Aircel, the telecom player in India, with majority stakeholder Malaysian telecom major Maxis Communications, has announced the launch of its GSM mobile services in Mumbai.

With a subscriber base of over 1.8 lakh, Aircel, the fifth largest service provider, rolled out its 17th circle in Mumbai.The company has launched GSM services around 6 circles within past two months.

According to a report, the company has invested over Rs 550 crore for launch of services in the Mumbai circle.

During launch of service in the city, the company has introduced a special tariff plan for mumbaikars, under which Aircel charge the first minute at the rate of Rs. 1, the second minute@50p and the third minute onwards @30p.

A company official talking to our correspondent informed that Aircel plans to spend about US$5 billion in the next three years in the country and the company will use the fund to add another six circles - Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Goa, Rajasthan, Punjab and Haryana in its basket.

In addition, the company also intends to put a part of the investments for developing its existing network and for doubling the number of cell sites to 40,000 by the end of this year.

Presently, the company has 20,000 towers throughout the country.