Telecom Dreams: Point, Counterpoint

nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; Rajeev Chandrashekhar Chairman, ...


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nbsp;	Rajeev Chandrashekhar Chairman, BPL Mobile and chairman, Cellular Operators8217; Association of India	nbsp;	S. Ramakrishna Managing director, Tata Teleservices	nbsp;

8226; R.C. There is a question mark on the legality of the WLL mobile service being provided by Tatas and proposed by Reliance. This week, the Supreme Court said that the tribunal order allowing this service has been set aside and the tribunal has to look afresh at the legality of the service based on several conditions raised by the court. Unless this matter is resolved, these services run the risk of having to abide by the final tribunal order.

8226; S.R. Our services are legal because the Supreme Court has not stopped us from launching the service. All I can say is that we are planning an investment of Rs 2,500 crore in the field of WLL for fixed and mobile services. Unless the Tatas were sure of the legality of the business we would not be here. The Tata name is enough to instill this confidence in people.

8226; R.C. These services are cheaper because they have been given favourable treatment by the government. Given similar conditions, cellular operators can match every price offered by them. In any case the cheapest handset for these services are more expensive than cellphones, so how can this be a poor man8217;s mobile?

8226; S.R. We are offering cheap services at Rs 1.20 for a three-minute call and free incoming calls. We have even offered the option of buying phones to the customer and are in the process of talking to banks for financing plans of handsets. We will be coming up with new deals as soon as we establish a foothold in the market as marketing is a continuous exercise.

8226; R.C. It is our contention that if these services have all the features that the cellphone services have, including mobility, then they should be asked to take a mobile licence, pay the requisite licence fee asked from cellular operators and then enter the market. We are all for 8216;free market8217; and competition but not when the terminology is distorted and trivialised to suit one section. Free market cannot be allowed to give way to chaos.

8226; S.R. WLL mobile services are capable of providing all sorts of services 8212; SMS, data services, video streaming etc. What we need is approval from the TRAI on the tariffs to be charged on these services. We haven8217;t got these yet, especially in the case of SMS.

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8226; R.C. No market is developed to have five operators, certainly not a developing market like India. While telecom growth in this country has been very substantial, what is needed is a steady growth for a long period of time to ensure high penetration. Right now, frequent policy changes are endangering the industry and in the long run companies may die and competition would suffer.

8226; S.R. We feel there is enough space in the market for all these services. The target audience of these services are different with only 25 per cent of an overlap at best. What we are very clear is that when a customer thinks of Tatas providing them with communications 8212; we should have the entire array of products 8212; cellphones, WLL mobile, fixed line services International long distance 8212; all under one brandname so that our customer does not have to go anywhere else. N.K.