'By '09-end, Idea will have pan-India services'

Sanjeev Aga, managing director, Idea Cellular has seen big transitions in the telecom world ever since he took the reins of Idea Cellular in October 2006.

The company is now recognised as the third largest telecom provider within the country. In a t te- -t te with Nikita Upadhyay of The Financial Express, he reveals some future plans for his company.

What are Idea's expansion plans for new circles?

As a company, Idea is well known and it's brand name is associated with reliability. We have acquired the licenses to operate in the new areas and would be launching our operations in those areas very soon.

By the end of June, we would roll out our services in Orissa and by the end of September, in Tamil Nadu. With this, Idea would be covering 90% of India's telephony potential. By the end of the calendar year 2009, we would have our operations all across the country.

What about Idea's preparations for 3G? What, according to you, are the major trends in telecom for 2009?

We, as a team, are fully prepared for 3G offerings. Idea has a 2G ready infrastructure which is just two years old. Therefore, 3G, if it happens, would be a quick leap for us in terms of our service offerings.

By the end of 2009, it would be clear which telecom company is the winner in terms of business and which one loses the race.

Tell us about the growth you have seen in the last two years.

As a company, we have always tried to bring content in the mobile sector. I have witnessed a wide range of changes in every respect within the company. Over the last two years, Idea has grown tremendously in terms of its subscriber and staff base. Our revenues have gone up almost 1.5 times. Also our operations have scaled 4 times. We are turbo-charged for the expansion of our operations in newer circles.

We have changed dynamically in the last two years and going ahead, you will see an enormous change in our stature within the next two.

How does Idea plan to tap the youth?

Idea added 2 million subscribers in January 2009, taking the overall subscriber base to over 40 million in circles that we operate in. Idea has always been strongly associated with music and movies, the two genres which give us access to a huge customer base. Jalsa is an Indian classical music concert, MTV Roadies is a popular television game show amongst the youngsters and Filmfare is an award ceremony where we have everyone from the film fraternity. Through these, we cater to our existing subscriber base and also target potential subscribers.

Also, with pocket TV gaining momentum, we want to be at the forefront with our offerings.

Mobile advertising along with m-commerce and m-banking is still in the nascent stages in India. But eventually, with the right target customer, it can prove to be a useful tool for telecos in increasing their ARPUs.