'GPRS will throw up new revenue streams'

Motorola India has been in news for having bagged large orders from BSNL and

Bharti. The person instrumental in securing these network deployment projects is

none other than Pramod Saxena, the company’s new country manager. Saxena, who

has been with Motorola for the past three years, has also headed Essar Telecom,

the cellular service provider in Delhi, Haryana, Rajasthan and UP (E). These

days, he is reportedly trying to win Tata and Reliance contracts in the basic

service space. Saxena spoke about the Indian telecom scene in general and the

GPRS-enabled networks being deployed in particular, in an interview with

VOICE&DATA. Excerpts:

How, in your view, have recent developments–in the industry and

elsewhere–affected the Indian telecom scenario?



A. The introduction of the third operator, BSNL and MTNL, will

definitely spur growth and pave way for more competition. We have already seen

prices dropping. And the introduction of fourth operator has helped in

consolidation–Bharti, Hutchison and Batata are now getting the opportunity to

have larger regional or nationwide footprint, which is a good thing.

So the two things combined, competition and consolidation, there will be good

opportunity for future growth.

The slowdown in the US and Europe isn’t going to directly impact the Indian

market. Europe has gone through a negative growth this year whereas the US

market is more or less flat. On the other hand, there has been growth in Asia,

and India will be an important part of that growth.

What are your expectations from the cellular market?



A. We certainly expect the cellular market to reach the 5-million mark

this year, and in all likelihood we will even cross it. We should hope to see

the figure double the next year if we maintain the same rate of growth.

On the infrastructure front, how has been your performance?



A. We are reasonably satisfied with what has happened so far. We got

some good orders, which is in line with our expectations.

Could you talk about the specifics of the BSNL and Bharti projects won by

Motorola? Is there going to be an order from Tata and Reliance as well?



A. For Bharti, we are doing the RF for the western region, which

comprises the Mumbai, Maharashtra, and Gujarat circles. For BSNL, we are

building the southern region. We will be supplying the RF system and integrating

it with the Siemens switch. We have already received the advance purchase order

(APO), and steps are being taken for an aggressive rollout of services as we

have got eight months for implementation. For Hutchison, we are expanding its

networks in the metro cities, namely Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata.

There haven’t been any orders on the basic services front from major

players like Reliance and Tata. Discussions are on, but nothing has been

finalized so far. With Reliance, we are in discussion on the wireless access

part of the network and are talking to them on the CDMA 1X-based RF access. With

Tatas, we have submitted the proposal.

How are things moving on the GPRS front?



A. GPRS is going to be the key driver for growth in the year 2002-03, in
India as well as in other countries. It will also be the key enabler of new

revenue opportunities. Creating new applications and providing revenue streams

for them is going to be important for the growth of GPRS. Toward this end, one

will need applications that enjoy focused attention both from the operator and

the vendor.

One thing is certain: all major operators will go for GPRS. So our attempt is

also to be a catalyst in application development. We have some initiative where

we are involving ourselves with application developers to create new

applications and make them available to operators.

BPL has been the first to go for a GPRS-ready network in the country. In

Bharti’s case too, we have the contract for a GPRS-enabled network. However,

it will be for Bharti to decide whether to offer GPRS from day one or later.

How many GPRS-enabled networks do you see being deployed by the end of

2002?



A. A great deal will depend on how BPL Mobile performs (being the first

to deploy a GPRS-enabled network in the country). Moreover, applications will be

key to how GPRS service offerings are accepted in the marketplace. We are taking

the initiative in application development on the GPRS front with associates,

operators, and small application developers. Application development for self is

also underway. All said and done, we will definitely see four GPRS-enabled

networks in place–one of BPL and three of Bharti–by the end of 2002.

And as a result, in 2002-03, we should really witness a maturing of GPRS in

India.

What kind of GPRS development is being undertaken by Motorola in India?



A. We will like to promote application developers by giving them

technical inputs and marketing support. We will link up with service providers

who will be supplying networks to application developers. Application developers

will then create applications that can be tested on the network.

At present, the GPRS development activity is being done by a group of people

in a very focused manner and we are working with 3-4 developers. But it can’t

be successful without the support of service provider and the handset provider.

Do you feel that vendor financing is a thing of the past?



A. Clearly, nobody can afford to fully finance projects on an ongoing
basis. For new opportunities, no long-term financing (anything more than a year)

is offered by us anywhere. Earlier also, we used to do it selectively but we are

now more restrictive. So on the vendor financing front, you will see much less

activity than you have seen before.

What are your plans in the broadband space in India after the worldwide

acquisition of GE’s broadband business?



A. This is an area where there should be good growth for India as operators
integrate their services. We provide headend and customer-premises equipment

like set-top boxes and modems. It’s a beginning and the way new players are

emerging it’s going to drive the market.

What has been your strategy for the handset market?



A. We are waiting for the CDMA market to grow. As it grows, we will in a
position to supply handsets to the market. We are building the CDMA mobile

network of Citycell in Bangladesh and expanding it. Citycell has placed order

for 30,000 handsets with us.

What new initiatives have been planned at Motorola since you took over?



A. Mobile will continue to be seen as the prime opportunity, and we will
work toward making major inroads in this market. On the infrastructure front, we

are going to push for applications that can support the growth of GPRS on the

mobile network. We will aggressively pursue the opportunity in CDMA-based WiLL

for basic operators. In the broadband space, we foresee good opportunities and

expect major gains, even though the growth is not good enough at the moment.

Pravin Prashant and Sudesh

Prasad