TV on mobiles phones? That's an Idea

CHENNAI: Aditya Birla Group company - Idea Cellular on Wednesday said it is experimenting with the plan of providing Television on mobile, a senior official of the company said.

"Idea was testing the service with multiple integration channels," Idea Cellular Chief Marketing Officer Pradeep Shrivastava said while addressing a press conference in Chennai regarding the company's forthcoming public issue.

Shrivastava added that the company has applied for 3G licences across the country and was looking forward to it being approved.

The company had a penetration level of 12.5 per cent including two new circles for which it had recently acquired licences.

Idea has resumed services in 11 circles and has licences to enter into two other circles including Mumbai. As on December 31 2006, company's subscriber base stood at 12.44 million.

The company earlier said that it intends to roll out services in Karnataka and Tamil Nadu as soon as spectrum is available.

The company would rise up to Rs 2,125 crore mainly to finance strengthening and expanding network and related services in new circles and for other corporate purposes.

The issue would be open for subscription from February 12 to 15. The price band has been fixed at Rs 65 to Rs 75 per equity share.

Of the net issue, 60 per cent would be allotted to qualified institutional buyers, around 10 per cent to non-institutional bidders and not less than 30 per cent for allocation to retail investors, on a proportionate basis.