Gujarat’s telecom market will witness more competition over the next one year as two new telecom companies Aircel and Sistema Shyam plan to launch their operation in the state by the end of this fiscal.

Aircel, a joint venture between Malaysia’s Maxis Communications and Apollo Hospitals, has presence in 17 circles and planing to enter more 13 circles in India. Aircel operates with GSM technology. While Sistema Shyam Teleservices Ltd(SSTL) is a joint venure between Russian Sistema and Indian Shyam Group. Sistema Shyam operates with CDMA technology.

Gujarat has total 2.4 crore mobile connections. Five existing GSM players in Gujarat are:Vodaphone Essar(80,24,283 connections), Airtel(41,01,956), Idea Cellular(39,18,150), Reliance and BSNL(23,87,870). Two players, operating with the CDMA technology are Reliance Infocom(41,00,000) and Tata Indicom(14,00,000).