No Soft Launch For Mtnl Mobile Services

K H Khan has just taken over as the chief general manager of Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd's (MTNL) Delhi operations. His appointment comes at a time when MTNL is planning to enter the mobile services business. He spoke to Sidhartha from Business Standard about what MTNL intends to do in the near future. Excerpts:

Q: How big will the mobile service operations be?

A: We will launch 100,000 GSM lines and another 30,000 CDMA- based services though we have ordered for 50,000 lines.

Q: So, you will have about 36,000 CDMA-based mobile phones?

A: The 6,000 lines that we started off with initially is not the perfect system and we are trying to improve the services as there are complaints about the quality of service in terms of coverage, call dropping etc. One of the immediate steps we intend to take is to increase the number of BTSs (Base Transmission Stations) from five to nine. For the 30,000 new mobile lines, for which the equipment has been sourced from Motorola, we will have 30 base stations that will cover entire Delhi.

 

Q: When do you intend to commence the services?

A: September-October. I think three to four months from today is a reasonable time.

Q: But Rajagopalan (MTNL chairman and managing director) had said that you would make a soft launch around June?

A: We don't want to give a faulty service to the customers specially when you have two strong competitors who are well entrenched in the market. So we are taking every possible step to ensure that we offer the best possible fault-free service.

Q: And what is the tariff that you are planning?

A: We have not decided, we should be able to give you an idea only after sometime.

Q: What about the Internet business, are you reducing tariff?

A: Yes, we will reduce tariffs from next month. We are presently reviewing our tariffs. You see we have various packages. We started with unlimited access for Rs 6,000 a year but others came with packages like Rs 250 a month and we have been completely beaten. So we will review the tariff level and bring more attractive packages.

Q: What happened to the proposed tie up with Indian Oil?

A: May 15 we started with Mastercard payment scheme and now we will take up the IOC (Indian Oil Corporation) scheme. Initially we will offer the facility to pay through credit cards at 13 IOC outlets. But this will be a pilot project and we will expand the services if it is successful. We will offer the facility at more petrol pumps and payments can be made through Visa and American Express cards also. But that's at a later date.

Q: And what about payment through the Internet?

A: Yes, we have a scheme. But it is limited to Indian Overseas Bank. We are speaking to others and we will come out with tie ups with more banks.

Q: You have a very high fault rate of over 20 per cent in Delhi and even the Standing Committee raised that point...

A: Yes, we have a high level of faults but we are trying to improve that. Delhi has seen growth that was not envisaged. Unlike Mumbai, where the DPs (distribution points) are inside the building, here because of the way buildings are constructed you find DPs all over the place. Now we are in the process of removing all the distribution poles from the roads as they are also hazards. Either the DPs will be inside the building, if it's a large one, or will be mounted on walls. Last year we took up 48,000 lines as a pilot project and this year the target is five to six lakh. We plan to rehabilitate 15-16 lakh lines in the next two to three years.

Q: What is the cost of this project?

A: About Rs 2,000 per line. But that is not a problem with us, we have the funds. We have earned the money from the customers and we owe it to them. Plus better services to the customers means more revenue for us.

Q: Are any new value added services planned?

A: The new value added services will be for the mobile business. Things like WAP (Wireless Application Protocol) etc. But I can't set a date for them. We are also looking at network expansion for the VCC (virtual calling card) so that we increase its availability. Then we will also commission an ATM switch, the first of its kind in India, by the end of the year. With this we will be able to offer high speed data services and other things like bandwidth on demand.