TTML: New Aggression Pays

The

Tata Group is targeting leadership position in all spheres of telecom services

by the next financial year. As a precursor to this, the fiscal year 2004-05, saw

Tata Indicom (brand name for Tata teleservices telecom offerings) registering

one million customers in Maharashtra.

TTML's bouquet of telephony services include mobile, fixed wireless phones

(FWP), public telephone booths and wireline services. Its suite of broadband

data network and Application services include leased lines, DSL, Wi-Fi, ethernet,

managed gateway services and web conferencing services.

The company has deployed the latest 3G 1X CDMA technology in the state to

offer wireless communication services like mobile and fixed wireless phones to

its customers.

TTML witnessed an impressive growth in its revenue in the FY 2004-05. The

firm has been adding nearly 40,000 subscribers month on month. In the last six

months, the operator has added over 100,000 customers for both FWP and WLL,

thanks to the toning up of its customer service.

Though the growth in the subscriber base primarily came from the FWP segment,

the service provider also saw traction in its CDMA offerings and continued to

register growth month on month.

Showing aggressive growth during the last 6 months, the TTML has added an

incremental market share of 22 percent in the wireless market from 4 percent

earlier. This helped TTSL move from sixth position to be amongst the top 3

players in Maharashtra circle.

Something that worked right for the company was its effort to expand in the

state along with the focus on customer satisfaction. The voluntary churn rate is

less than 1 percent for TTML.

Under the leadership of its managing director, Charles Anthony, who has a

proven record of his performance at Tata Infotech, TTML saw an impressive growth

touching Rs 837 crore in 2004-05 as compared to Rs 649 crore in 2003-04.

TTML, which connects over one million customers, is planning to invest close

to Rs 650 crore in 2005-06 for infrastructure and business expansion. It will

also expand the existing capacity on its soft switch at Nagpur for 3G services.

It is focusing on product innovation by offering products and services like Brew

applications, VO-DATA cards, Wi-Fi, to name a few. During 2005-06, Tata Indicom

plans to increase its site count by approximately 1.5 times in Maharashtra.

Apart from the various services in the retail segment, enterprise solutions

also play a significant role in the overall offerings from the service provider.

The enterprise offerings are mainly included in the end-to-end telecom solutions

offered by the Tata group as part of Tata Indicom Enterprise Business Unit (TIEBU).

Tata Indicom has also introduced a host of value-added services like the Tata

Indicom voice portal. A lot of ground work had been done in 2004-05 for

broadband services both wired and wireless. TTML is strongly focusing on

preparing content for value-added services, the benefits of which it plans to

reap in the current fiscal.

"Rural Maharashtra is a serious area of focus for the fiscal 2005—06"

TTML has witnessed significant growth in numbers and revenues. What would

you attribute this to?



The customer satisfaction level in Mumbai has increased by 83 percent. These

figures clearly depict that TTML is gradually and steadily improving its

customer service through better voice clarity, congestion free network, and

billing-related issues.

The brand name spans across retail, enterprise, wholesale, as well as

international services offered by the telecom services arms.

We have also seen the business double month on month and reach the one

million subscriber mark (including FWP and WLL). We will continue to be

aggressive and focus on customer satisfaction.

Having already covered a large part of the Maharashtra circle,

what is TTML's future strategy? 



TTML is chalking out aggressive plans to cater to the customer needs, which
involves: increase in capacities, introducing cutting-edge technologies, and a

host of value-added services to for the customers.

Today, we are embarking on a vision, with a strong focus on providing

customer value with care, trust, and innovation. After a number of success

stories, we are now committed to building a substantial presence in the country's

telecom space, and are all set to redefine the existing benchmarks of the mobile

service category in India through marketing innovations and introduction of

new-generation, value-added services.

TTML is focusing on product innovation by offering products and services like

Brew applications, VO-DATA cards, Wi-Fi, to name a few.

We are also offering attractive value-for-money tariff plans and a range of

handsets suited to diverse customer segments. Tata Indicom telecom services are

available at exclusive franchisee showrooms and several retail selling points (RSPs).

The tele-density in Maharashtra is only in the range of 25—27. We still

have a long way to go and a great market to capture. After having captured

certain tele-density levels, it will be VAS all the way. With voice becoming

plain vanilla there will be a distinct market for VAS, and TTML has a strong

focus on this segment already.

Another area that would continue to grow is the enterprise segment. Growth

will be both vertical and horizontal-it is not just about more infrastructure,

coverage, and subscribers or VAS and content but a mix of all. Rural Maharashtra

is a focus for the fiscal 2005—06.

The vision is to grow aggressively with high customer satisfaction and

deliver value to our shareholders. The fire-fighting days are over and now the

way is to go ahead and deliver to double the business.

What issues and challenges do you face on this path?



There have been challenges but not really in terms of people or resources.

The real challenge has been regulation. Though we do not take shortcuts or the

illegal route to offer our services, there have been constant debates on the

usage and clarification of these regulations. Another important challenge is

tariff and price competition. One has to be really ingenious to be ahead of not

only the competition but also the market and at the same time manage profits.