Growing at the rate of 47.48 percent during 2000-01, Sterling Cellular, which operates Essar Cellphone cellular services in Delhi and surrounding areas, is entrenched as one of the most significant cellular operators in the country. During last fiscal, Sterling was able to generate a sales revenue of Rs 243.35 crore with a subscriber base of 218,070 by 31 March.

In an eventful year, the company went for major restructuring as Hutchison bought 49 percent stake of Swiss Telecom. This was a shot in the arm for Sterling Cellular which invested in excess of Rs 300 crore for infrastructure in terms of doubling the switching capacity, increasing radio coverage, network coverage and point of connections, enhancing billing system, and investing in billing services.

Coming to statistics, Sterling Cellular has an equal number of post paid and prepaid subscribers. On the postpaid front, the company has an average airtime usage of around 295 minutes per-month-per-user. Value-added services account for 5 percent of the company’s turnover. And the company has around 2,000 WAP users.

The company is focused on providing more value for money to its users both in terms of low cost voice and value-added services. Another area of emphasis would be customer support.