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As the government shows unusual eagerness to usher in will mobility, cellular operators gear up for another legal battle.
It has not been established whether His Lordship has much to do with phones, but right now he holds out the greatest hope for CSPs who have been hit yet again by yet another change in telecom regulation. The latest change, ironically put up by the department of telecommunication's deputy director general for fixed line services, makes it unnecessary for FSPs to provide fixed-line services. They merely have to set up the infrastructure or a point of presence, which can be a pesky switch. Besides, Pramod Mahajan, who holds the communications portfolio in addition to information technology and Parliamentary affairs, has been pushing to waive the clause that requires FSPs to employ the V5.2 Interface technology standard. Notably, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) had pushed for V5.2 as it limits mobility by not allowing handover from one SDCA (short distance calling area) to another and prevents roaming across cities. This was considered essential to distinguish will from full-blown cellular mobility as provided by GSM operators. An encouraged Tata Teleservices, which holds the FSP licence for Andhra Pradesh, is thinking of launching will on a CDMA 2000 platform, which is a high technology mobile standard capable of delivering the much anticipated 3G (third generation) services. With the latest changes, one can hold an all-India FSP licence, not provide a single fixed line, and offer full mobility without paying the licence fees that CSPs have had to shell out for their operations. ''It is making a mockery of the licence,'' says a CSP spokesperson. Secondly, the two vital differences between will and cellular that were often cited to justify sops to will operators-the extent of mobility and features-have disappeared. Last month, we had reported in these columns how the telecom industry had welcomed the appointment of Mahajan as the communications minister with some reservation. Perceived as more intelligent than his predecessor, Mahajan was expected to be trickier as well. ''If he bowls a googly, we won't know until the stumps are shattered,'' an industry luminary had remarked. Looks like the first wicket has just been claimed. -Suveen K. Sinha SOFTWARE
It doesn't have the salience of Infosys, Wipro, or Tata Consultancy, and its CEO would rather talk to his customers than reporters. So, who does the talking at i-flex Solutions, a Mumbai-based banking solutions company? Apparently, the numbers. For instance, last March when i-flex closed its accounts, investors saw the revenues jump 56 per cent to Rs 321 crore, and net profits by 59 per cent to Rs 110.02 crore. But that's not really what its CEO, Deepak Ghaisas, prides himself on. Rather it's the fact that i-Flex-formerly Citibank Information Technology Ltd-is a company that derives more than half of its revenues from product licensing. To put that in perspective, Infosys gets about 5 per cent of its revenues from that and TCS manages a slightly better 7 per cent. Says Ghaisas: ''The difference between us and some other companies in India is that they productised their services, while we wanted to make products from day one.'' Of late, however, i-flex is talking of acquisitions and offloading its equity to retail investors. Says R. Ravishankar, Head of the US operations: ''Now that valuations of the companies are more realistic, we are exploring opportunities for acquisitions abroad.'' But selling in the US market is a different game altogether. Sure, more than a third of its revenues comes from the US. But nearly all of it is from services. And when i-flex tries to peddle its products in the US, it will have to take head on giants such as Sanchez Computer Associates, Fiserve International Banking Software, and AllTell Information Services. Admits Ravishankar: ''It is very tough and demanding market to be in. But if you can win the confidence of your customer, it is very rewarding.'' And Ghaisas is hoping that it won't be a big if. -Ashutosh Sinha
It's that time of the year again. Lobbying for the forthcoming budget has started in earnest. Thanking finance minister Yashwant Sinha for inaugurating Confederation of Indian Industry's insurance summit in Delhi early this month, CII Director-General Tarun Das employed a typical American phrase: ''You are a good guy.'' This was somewhat baffling. Das has often been vitriolic in his criticism of the government and its lacklustre implementation of measures. Then came the rest. ''There are 120 days to go before you present your next Budget,'' said Das, ''and we at CII want to give you a 10 on 10.''
It's time to give the all-knowing smile for all those who predicted that Kiran Karnik will find it onerous to fill in the shoes of late Dewang Mehta. Shortly after taking over in September as the president of National Association of Software and Service Companies, Karnik had remarked publicly in characteristic matter-of-fact manner that the chances of Nasscom merging with its hardware counterpart, Manufacturers Association of Information Technology, were ''reasonable to good''. BT learns that the humble Karnik has had a humbling lesson. Nasscom insiders say a letter has just gone out of the corner room to mait saying that Karnik had been 'misquoted'. -Suveen K. Sinha VIEWPOINT
Less than a year after he was despatched from London to stabilise things at a headless Cadbury India, Matthew Cadbury is returning home. The 42-year-old Managing Director, who is also a son of former Cadbury Schweppes Chairman, Adrian Cadbury, spoke to BT's Abir Pal about his abrupt departure. Excerpts: Q. Why are you leaving so suddenly? A. Well, I think my work here is done. I am quite satisfied with the progress made in the past eleven months. A broad strategic plan to take Cadbury India ahead has been put into place. Why wasn't an Indian CEO appointed when Rajeev Bakshi (former CEO) left? At that point no one from the Indian operations was considered suitable to head Cadbury India, at least not straight away. My brief was very simple: to look at ways to grow the Indian business. There was no fixed time scale involved. How has been your India experience? Excellent. I found it very interesting, especially working in a market with the sheer size and complexity of India. What are the three most important things Cadbury India has done in the past 11 months? Create new product offerings, extend availability of products across the country, and tackle costs. What's the way ahead for Cadbury India? We need to improve our point of sale activities and increase availability. Bharat (Puri)-the new CEO-was always a contender to head India operations, so it come as a surprise to no one. The time was ripe for a change in guard. Your future plans? I haven't been notified of my new designation. It'll probably be development director. Eventually, I might move to another developing market.
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Ask any
cellular service provider (CSP) what the latest change in the norms for
fixed service providers (FSPs) means and the answer invariably would be:
''Bharucha''. The most famous surname in cellular circles, of course,
belongs to the man with the initials S.P., and who was sworn in as the
Chief Justice of India early this month.
