)
Eyeing a revenue of Rs 3,000 crore in the current financial year, Videocon Telecom plans to focus on its new business initiatives.
The company plans to foray into e-commerce, mobile banking, e-surveillance, virtual mobile number solutions and fibre-to-home services.
A new business vertical has been created for this purpose, said Arvind Bali, director and CEO, Videocon Telecom.
It is also spending heavily on research and development facilities to give a boost to the business. “We plan to spend around Rs 100 crore this year on the new business initiatives,” said Bali.
The company has created a 100-member team and a facility near Mohali to develop the new initiatives.
For the e-surveillance and security solutions business, it plans to tap the ‘smart city’ projects of the Centre.
“We started the pilot project by converting a few pockets near Mohali (near Chandigarh) into a smart society,” he said.
“We will be showcasing these to the government and gain bigger orders for smart cities,” Bali added.
Videocon Telecom had not participated in the recent spectrum auction, leading to speculation about its future.
On why company did not participate in the auction, Arvind Bali, director and CEO, Videocon Telecom, said, “It was a strategic decision because it’s quite difficult monetise the assets bought in the auction.”
“You don’t even recover the interest after buying spectrum at such a high cost. Also, the spectrum allocated for auction were incomplete spectrum like Gujarat without Ahmedabad, Baroda and Jamnagar,” Bali noted.
The company had lost its licence in the wake of a 2012 ruling by the Supreme Court.
NEW GROWTH VERTICAL
- The company plans to foray into e-commerce, mobile banking, e-surveillance, virtual mobile number solutions and fibre-to-home services.
- A new business vertical has been created and it plans to spend around Rs 100 crore this year on the new business initiatives
- The company has created a 100-member team and a facility near Mohali to develop the new initiatives.
