Anil Sardana has been the managing director of Tata Teleservices Limited (TTSL) for just a few months. But already his dynamism has begun to move the company. Before this assignment, he was executive director with Tata Power and other group companies. But his most notable success has been as head of North Delhi Power Limited, where he achieved spectacular results in reducing power theft, generating profits and, most importantly, bringing about customer orientation. In an interview with tele.net, Sardana discusses TTSL’s focus areas, future strategies and concerns. Excerpts…
How are things going to change for TTSL?
Let’s not start with change. Instead, let’s see where we were four years ago. From a mere 3 per cent market share to 10 per cent, TTSL has clearly upped its performance. In fact, in the past three years it has been one of the fastest growing operators in the wireless space. Even the recent TRAI report indicates that while the rest of the operators have witnessed either marginal or negative growth on account of corrected mobile subscriber numbers, TTSL has had a year-on-year growth of about 22 per cent. Going forward, we are looking at consolidating that position. The market is also likely to see many new initiatives and offerings from us, which are not there currently. Our very clear USP in the days ahead is going to be segmented products addressing different user needs.
You mentioned growth, but looking at the company’s market share in the past 9 to 10 months, it has hovered at roughly 9.7 to 9.9 per cent...
I will split the whole issue into two parts. One, how correct are the numbers stated by the operators? There is always scope for debate on that. I can only talk about us ?? that we, in line with Tata group traditions, are aligned to doing things right and in a clean way. So our numbers are absolutely precise to the nearest digit and to the count of 10. Number two, yes, our market share has stagnated at about 9.79.8 per cent recently, and this is where we are gearing up to push growth to the next orbit, maybe to 15 per cent or so. We already have a thought-through strategy for this. In fact, over the past couple of months, in Delhi, for instance, we have undertaken an experiment that has proved quite successful where our position is number one. To take this intervention to a pan-Indian level, work is being pursued on various aspects of internal responses where the speed-to-market is being stepped up. At the same time, we have to ensure that our channel has the right depth and the right selection so that they are able to push up the numbers. I am sure you will see these changes going forward. Channel and customers would see a renewed level of partnerships from the Tata Indicom brand.
You mentioned product differentiation as a key strategy. What are your other priorities over the next two to three years?
As has been the case in my previous assignments, customer service will be my other high priority area of intervention. That is going to be one of our key differentiators compared to other operators. Even now, though TTSL has an advantage in terms of quality of service over other operators, as per TRAI surveys, it’s not enough. What you will see, in addition, is much more differentiated customer offerings in terms of assured services. Therefore, we will either deliver or take penalties. Of course, we realise that to make this happen, a tremendous amount of backend work is needed and that’s what is being pursued. At all interface customer points, processes are being redefined. IT intervention is being done in a big way and in an integrated manner so that we get the right results. There is also a tremendous amount of training and development taking place at all interface engagement points.
When you first came on board and did a quick situation analysis, what did you identify as the biggest challenges?
I am not one of those who would like to comment on weaknesses or deficiencies that I perhaps visualised or saw. I would put it like this ?? every organisation has different things that get scored differently. For example, though TRAI surveys indicate that we offer better quality of services, we can’t become complacent, feeling that since we are better off than the others, we need not improve further. The aim for me is to reach benchmark levels, where people just need to follow you. Therefore, instead of looking at what is worrisome, I see what needs to be consolidated and what needs to be benchmarked and what, perhaps, needs to be moved to newer benchmarks. To me, every group, every particular function in the organisation has to actually move up. So, briefly, my role is to provide direction and traction to each function to reach benchmark levels.
What are your GSM plans?
Till very recently, we at Tata were very clear that we would continue our decision to pursue CDMA technology. In fact, even now we still believe that CDMA technology is very strong on quality of network and data management. According to us, the market has no choice but to move its usage of data. For example, research shows that today India has close to 90 per cent voice traffic and 8-10 per cent data traffic. The data traffic is expected to grow to something like 30 per cent over the next two years. We would like to ride on that. It is very unfortunate that our entire policy system has actually not unleashed that advantage to the benefit of the customer and we have not moved to 3G technology. The authorities should respond to this need quickly.
