Speaking on the sidelines of a press conference to promote the upcoming IIFA awards,Pradeep Shrivastava,Chief Marketing Officer,Idea Cellular in a short conversation with IndianExpress.com tells,how Mobile number portability (MNP) on mobile phones will be both a challenge as well an opportunity for the service providers including Idea. Talking about the impact of Number Portability on Idea Cellular,Shrivastava said,like any other company,the new regulatory provision of number portability will be a challenge in the existing markets for all the service providers including Idea. But,Shrivastava sounded positive about the impact of the measure on the new markets as he asserted,In the new markets Idea will benefit from the number portability. Talking about the growth prospects for the company,in the already saturated telecom market,Shrivastava stated that the penetration in the rural markets is way behind the national penetration which stands in the range of 35 percent. In the rural markets,the penetration of the mobile phones,industry wise,is still in single digits,which leaves us with enough scope for an impressive growth in future, Shrivastava opined. Even in markets like Chennai where we (cellular operators) have a hundred percent penetration,the introduction of value added services spreads an impressive canvass for our company to grow, Shrivastava clarifies. Terming the Network and the pricing competitiveness as the hallmarks of Idea Cellular,Shrivastava feels it is the emotional connection of the brand with its millions of customers which separates it from the rest of the service providers.
