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One big question on everyone's mind is when will the new players-Unitech, Loop, ByCell, Swan, Datacom, and even Sistema Shyam (in the new circles) start their operations. A recent get together organized by VOICE&DATA, to talk to these greenfield operators, threw up some very interesting points. And if what these challengers were discussing can be turned into a reality, there will be a complete revolution in the industry. A revolution that will change the rules of the game in the telecom business, and benefit the users as well as the country.

These players realize that survival of yet more telecom operators is not going to be very easy in a market like India where already there are quite a few giants fighting for mind and market share. So all of them, even though they have the licenses, continue to wear their thinking hat, trying to get some great innovative ideas that will help them cut costs, or help them offer highly differentiated services to get the ever-hungry subscriber's attention. While these players are thinking, they are looking for technology companies for help-any help that can get them going as soon as they can to differentiate them from the big brothers and reduce their risks. These guys could come up with some very interesting technology and business models, and actually put the existing operators on the back-foot.

Call it a necessity, but these players are exploring all possibilities of resource sharing with each other. Starting from passive network infrastructure, these players are open to discussing sharing of their data centers where some critical and competitive info is located. If that happens, the amount of money saved for the operator as well as the country as a whole would be big. Actually, they are even looking at partnering with big competitors wherever needed. In a way this could be a good opportunity for the big players to expand reach. Cooperation among operators that we have seen so far has been limited to non-competing areas. How will the new generation operators work together in more direct competition areas is not clear, but is there on the discussion table. If this happens, though, it could once again be a disruptive force and could affect rules of the game.

Existing telecom operators and their lobbies are strong, but it will be in the interest of everybody if these new players get all the support from the government, which has, by the way, collected a handsome license fee from them. Can the government not organize some funds for these players through the USF route? These players could play a significant role in taking telecom to rural areas faster, and also make e-governance more meaningful. A 3rd Front of the new players is not something which is impossible, but they have to move fast. Otherwise every month the size of the pie is getting smaller by 6-8 mn subscribers, and only strengthening the big brothers.

<ibrahima@cybermedia.co.in>