‘We don’t want to be in the indiscriminate number game’

Aircel, a part of the Malaysia-based Maxis group, launched its Delhi operations on Wednesday. This was the 14th circle where it has started operations. Services in Mumbai is likely to be launched next month.

The company announced zero tariff for Aircel to Aircel calls and messages, to begin with, among many other attractive pricing strategies.

It has committed an investment of $10 billion for a national rollout of networks in India, out of which $5 billion has already been spent.
This does not include the money for third generation (3G) auction, whenever that happens. The company has said that listing is an option, but not as of now. Maxis CEO Sandip Das spoke to DNA Money on various telecom issues and his company plans. Excerpts from the interview:  

On the proportion of revenue that Maxis group is earning from India:
Around 18% revenue for the Maxis group comes from India. Malaysia’s contribution is the highest. India’s revenue will increase as part of our total group income, but Malaysia’s will still remain higher. This is because Malaysia’s ARPUs (average revenue per user) are good compared with India. They also have very strong data services. Around 39% of our revenues in Malaysia come from non-voice services.                         

On the economic slowdown and impact on the telecom sector:
I will give you a philosophical answer to this question. One of my friends, who’s a writer, pointed out that even as travel goes down, people would continue to talk on the phone. And he said something very true. If I’m not travelling, I will call more. Whenever there’s a crisis, companies cut down on variable expenses - like advertising and travel. One would expect phone bills to be cut also, but that has not happened. I feel that telecom would be the last one to be hit, in terms of daily consumer expenditure.

On any trend at all that one has witnessed, as an impact of the slowdown:
Roaming has gone down, to some extent.

On the cautious steps that Maxis is taking if the economic situation was to worsen in the coming months:
Yes, we are very cautious. We are watching costs all the time. As someone correctly said, any crisis is a time to detox. But I also feel that this is the time to stay close to your consumer.

On the most exciting metro city for the company:
We haven’t launched Mumbai yet. That’s likely to happen middle of April. I’m sentimentally attached to Mumbai as I started my career there. But, Delhi, too, is important as it’s a vibrant and gung-ho city.

On the challenges faced by the company:
Hiring was one of the biggest challenges. I’m fortunate to have a put one of the finest teams together. We have been able to roll out networks efficiently, now we have got GPRS (General Packet Radio Services) licences also. Investors’ reports have already started noticing us as a company. Otherwise, we were one of the others. Earlier, it was Airtel, Vodafone, Reliance, Idea, Tatas, and others…. Now, that is changing. We are creeping out of the `others’ category.

On wanting to be the best brand of the next decade:
Yes, we want to be the best brand. That is, we don’t want to be obsessed with subscriber numbers, but want to be known as someone for delivering the best. We don’t want to be in the indiscriminate numbers game, but definitely want good, active, paying subscribers. I can stand at the crossroads of Delhi and distribute SIM cards. I can have 2 million customers in three months that way. But what’s my revenue, are they active subscribers, am I giving them services, or is it a use and throw card? We don’t want to be in that business.

On whether the company has any subscriber targets and what:
Of course we have subscriber targets. We have 17 million subscribers now in India, and want to at least double that by the end of the calendar year.

On the concerns over current government policies in the telecom sector:
Recently, mobile termination charges were brought down. There have been other regulatory issues. Market in India is mature enough, with so much competition. You’ve got a dozen players in the market, why do you still need to regulate them? If you still need to regulate, there’s something intrinsically wrong with the market. I would look at it like that.

On the expectations from the next government:
Not speaking of the telecom sector in particular, I want infrastructure to improve in the country. India needs to be modernised. Basic infrastructure in villages must be improved. Many years ago, I had to speak on `India Shining’ and I had said that one part of India was not shining. In telecom I think, providing infrastructure backbone in rural India is a must. Private players on their own cannot do all that by themselves. Everyone has to share the responsibility.      

On the recipe to make a mark in the competitive telecom market:
Rolling good quality networks and putting in place attractive tariffs are basic hygiene. You can’t play Test cricket if you don’t know how to bat… The next level of hygiene is customer service, where people get what they want. Then comes the differentiator. At this point, we have a small and agile company. We have all the qualities of a small organisations — to be responsive. I’m always afraid of when Aircel would become too big and lose all the quality of being small. That’s when companies make the changeover, and go crushing down.

On mobile number portability:
It’s an opportunity for a new operator like us. But, it’s not enough to get business. Number portability was launched in Malaysia recently, but nothing dramatic was noticed there.