Now, coming to GSM, the authorities recently decided to allow dual technology. Most of the other CDMA players were seen opting for GSM to handle the voice part of their business and we did not want to be left behind because ultimately it is volume in terms of devices and associated equipment that impacts the prices in the marketplace for the overall interest of the customer. We would have liked it if both technologies could have existed in good and almost equal proportion. However, considering what happened in the marketplace, we obviously decided that we needed to have a level playing field when pitted against other players. The proof of the pudding, however, is in the eating and one would have to actually wait and see whether it is going to be available to others, us or not. Whether we subsequently offer the service through one brand or create another brand is a matter of detail that we would work out only once the speculative phase is over.
Is enterprise going to be a key focus area for TTSL in the near future?
CDMA has strong data capabilities and it is important that customers reap the benefits of it. And since the enterprise segment is the right channel to open up opportunities that get us the right kind of customers and the right kind of ARPUs, there will be a greater emphasis on the enterprise segment. The Tatas are well positioned to do that. We have a tremendous amount of enterprise knowledge, and we have the right partnerships within the Tata ecosystem to take our solutions to the world. However, there will be some redefining in our enterprise business approach so that the solutions are not typically in the voice and data format alone which the mass market customer sees but are domain solutions which add tremendous value to enterprises to improve their operating efficiency. Thus, enterprise and business customers will see our offer as a tremendous value addition.
What about the fixed line and broadband segments? Today VSNL is selling one form of broadband while TTSL is offering mobile broadband…
Truly speaking, we would have been more consolidated if 3G technology had been allowed. It is a sheer economic waste to invest in something that may not be required after a few years. Also, there are several associated issues ?? like right of way, digging in cities, physically hanging wires ?? which get addressed successfully (as in the developed world) if efficient wireless broadband services are delivered through EVDO and 3G. It is unfortunate that some sections of operators and policymakers have not allowed customers to benefit for their own political reasons.
We hope that in the interest of the user, 3G is allowed soon. In the interim, I am sure that ?? be it Videsh Sanchar Nigam Limited or TTSL ?? we would continue to move ahead and offer wireline services to our enterprise or residential customers who need it. For residential users, we are obviously looking at multi-storey apartments and new townships and colonies because, in the rest of the country, the incumbents have the biggest advantage of wireline networks.
As for triple play, we have already done that. In fact, in Gurgaon, Hyderabad, Mumbai, etc., we have a tremendous infestation of wireline. We are increasing this to other towns on a selective basis.
What impact does the entry of Vodafone and the possibility of new players have on TTSL?
Some of the strategies being talked about in the marketplace ?? like bundled device and talktime offers ?? are something that CDMA players have been doing for the past four years very successfully. It has been a tremendous learning process for us and something that gives us an edge over other players. They will find it a bit of a challenge to sustain the quality of service without raising capex substantially. As far as Vodafone is concerned, its presence is likely to make things more interesting. That kind of a pull is useful from the customers’ perspective, and as far as bundled offers go, it will be an interesting play for us as we are more experienced and proficient in that market. What I like is that though there was a lot of pricepoint talk earlier, what was announced was more prudent and it brings in the right competition at the right place.
What is your rural gameplan?
Bundled or managed services will play a big role here. High-end data or voice services may not be affordable given the existing tariffs. What will work for the end-customer is the perceived value on their offer. So it has to be managed services, where it may be combined with the services of other Tata companies; for example, joining hands with Tata Kisan Kendra or Tata AIG to offer bundled products or update the services on their mobile sets.
What is the single biggest challenge that operators face today?
One of the biggest challenges that the telecom sector faces today is the high attrition rate of human resources. For any operator to deliver consistently when onethird of its people are changing each year is a serious concern. It is therefore important to get one’s team and the newcomers aligned immediately and that is where the challenge lies ?? to make sure that you have strong processes and strong IT interventions so that a newcomer joins and takes little to no time in adopting an existing user-friendly system that aids him to start delivering immediately.
