'Idea has been pioneering projects which use alternate and renewable energy'--Anil Tandan, CTO, Idea Cellular

Anil Tandan joined Idea Cellular in 2001 and has been the group chief technology officer since April 2003. He has driven the network growth of the company from 8 circle operations to pan-India. He has been associated with the GSM industry for the last 10 years, starting from Fascel Gujarat (now Vodafone Gujarat) and as CTO of Tata Cellular in AP.

An MTech from IIT, Kharagpur, in microwave and radar technologies, Tandan has vast experience in the field of telecommunications and has served in the Corps of Signals of the Indian Army for 30 years before he took premature retirement as a Brigadier in 1998. For his commendable performance, VOICE&DATA recently felicitated him with the 'CTO of the Year' award. Anil Tandan took out time and spoke on his achievements, network planning secret, innovation, and new initiatives. Excerpts-

When you were elevated as the CTO, Idea Cellular, what were your thoughts and agenda for the company?

When I became the CTO of Idea, it was a regional player with operations in only 5 circles. The company's operations were being brought under one entity, as a result of merger of 3 companies. Four of these circles were on 900 MHz spectrum, and the fifth, Delhi, had just been launched on 1,800 MHz band in the year 2002. My initial agenda was to bring all the merged entities onto a common technology platform, with common processes and vibrant culture to effectively absorb people from different backgrounds. Idea was the first operator to launch GPRS in Delhi in 2002 and introduction of data in various markets was another area of focus.

A key expectation from network team was to achieve optimal utilization of the existing assets. And, obviously, as a company the dream was to become a big player with a pan-India foot print.

 

In this brief period, how successful have you been in fulfilling your agenda?

My tenure as the CTO of Idea spans almost a decade, ever since I took up this assignment in 2003. The journey from those days to today's pan-India network operations has been very eventful, rewarding, and hugely fulfilling. It has been a step-by-step, meticulous process of creating the network of the 3rd largest operator in India with pan-India 2G presence and 3G networks in 10 service areas. Today, we cover the largest geography with 3G services in India, and the highest 3G data download amongst all operators.

From a pure mobility player to building NLD, ILD, and ISP operations and managing them as separate businesses, has helped me learn and understand the intricacies of long distance business. With the vast OFC network, we are in a position to build and support Idea's offerings in the enterprise business.

What were some of your achievements in Idea? How would you rate your stint in Idea Cellular?

I feel that one of the main challenges and achievements has been building a pan-India 2G network in a short time, as we were a late entrant in many markets. From just 4,700 sites in March 2006 to 89,000 2G and over 15,000 3G sites, we have emerged as a stronger and larger player, now ranked amongst Top 3 in India and indeed among Top 10 in the world in terms of traffic. Our strong network footprint has given Idea a competitive edge, and this has been made possible with the support of the entire team.

To be competitive in this fast evolving industry, we started building our NLD, ILD and ISP network and operations from scratch, in 2007. Today, we have over 70,000 km of OFC, which carries all our domestic and international long distance traffic (voice and data) from our own network. Nearly all our 2G and 3G data requirement are handled by our ISP set-up, which was established less than 18 months ago.

Introducing a new technology-3G-was another challenge especially since Idea did not have any partner or prior experience in 3G. We delivered the 3G network across the largest geographic area with speed and agility. This meant building an extensive IP transmission network to cater for the rapid jump in data growth. This included transforming the TDM based microwave network into an all IP network and increasing the fiber based backhaul, mainly in the towns where we were launching 3G.

Idea Cellular has focused a lot on innovation and employee retention. How has this helped in improving Idea's QoS on both 2G and 3G network?

Since Idea is not on the managed services concept in most circles, it is essential that the manpower is kept constantly technically upgraded and motivated to deliver a high-quality network. With decentralized operations at the circle level, the network team members get a lot of opportunity to innovate at the circle level. We share the best practices across other circles for implementation. All this coupled with the motivation, passion, and commitment of the Idea team has helped it to maintain a very high-quality network.

Idea Cellular was one of the first few operators to do pilots on using new and renewable energy. What is the progress on adoption of clean and green energy for sites?

Idea has been pioneering projects which use alternate and renewable energy. We launched our first initiative in 2005-06, along with GSMA in using biodegradable fuels for DG sets in Andhra Pradesh. Currently, we have over 450 sites running on solar with DG backup. In addition, we have nearly 10 sites as solar-hydrogen fuel hybrid, which do not have DG sets at all. Our unique project has been introduction of 25 hydrogen fuel cell sites in Madhya Pradesh, which is the first in India.

What are the new initiatives taken by Idea Cellular under your leadership?

The major focus has been to introduce the latest in technology into our network as soon as they became available. In this regard, we were the first to launch GPRS and even online data charging. OFC and IP based transmission build out has been a major initiative which has really made the company ready for the data tsunami, when it happens. We are the first to have launched 100 G network.

Some of the other initiatives have been the setting up of a centralized NOC for transmission and IP, creating a hub architecture for IN and Packet Core with built-in redundancy, re-engineering the signaling architecture with a separate signaling network and automation of performance monitoring. Focus on alternate energy resources and improving the skillset of the team have also borne good results for the company.

It's been seen that over the years the QoS has deteriorated across cellular networks, moreover, it gets worse when users move from 2G to 3G. What are your recommendations to improve QoS?

Maintaining QoS in an environment where spectrum availability is limited is a challenge for every network head. Idea QoS has consistently improved over the last 3 years, in spite of the perception that there has been deterioration across the networks. Apart from the paltry 4.4 MHz allotted to Indian operators as start-up spectrum as compared to global average of 17 MHz of GSM spectrum; non-availability of sites; uncertain municipal laws; and the recent totally unfounded health scare due to radiation, are issues which directly impact network QoS.

Initial user experience in 3G network may not have been as robust as the existing 2G network experience. However with the expansion of 3G sites, this will be a thing of the past.