Wireless TT InfoServices (WTTIL), the tower arm of Tata Teleservices,
recently inked a deal with Quippo Telecom Infrastructure (QTIL) to create the
country's largest independent telecom infrastructure company with 18,000 towers
across India and with tenancy ratios that are the best in India. Furthermore,
the WTTIL-QTIL went on to sign a far-reaching agreement with Unitech Wireless
for infrastructure sharing, and is progressing well on its plans to partner
other telecom companies and start-ups.
Tata Teleservices, which kicked off its mobile operations in 2005, offers
integrated telecom solutions to its customers under the Tata Indicom brand, and
uses the cutting-edge CDMA 1x technology for its wireless network. The company,
in addition to a pan-India license to launch GSM services has also received
spectrum in sixteen circles and will be rolling out its services through the
year. TTSL, along with Tata Teleservices (Maharashtra), operates in more than
320,000 towns and villages across the country and has a customer base of over 33
mn.
Anil Sardana, managing director of Tata Teleservices, shares his views on the
fast-paced telecom industry with VOICE&DATA. Excerpts
Has the delay in auction of 3G spectrum impacted TTSL's plans?
As an operator, Tata Teleservices has always been a long-haul player and has
never worked on speculation; we work on things that are clearly visible. We are
eagerly awaiting the government's roadmap for 3G and are keen to see how that
evolves. Others may be talking and discussing 3G, and predicting its destiny,
but we have always said we will act when it happens.
Convergence of broadcast in telecom and telecom companies showing interest
in BWA spectrum auction are examples of convergence gaining prominence. How is
TTSL looking at this?
Within the Tata Group, we already have WiMax. Tata Communications has taken
the ISP licence and is in the process of rolling out WiMax in around 200 cities
across the country. In a few cities such as Delhi and Bangalore, they have
already launched the service. Within the group, TTSL is the largest telecom
value chain service provider and we will continue to be so.
 |
| Anil Sardana, MD, Tata
Teleservices |
With WiMax-enabled phones coming into the market, do you have any plans to
merge Tata Communications' WiMax service with TTSL's telecom services?
I have not seen any WiMax-enabled phones in India and this is because WiMax
services, as of now, are for fixed-line applications. As and when these phones
do make a big appearance in India, we will certainly be a key service provider.
I am not saying there are no WiMax phones available around the globe, what I
mean is that in the country today, WiMax spectrum is being awarded for
fixed-line applications. As of now, it cannot be used for mobility. Only after
one gets the spectrum in the 2.3 GHz and 2.5 GHz environment in the BWA auctions
would the beneficiary be allowed to have WiMax mobility as well.
Which value-added services is TTSL focusing on to increase ARPU?
If you look at the VAS space, we already have the highest contribution to
ARPU in terms of percentage of overall revenue, among all operators. We have 13%
revenue coming in from VAS, which is higher than the 11% VAS ARPUs of most other
operators. We have a host of VAS offerings, be it m-commerce, voice SMS,
location-based services, mobile advertizing, or other such services. There are
also some differentiated services that we offer on our network, like m-wallet
and mobile advertizing. Mobile advertizement has been used to a great extent by
many companies, including Coca-Cola.
In the coming days, targeted advertizing will emerge as a big-ticket
application. For example, if the Big Bazaars of India want to announce a sale
where the customer will get 50% discount if s/he gets to the store within six
hours, we can offer such Big Bazaars an advertizement application that follows a
highly segmented approach and which would be delivered to the customers living
within, say, 5 km of the stores. By that I mean we can ensure that only a
particular section of customers gets that message-of a particular age, from a
targeted section of society, in a particular location, etc.
How do you see mobile TV as a VAS offering?
Typically, mobile TV has only succeeded in the market where terrestrial free
broadcasts are in place. What that means is you actually have to have the
channels which are terrestrial and free to air, and those that can be captured
by people on their mobile phones on the fly. Nowhere in the world do people want
to have mobile TV on a 'paid' basis. In India, the only terrestrial TV channel
that can be captured on mobile phones is Doordarshan (DD). Therefore, until the
government opens up the terrestrial spectrum and encourages channels to become
terrestrial, so that the mobile equipment can capture those channels, it is
difficult to expect the mobile TV penetration to assume greater proportions.
Today, Tata Indicom has handsets that do capture the DD channel being
broadcast, but people don't want only DD as the channel on their phones, they
are looking for a choice of channels. The day more terrestrial free TV channels
are a reality, you will find more and more handsets in the market that will
support the mobile TV application.
Which standard do you prefer mobile TV in India?
Mobile TV should be technology-agnostic. The main point is that the
customers should be able to get the experience free of cost-that is what I am
professing.
What are the issues for telecom players regarding local administration?
In my capacity as the chairman of CII's Telecom Committee, and also from
TTSL's perspective, we wish to align the incentives of the operators and local
administration. Sometimes we find that they work with contrasting motivation and
that becomes an impediment for smooth functioning and the business growth in
this sector. Clearly, there is a need to discuss issues related to local
administration. Today municipalities are unable to meet their budgets in terms
of collecting revenue for the exchequer and they see telecom companies as a good
opportunity to make extra money for the treasury. Therefore, taxes and levies
are being imposed under one pretext or the other. The downside to this is that
the entire progress of establishing ubiquitous communications networks gets
severely impacted. We need to spread awareness about these things so that the
responsible officers are sensitized, and they too understand the issues
involved.
What is happening on the infrastructure needed by greenfield and existing
operators?
I would not like to comment in a generic way, but what I would like to say
is that the best way for new operators to kick off services is to go in for
infrastructure sharing, as it will make tremendous business sense to them. By
that I am referring to both passive and active infrastructure sharing. Operators
serious about launching telecom services are already talking to existing
infrastructure providers in the market. I personally completely welcome
operators who want to opt for infrastructure sharing. Everybody has a right to
share the infrastructure created in this country, it will be an economic waste
if infrastructure is not shared and is duplicated.
China has come up with its own version of 3G. How do you see this
impacting India?
China has not come up with a very different version of 3G; Chinese companies
are working on the WCDMA and HSPA platforms. That is a welcome sign for it will
push down the cost of terminals to a great extent, as China's consumption of
handsets is tremendous. Since the day China entered the 2G space, handset prices
took a dive, plus we saw an influx of a large range of handsets. There are
companies like Haier and Huawei that are producing branded terminals in China,
and there are companies like Nokia and Samsung that already have factories in
China. With 3G taking off in China, the handset volumes and economies of scale
will start kicking in worldwide.
Prasoon Srivastava
prasoons@cybermedia.co.in
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