TATA DOCOMO, the GSM brand of Tata Teleservices (TTSL), yesterday announced the commercial launch of its operations in India, beginning with the circles of Chennai and Tamil Nadu. The company is offering per second billing to prepaid customers at a rate of 1 paisa (one hundredth of a rupee — one rupee is worth about USD 0.021) per second for all phone calls across India. Deepak Gulati, President, TATA DOCOMO, said,  “We are focusing strongly on network superiority, coverage and service offerings.”  TATA DOCOMO’s network covers 775 towns and 4,370 in Tamil Nadu, making it one of the largest at its launch, the company said.

Toshinari Kunieda, SVP and managing director, Global Business Division, NTT DOCOMO, added, “Progressively, NTT DOCOMO shall bring to India the various products and services that we offer in Japan and many other countries — such as i-mode, location-based services and mobile payments… This should see TATA DOCOMO change the way India communicates.”