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Players in India may not openly admit that they are hit by the global recession, but Indian telecom players are on the back-foot, if the present scenario is anything to go by. India Telecom 2008, jointly organized by the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) and Federation of Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FICCI), showed signs of recession on the Indian telecom industry, with the number of exhibitors at the event coming down to 137 this year from 170 in 2007.

Show Stopper
The event on the day Prime Minister Manmohan Singh inaugurated MTNL's 3G service. The event was inaugurated by A Raja, union minister for Communications and Information Technology. Sessions on various telecommunications related topics like 'The Role of ICTs in Development' followed. The announcement of 3G and BWA auction procedure was made by RP Agarwal, wireless advisor to Government of India and JS Deepak, joint secretary, DoT, Ministry of Communications and Information Technology, Government of India.

However, guests and participants lacked enthusiasm. Sponsors of event like Idea Cellular and One97 Communications did not put up stalls at the event.

Leading operators such as Bharti Airtel, Vodafone, BSNL, MTNL and Aircel were prominent at the exhibitions. Even though the rush at the event was low compared to last year, exhibitors expressed that the interaction with visitors had enough potential to translate into business.

Translating into Business
“The India Telecom 2008 has seen participation from all major players in the industry and is a platform for us to showcase our technologies and solutions. We saw an increase in the number of serious visitors as compared to last year,” Kapil Ahuja, head of marketing and business development, Nokia Siemens Networks.

“India Telecom 2008 served as an excellent platform to focus on the latest products and services to our key customers and to the interested public at large. We were delighted to see our displays drawing large crowds inquiring about the price, commercial launches and technical details. Inquiries came from vendors, consultants, general public, officials from PSUs, defense, regulators, et al,” said DK Ghosh, chairman and managing director, ZTE.

ZTE utilized this opportunity to display its fourth generation products in the mobile and fixed sectors.

Nokia Siemens Networks demonstrated live 3G network through a dummy set-up. Green was another area that was visible at the event as players from power and energy management sector exhibited their offerings for the telecom sector.

Prasoon Srivastava
prasoons@cybermedia.co.in