Malaysia's top mobile phone company, Maxis Communications, plans to invest $4-5 billion by 2009-10 for network expansion in India. Maxis Communications holds 74% stake in Aircel Cellular Ltd, One of the country’s leading GSM telecom player, which operates in 10 telecom circles in India. While, Apollo Hospitals Enterprises Ltd controls the balance 26% stake in the mobile operator.

Recently, Aircel launched its GSM services in Kolkata, its tenth circle. The Kolkata launch completed Aircel's eastern region footprint. The company holds license and spectrum for service rollout in all the 23 telecom circles of the country.

Sandip Das, CEO of Maxis Communications said, “We plan to beef up our presence pan-India in the next two years and the source of the investment will be a mix of debt and equity.”

Presently, Aircel has 7,000 towers and it aims to acquire 15,000 more towers either by merger or acquisitions at a cost of $1.6 million. The company has a total subscriber base of 10.8 million and holds 18.2 per cent market share.