Designed to be the telco of the next decade, our objective is to come closer to our customer

Uninor won the most promising operator award. What are some of the success

strategies that you can share with other upcoming greenfield operators?



We spent a lot of time recruiting and training the best talent in the

industry. Besides, our lean business model also helped. Designed to be a telco-of-the-next-decade,

we outsource a lot of processes, like Genpact, Aegis and Sparsh, to provide our

undivided attention to the end customer. Also, we have not built a single tower

of our own in Indiawe rented them from Tata/Quippo. The third thing would be

our unique sales tracking system through a handheld device, which helps us take

real-time updates on stocks available at a POS, sales accomplished and

requirements.

What are your expansion plans for the Indian market?



We hold licenses for all twenty-two circles in India. With our launch in

Mumbai, Maharashtra, Goa, Gujarat, West Bengal and Kolkata on June, 1 we added

five more circles. So that takes our presence in India upto thirteencovering a

population footprint of close to 900 mn. We have nine more circles to roll out

yet, and we hope to do so by end of year 2010.

What are your strategies to gain more spectrum for cities where it is

missing?



We hope to launch all our circles by the end of 2010. The latest edge

technology, we are using right now has the necessary capacity to provide basic

internet services to all our customers.

What are your views on rural rollout and services targeting the masses?



Indian telecom market has huge potential, and a lot of it will come from the

rural market. In the thirteen circles that we are operating in, we are already

covering most of the markets including rural regions. Having said that, as our

brand gets more widely known in rural markets, we will be eager to meet the

local customer at grassroot level catering to his specific needs.

What are some of the main challenges you face in the Indian market?



I believe the challenge for any national operator is to recognize that India

can never be a single homogenous market. You need to think modular, customize

and localize and be as close as you can to the customer, whose needs and

expectations, sometimes within a distance of 100 km, change diametrically. The

challenge, is to create a model thats as frugal as it can be on costs, so you

are able to play the competitive game not compromising on the business case.

Any plans to introduce postpaid and if yes, when?



We are concentrating on taking one step at a time at the moment. We decided

to launch in the market with prepaid voice services, and now once we start

interacting with our customers, postpaid and other exciting VAS services will be

launched as we go along, and when we feel the time is right.

Beryl M/VOICE&DATA



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