Tata Teleservices (TTSL), along with Japanese telecom major NTT DoCoMo, today jumped onto the GSM bandwagon with the launch of its GSM services, under the brand name ‘Tata DoCoMo’. Earlier this year, NTT DoCoMo acquired a 26 per cent stake in TTSL. Anil Sardana, managing director, Tata Teleservices, spoke to Ishita Russell about its differentiated offerings from the host of GSM players already in the Indian market and about the road map for its GSM services.
With over six players offering very competitive services, how do you plan to differentiate your services?
We will have very sharply segmented offerings, which will cater to consumers’ individual needs. So, there will be differentiated offerings in terms of content and value-added services. Also, we will provide our customers with better quality of service as compared with other players in the market. The tariffs will be competitive, but that will be decided once we launch our services.
With a host of recent launches in GSM, what is your branding strategy? What part of the consumer segment are you targeting?
We have chosen Tata DoCoMo as our GSM brand. We like the appeal of the DoCoMo brand. It basically means “Do Communication More”, and it reaches out to a large audience. With our CDMA offering, we are already catering to the mass market consumers. With GSM services, we are eyeing the mid and higher end of the spectrum.
You have chosen the DoCoMo brand for your GSM services. Does that limit the involvement of NTT DoCoMo to GSM?
Not at all. They are shareholders and investors in the company. They will have a say in the entire business, including our CDMA services. We just like the appeal of the brand DoCoMo. So, it is not so much to do with the Japanese company. Even our brand logo is different.
Can you map your roll-out plans for 2G as well as 3G services?
We will first roll out our 2G services in the southern region by next month and then the western and northern regions subsequently. We have spectrum in 18 circles in which we expect to roll out services by the next six months. We haven’t got spectrum in North East, Assam, Jammu & Kashmir and Delhi, and it will be sad if we do not get spectrum in these circles in six months for our pan-India roll-out.
As for 3G, it is too premature to comment. When there is clarity on the issue, we will be able to take our decisions.
How much investment have you earmarked for your GSM roll-out and how much has already been utilised?
We have committed $2 billion for our GSM roll-out, which has been done in the form of Letters of Credit and not in terms of physical outflow of money in one go. Therefore, it is hard to put a number to how much has been spent already. But this $2 billion is till the end of the current financial year after which we will evaluate the situation.
What is the status of your merger with Quippo Telecom Infrastructure Ltd? Have you received an approval from the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB)?
With the new foreign direct investment (FDI) norms prescribed by Press Notes 2 and 3, we do not need to get FIPB’s approval for our deal with Quippo. So, about a week back, we withdrew our application. It should take another three weeks to take a legal view and complete all formalities internally. Once those are complete, we will get the money from them as well.
