In the absence of clarity on spectrum allocation and pricing it is very hard to make significant investments

TTML has crossed the 7mn mark in terms of subscriber base. What next?

Our next target is to reach 10mn as soon as possible. It will be a milestone
and definitely a nice number to cross. But for us the important thing is to give
better quality of services and see the recognition of our brand. Our quality of
services has already received its appreciation as the best network in
Maharashtra in terms of customer satisfaction. Apart from the fact that we have
time and again come out with a number of services, recently it was the high
speed broadband, wireless broadband and videoconferencing. This reflects our
growth in the industry. Our penetration in towns has doubled in the past year
and our network coverage is at par with our competitors.

What are your plans for the rural market?

For the rural market we have had a different tariff plan on our voice
services. Last year we launched the Jatra pack, which is a life time service for
our rural customers at a very affordable price. We have also come up with VAS
pertaining to the rural market. Mandi Bhav has been one of our recent launches,
which gives commodity prices. We also have low priced devices for our rural
customers.

2007-08 saw revenues of Rs 1,789 crore. What is the current standing?

In the past nine months we have already crossed Rs 1,500 crore, which has
been the highest nine month revenue earning for TTML. Looking at the present
structure we hope to cross Rs 2,000 crore. In the past, every quarter we kept
registering Rs 500 crore plus revenues.

What is TTML doing to substantiate its losses on the ARPU side?

It is a phenomenon with which all wireless operators are learning to live.
With a regular drop in ARPUs, we are trying to compensate it with increasing
volumes. We are adding millions of customers to our network. But on a different
level data, VAS is playing a major role in earning revenues for the industry.
For us 13.4% of our wireless revenues are coming from VAS, a fairly high number
in the industry. And with our new launches we see these numbers even increasing.

What is being done by TTML on bandwidth and enterprise solutions?

On the wireless side, we have recently launched high bandwidth broadband
connection called the Photon+. We have also come out with the first ever 10Mbps
broadband connections in India. On the wire-line side, over the past one decade
we have built on an infrastructure which we plan to exploit right now. Today it
is very hard to dig into Mumbai city's existing network and create a new
wireline and fibre network. Presently, the network supports all enterprise based
solutions. All solutions like videoconferencing, audio conferencing, VoIP and
web conferencing-which need both wireless and back haul wireline networks are
the areas where we are playing in already and continue to expand in the future.

What are your views on 3G auctions?

We are anxious that the government should come out with the policy and
auction soon, and help us sort out things. In the absence of clarity on spectrum
allocation policy and pricing of spectrum, it is very hard to make significant
capital investments. The government should come up with a well structured policy
which doesn't need to be changed in the coming years.

2G and 2.5G have seen only 30-35% penetration. Will 3G stagnate their
growth?

India will have to reach a higher voice requirement of 100%. The growth seen
today is what operators are able to do on the existing networks. We need more of
the existing market. 3G, going by the overseas trend, will address a relatively
smaller population. The rest of India still needs plain voice and SMS based
services.

Sunny Sen

sunnys@cybermedia.co.in