We are not a telephone company

What has changed for the customer after technology going digital?

One of the biggest advantages of digital technology is that the brick-like
handset of the analog days has been replaced with a very handy and trendy
handset similar to a mobile phone. Value added services are having a
far-reaching effect on the customers.

Finally, the pricing of the handset is also not as high as that of analog
sets. Analog had problems of limited connectivity as far as data services were
concerned. This being a 2.5 g technology using a TDMA network, is far more
spectral efficient for providing a whole host of data value added services.
There are fiber optic backhaul and cell sites.

What is the pricing of services for the enterprise?

The price of handset would be ranging from Rs 10,000-25,000. There are
handsets with 2-megapixel camera, Mp3 player, MMS, SMS, browsing, email,
polyphonic ringtones, and high storage of phonebook entries. Every single
handset is fully Java-enabled. Since IDEN network gets rolled out globally, it
is driving down prices. IDEN has been in existence for the past fourteen years,
present in thirty-seven countries, and has 30 mn subscribers. In Asia, the
networks are being rolled out in UAE, Malaysia, Indonesia, Bangladesh, and
Pakistan.

What impact would Push-to-Talk have on your business?

We are not a telephone company and we are not addressing that market. Ours
is exclusively a trunking license, and we have existed in this domain for the
last seven years. We have prior experience, expertise, and have rolled out a
digital enhanced network. We are providing a totally different service, with
premium business productivity tool.

Which would be your target verticals for the digital services?

It would be premature to talk of verticals on a national scale right now for
our digital services, as the technology is new. For Bangalore, we are looking at
the IT/BPO, airlines, and hospitality sectors. Some customers are existing users
of our analog services; some new ones are getting into our fold.

Sudesh Prasad

sudeshp@cybermedia.co.in