Tata Teleservices has announced on Friday that it is entering into a franchisee agreement with Future Group to offer GSM mobile services in the Indian market. The new service will be launched under the name, T24.

This is a second such agreement for Tata Teleservices as it has a similar arrangement with Virgin Group to offer mobile telephony services under Virgin brand. Future group operates a major retail chain in the country.

Tata Teleservices currently offers mobile services across the country under the brand name DOCOMO. The company is trying to explore the concept of a marketing alliance between retailer and telecom operator with the launch of T24.

Managing Director of Tata Teleservices, Mr Anil Sardana said, “This is a franchise model. Under the partnership, Future Group will sell TTSL GSM connections under the brand name T24 to customers in its retail outlets.”

Under the agreement a customer of Future Group will get some talk time when he shops at Future Group and vice-versa. The service has the tag line ‘Shop more, Talk more and Talk more Shop More’ and will work like a loyalty programme for customers.

The CEO of Future Group Mr Kishore Biyani said, “Customers will get shopping benefits for talking and talk-time benefits each time they shop.”