In an update on its GSM network rollout, India’s Tata Teleservices (TTSL) told reporters this week that the new network would cover almost all of India by the end of the year, reports Reuters. Managing director Anil Sardana said that the company will start rolling out GSM services in southern India later this month under the ‘Tata DoCoMo’ brand (Japan’s NTT DoCoMo bought a 26 percent stake in TTSL for US$2.7 billion last year). The company has previously said it plans to invest US$2 billion in the new network during its current fiscal year.

Sardana declined to comment on subscriber targets for the new network, though Toshinari Kunieda, managing director of DoCoMo’s global business division, noted that “maybe we can just expect about 100 million net additions for the next three years.” Reuters notes that TTSL is currently India’s sixth-largest mobile operator with around 35.7 million CDMA subscribers at the end of April. However, the company has been awarded GSM spectrum in 18 of India’s 22 telecom circles and is waiting for allocations in the remaining four, including the lucrative Delhi area. Another CDMA operator, Reliance Communications, launched its first GSM services earlier this year.