consumers. Besides, we also have tower sharing agreements with the biggest tower infrastructure providers. S Tel‟s state of the art 3G ready network will provide consumers a superior network experience and will offer the best coverage in town,” he further added.

Speaking on the occasion of launch, Mr. Pravin Sinha, Chief Operating Officer, Bihar & Jharkhand, S Tel said, “We are delighted to launch our services in Jharkhand which is a high potential market with a mobile teledensity of just 24%. By 2010 year end we would have covered all of the census towns in the state. Our message to the local people „Aap ka Apna Phone’ is aligned to our brand philosophy of understanding the needs of local people and speaking their language. Our strategy of simplifying the life of Indian consumer showcases our commitment towards the consumers.”

“Today onwards S Tel products and services will be available in key cities like Ranchi, Kanke, Ratu, Ormanjhi, Tipudana, Jamshedpur, Mango, Adityapur, Baghbera, Govindpur, Parsudih, Halutbani, Gandra and Kandra. Beyond this, we will also be present in over 3500 villages,” he added.

Besides a robust traditional distribution network, S Tel will leverage Non Traditional channels (NTCs) to make its products available at the consumer’s doorstep. NTCs will include business units such as insurance agencies, cable operators, courier services & village panchayats that are characterised by high customer interaction touch points.

The company has a host of VAS services packed with localised content that is relevant to its audience. Besides Astrology, Bollywood and Cricket & Sports, the portfolio of VAS services have tips on devotion (Gita, Bible, Gurbaani, etc), career & education (interview & exam tips) as well as female care (beauty, cookery, fashion, etc tips).

In line with its promise to be transparent, the company will seek double consent of the consumer before delivering & charging them for VAS. Taking simple & transparent charging to prepaid customers a step further, the company will leverage sophisticated applications to eliminate top customer care complaints – Negative Balance & Partial Billing. The company has a dedicated call centre to attend to VAS related customer queries.

S Tel customer care in Jharkhand can be reached at 9128012345 from any landline or mobile number. Besides this, S Tel users can access the toll free customer care number 1212.

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