Honest 836 Report post Posted July 23, 2008 India telecom cos now focus on the world 23 Jul, 2008, 0030 hrs IST, ET Bureau MUMBAI: If the first 13 years of mobile telephony in India has been about a stupendous growth story, the next 13 could be about telcos having a major global footprint. It’s not as if Indian telcos have not looked at overseas markets in the past. It’s just that Wireless India is now in top gear as far as overseas forays are concerned. Consider some of the big players like Bharti and Reliance. After a period of sustained growth and a healthy increase in the number of new subscribers, they want to move abroad. The Bharti Group already has operations in Seychelles (this was started over a decade ago) and in the Channel Islands in Europe. That will be now followed by Bharti Airtel’s entry into Sri Lanka. “We will be launching our services by the end of this year,” says Bharti Airtel’s president (mobile services) Sanjay Kapoor. The opportunity in Sri Lanka comes from the fact that the penetration levels are just around 35 per cent. Unlike India, users have to pay for incoming calls and the market has around five players now with the largest, Dialog Telekom, accounting for over half the market. “We have the advantage of running a successful business in India which is a competitive and price-sensitive market,” thinks Kapoor. To his mind, Sri Lanka offers the advantage of low tele-density. “That apart, mobile usage is quite constrained,” he adds. Bharti Airtel will launch 2G and 3G services with an initial investment of $200 million. In India, Bharti Airtel has over 66 million subscribers. Reliance Communications is another player which is making the overseas market a key focus area. The company, which had a subsciber base of 50 million at the end of June, will launch mobile services in Uganda by the end of this year. The total investment outlay will be $500 million which, in addition to mobile services, will encompass internet, national and international long distance services. Also, on the anvil, is a foray into Sri Lanka. MTNL too has an international operation following the launch of its services in Mauritius. This will be for basic, mobile and international long distance services. It has also looked at other markets like Rwanda and Kenya for its mobile operations. MTNL also operates a wireless operation in Nepal as a part of a joint venture. According to E&Y India telecom leader Prashant Singhal, Indian telcos are generating healthy cash flows. “Companies like Bharti and Reliance have strong balance sheets. For MTNL, it is more out of compulsion than strategy,” he says. Today, MTNL is restricted to mobile operations in Delhi and Mumbai. Perhaps, the biggest advantage is how they have perfected the low-cost model. “A company like Bharti has an outsourcing advantage (referring to its IT model and network management. They will be able to leverage from a low-cost model like this,” adds Mr Singhal. There is life beyond wireless services and Tata Communications is a case in point. It has been offering services in South Africa for two years now. The overall investment has been $250 million with $150 million of that during the current financial year. “We are more driven by enterprise and data communication . To us, our customers exist in different markets,” says Tata Comm’s head of corporate strategy Srinivasa Addepalli. Apart from South Africa, the company has a presence in Sri Lanka and China as well. “We could look at select markets in Africa and South East Asia like Indonesia, Philippines and Thailand,” he says. The global journey, by the looks of it, is well and truly underway. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
