He entered telecom fray in the same time when Sunil Bharti
entered and for a long time seemed to hold the first mover advantage. Under
Rajeev Chandashekhar, BPL mobile was not only the raja of the southern region,
but it also let the other players in terms of new technologies like GPRS, MMS,
and differentiated the company by introducing national and international
roaming. He again created news with the sale of BPL mobile to Hutchison Essar
for a whopping Rs 4,400 crore. While he seemed to have shown a preference for
the entertainment by investing in Asianet, he has not washed his hands off
telecom and has kept his options open for entering the telecom field, once the
3G policy and spectrum issues become clearer. Considering his impact on 2G
telecom in India by leading the market with new services and offerings, his 3G
stint (if it happens) would surely be worth waiting for.
Page(s) 1