Decreasing ARPU and hostile market conditions are no deterrent for telecom operators in India. After Uninor rolled out services in 7 circles simultaneously, earlier this year, Batelco owned S Tel has announced the launch of its GSM services in India, starting with the Himachal Pradesh circle. S Tel Pvt Ltd is a joint venture between Siva Group (formerly Sterling Infotech Group) and BMIC Limited, a subsidiary of Bahrain Telecommunications Company (Batelco). The company plans to make its service available to 60 percent of the population of Himachal Pradesh by the end of the year. Compared to many other telcos, S-Tel has a GSM license only for 6 circles: Orissa, Bihar & Jharkhand, Jammu & Kashmir, Assam, North East and Himachal Pradesh. Not surprisingly, though, expecting number of mobile users in India to double by 2015, P. Swaminathan, Director, S Tel and President, Siva…
