Newly-listed Malaysian mobile group Maxis Communications is to pump as much as US$6 billion into its Indian subsidiary, Aircel, over the next few years. According to the Financial Times, Maxis expects to hit 50 million connections in total this year with Aircel – its 74 percent-owned Indian subsidiary – accounting for the bulk of the growth. Aircel is only the seventh-largest mobile operator in India but is expected to hit 30 million connections by January. Much of Maxis’ investment in India will be to complete a national network of communications towers aimed at capturing part of the fast-growing market. India is adding an estimated 10 million new mobile subscribers a month with much of the new additions in rural areas. Aside from India, the group has about 11.5 million subscribers in Malaysia and 6 million in Indonesia, where it operates a joint venture with Saudi Telecommunications.

Maxis raised US$3.3 billion via an IPO of 30 percent of the company earlier this month in one of the largest ever IPOs in the Southeast Asia region. As well as investing in India, the group is also understood to be looking to invest in fixed-line broadband infrastructure in its home market. According to the Financial Times, Maxis has signed a deal with Tenaga Nasional, an electricity group, to carry broadband signals over its distribution network, which serves 95 percent of Malaysia’s 6.2 million households. The company has also begun wiring business premises for fixed-line broadband services, the report says.