The primary challenge for service providers today is to strike a balance between ARPU and subscriber base, between corporate and residential users, between urban and rural, between voice and data. Indian companies would have to drive customer acquisition while preserving the value of existing customers.

This will require special pricing, promotion and customer retention programs for the existing customer and lower cost business model for driving market growth and share. From now on wireless would be driving growth in India. The growing purchasing power of the population would be the key driver to growth. In India we have middle level, high level, the low-level segments. People are moving from lower level to the middle level. The middle segment must be paid enough attention if wireless services has to grow.

Efforts should be made to develop customized applications oriented towards rural areas. Low per user returns in rural areas can be compensated by way of high volumes. Increased teledensity has a multiplier effect on the economy.

It also means that there is a greater user base that communicates to each other either by using voice or applications driven on data and in the process resulting in increased revenues for telecom operators and that would also mean increase in the economy of the country as a whole.

The emphasis has to be on developing local multimedia content. People in rural areas are interested to have the value additions on the network and they are ready to pay also.

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KEYNOTE 2: Martin Gerald, director, Global VSAT Forum

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