NEW DELHI, May 22: Communications minister Veni Prasad Verma formally flagged off Spice Telecom's cellular phone services in Karnataka and Punjab.At a partner's meet organised in the capital city Verma formally inaugurated the service by making a cellular to cellular to call in Bangalore. Spice Telecom received the ministry clearance on Wednesday.

Spice Telecom is a joint venture between ModiCorp, Distacom of Hong Kong and US-based Motorola. ModiCorp holds an equity of 51 per cent in Spice Telecom while, Distacom and Motorola have equity holdings of 39 per cent and 10 per cent respectively.

In Karnataka, Spice will initiate its operations at Bangalore. Subsequently, Spice will be extending its services to other urban centers like Mysore, Mangalore and Hubli Dharwar.

The company has already got its licence issued by the department of telecommunication and the official nod from the ministry for operations in Punjab.

Spice Telecom is expecting to have a 60 per cent market share in Punjab and 50 per cent share in Karnataka by the end of its first year of operations.

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.