Michael Kuehner, managing director, Siemens Public Communication Networks, is eager to grab a big chunk of the fast-growing market in India… As a seasoned Siemens executive who has worked all over the world with the company over the past 27 years in the IT and telecom field, Michael Kuehner refuses to be drawn into facile comparisons either between India and other countries or between India now and India as it used to be when he would come for business trips.
His first visit was eight or 10 years ago when he was based in Moscow and came to India for a holiday. He found it very diverse and colourful. He’s happy to have a chance to explore it further now and to see how things have changed.
“I am looking forward to really getting to know India to a very high degree. Professionally, I would like to see our business prosper and grow. It is a very interesting and exciting market in India and I want to be a part of it,” he says.
Kuehner has come from Malaysia, his last posting. “India is much bigger than Malaysia and the communications market is different in terms of the players and their market shares. The biggest player in Malaysia has got a 40 per cent market share, while the biggest player here has got about 25 per cent, so, it’s a more segmented market in some respects.
“From a closer perspective, India is much more interesting at the moment. It is developing fast. By looking at the kind of mobile growth experienced so far, it is possible to see how far this market will grow in the next few years ?? and the big potential that it has,” he says.
On telecom trends, he says that there is a move towards more IP-based technologies, the prospect of a convergence of fixed and mobile networks, applications and services, and the adoption of new technology such as 3G.
“Some time from now, it should basically be insignificant to the customer whether it is a fixed or a mobile network.That is one definite shift. The other is that since India has a big chunk of the population in geographically remote and rural areas, I see a lot of opportunity in servicing those areas. You may use different technologies for that and you have to be prepared to do this in a very low-cost base because people living there are not the same as those in cities, so they need to have services which they can pay for.”
Naturally, Kuehner believes that Siemens is well placed to take advantage of these trends. Worldwide, the company enjoys a leading position in 3G technology. It provides the largest chunk of base stations for 3G. And when it comes to IPbased technology, that is, providing soft switches, Siemens has recently become the number one player in the field, surpassing Nortel.
He is equally confident about taking on the rural challenge. “We are very well placed to service rural areas. We have some concepts and low-cost solutions in our network technology which support this type of rollout. We have handled the deployment of networks in rural areas in different countries so it is not a new concept for us. At the most, the concept may need to be adapted to different circumstances, but that’s all.”
Kuehner is an executive who has been entirely moulded by the famous Siemens culture. His first job was with Siemens, after he finished studying mathematics and economics. All his original assignments related to sales, marketing and customer service. The work took him to the Soviet Union, northern Africa and Malaysia.
“I found Malaysia fascinating, both as a private individual and in terms of business. The whole of East Asia is interesting and very diverse. Professionally, it was great. In the last five years, we achieved a very strong market position in the country, which was something new for us, so I was delighted,” he says.
In India, his targets are to get to know the customers, build good relations with them, energise the already energetic Siemens team, and conquer the market to get a substantial market position in terms of technology solutions.
To achieve this, he will have to depend on a management style that he says is based on teamwork. He likes to empower his team and that means delegating. “I support open communication and straightforward thinking. I also like to get things done fast.” Strengths? “I’m passionate, privately and professionally, and am quite a strategic thinker.” Weaknesses? “I tend to drive people too hard sometimes.”
For support and solace, he has his wife and 16-year-old son, both of whom have settled down quite well in New Delhi. In his spare time, he likes to be with his family, play golf, eat out, read, and listen to classical music ?? mainly Western classical but he also enjoys hearing the classical music of whichever country he happens to be living in, provided it’s not too electronic.
Travel is a passion. Kuehner has been all over Africa, Europe, Asia, Australia, New Zealand and South America. The only place where he has not spent much time is the US. For the moment, he is thinking only about India. “I’m very excited and curious about India. There is so much to do and look forward to,” he says.
