NEW DELHI, India, May 28 -- Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd (MTNL), the telecom service provider in Delhi and Mumbai, is on a fast track to add more subscribers, both fixed line and mobile.
CMD R.S.P Sinha feels that its services, particularly in broadband, are on a 'super highway'. He is bullish about growth prospects of the public sector telecom major, and is preparing to enhance the existing services while also planning to introduce new ones. In a freewheeling interview with M. Rajendran, he also expressed his concern on the proposed synergy of the two public sector telecom companies and the strategy to capture more market share during the next few years. Excerpts:
It seems the merger/synergy of BSNL and MTNL is likely to happen sooner than later? What is your view?
It is for the owners to decide, which is the government. I personally feel that there is definitely a scope for synergy if it is one company but care has to be taken while undertaking synergy, since MTNL is an NYSE-listed company.
How has MTNL faced the challenge from competitors?
Initially, it was difficult. But now I am satisfied that we have done better than them in all the fields. We have beaten the private operators in GSM with more than 10.6 lakh mobile subscribers, Airtel at 9.5 lakh and 9 lakh by Hutch prove we have emerged as the leader. This also demonstrates that MTNL has beaten the private players in a competitive market in the two cities of Delhi and Mumbai with our products Dolphin and Trump and better services. The two products were written off but we have managed to beat them.
In the last two years, mobile growth has been on a high, how would you evaluate MTNL's performance during the period?
In March 2004, we had about 3.60 lakh mobile subscribers and till April 2006 we have added 20.17 lakh mobile subscribers. An addition of more than 17 lakh subscribers with handicaps of a public sector company is no small achievement.
Could you elaborate on the handicaps of a public sector company?
Our capacity to add more subscribers had got exhausted in 2004. The PSU legacy is that it takes time to procure equipment and infrastructure since we have to follow a number of guidelines, unlike private operators who can decide quickly. But still we went ahead. Now our market share has increased from 5.25 per cent in 2004 in Delhi to 16.26 per cent in 2006 while in Mumbai it has gone up to 18.2 per cent in 2006 as against 6.7 per cent in 2004. This has been possible because we have been able to attract customers from other operators.
Don't you think the scheme of Rs 1.20 per minute for STD calls on fixed line between Delhi and Mumbai announced by MTNL could backfire if private mobile operators offer a similar tariff?
We are prepared for it. MTNL is capable of giving surprises to benefit customers. I am confident that it would be difficult for private operators to match this kind of tariff. Even if they introduce a scheme for mobile services we can match it by offering it to our subscribers too.
The perception is that MTNL has a high rate of call drops and bad connectivity. How do you react to it?
We were once in that position where customers did not want to take our service for these reasons. Not any more, since we have added about 500 BTS and are in the process of adding more. This has improved the quality of service much better than the private operators.
The broadband services had problems due to lack of equipment. What steps helped you reduce the procurement time?
Initially, there were a few teething troubles and some delay in supply of modems. But now we are on a superhighway. We have about 2.40 lakh subscribers. Amongst major decisions that we took to reduce the time to procure equipment was converting the criterion to secure validation from telecom engineering centre (TEC) by stringent inspection norms by an internal team of MTNL.
What is the next big thing after broadband that customers of Delhi and Mumbai can look forward from MTNL?
Our next target is to give Internet protocol TV (IPTV) using the customer premise equipment (CPE), which is the phone. The service would be bundled with broadband connection that will offer a data speed of 256 kilobits per seconds (kbps). This will hit the two metros in a big way by June. We will also give thrust to the virtual private network (VPN) services and next generation (NGN) services.
Customer satisfaction has been an Achilles heel for MTNL? Have you found a remedy for it?
We are continuously monitoring it. There is a scope for improvement and we are working towards it. We are confident that soon there would be a positive change in our relationship with customers.
The Hindustan Times is provided through HT Syndication, New Delhi.
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