The comeback kid!
Arun Sarin is in no mood to see Vodafone trailing in India
Despite a tremendous growth run over the past few years, Vodafone Essar (once Hutch) has never been counted as a stalwart of the Indian telecom sector. But, with the re-branding process just over, Vodafone Essar, under the leadership of Arun Sarin, once again, is set to storm the Indian telecom domain in 2008.
“Our Indian business is delivering strong growth. Average net customer additions are running at 1.6 million per month, with an year-on-year revenue growth at around 53% on a constant currency basis,” says Arun Sarin. And keeping this in mind, he has really huge plans for 2008. He intends to increase the capex for Vodafone Essar to support high growth apart from laying much emphasis on site sharing & establishing a tower company (Indus Towers) in partnership with Bharti & Idea Cellular. This will not only propel the sector towards achieving requisite tele-density goals, but will also help Vodafone in increasing its rural penetration.
Another strategy that Sarin is heavily banking upon in 2008 is to leverage Vodafone’s global success mantra of handset bundling and deliver the same through its distribution network. Though, RCOM is already trailing that route since 2003, Vodafone Essar will be the first GSM operator to adopt this line of attack. Sarin also plans to provide a handset for as low as Rs.666, a move aimed to go deeper into rural India.
The savvy Sarin is also planning a dual attack on its competitors. On one hand, he plans to target high-value customers by providing innovative products, and on the other, he intends to expand distribution channels to increase the company’s market share. With a vision to topple RCOM from second place and inch closer to Bharti’s dominance in the sector, Sarin is planning to take forward the company’s lead in Value Added Services. Apart from regular commitment plans, bonus cards & micro recharge, Sarin plans to storm the market by providing futuristic services like banking, hotmail, data cards, Blackberry & customised messages, among others.
Interestingly, while Sarin plans to register his presence in the Indian telecom market, industry watchers are still not convinced. A telecom analyst on conditions of anonymity says, “though Vodafone has some interesting plans, but still Bharti & RCOM will continue to dominate the sector in 2008.” Well, if Sarin has to prove the analyst wrong, he must devise strategies to address the still-untapped rural markets (even as the metros and A circle markets approach saturation). And not to forget, RCOM already dominates the hinterlands, while Bharti has now initiated its massive rural foray.
For Complete IIPM Article, Click on IIPM Article
Source : IIPM Editorial, 2008
Despite a tremendous growth run over the past few years, Vodafone Essar (once Hutch) has never been counted as a stalwart of the Indian telecom sector. But, with the re-branding process just over, Vodafone Essar, under the leadership of Arun Sarin, once again, is set to storm the Indian telecom domain in 2008.
“Our Indian business is delivering strong growth. Average net customer additions are running at 1.6 million per month, with an year-on-year revenue growth at around 53% on a constant currency basis,” says Arun Sarin. And keeping this in mind, he has really huge plans for 2008. He intends to increase the capex for Vodafone Essar to support high growth apart from laying much emphasis on site sharing & establishing a tower company (Indus Towers) in partnership with Bharti & Idea Cellular. This will not only propel the sector towards achieving requisite tele-density goals, but will also help Vodafone in increasing its rural penetration.
Another strategy that Sarin is heavily banking upon in 2008 is to leverage Vodafone’s global success mantra of handset bundling and deliver the same through its distribution network. Though, RCOM is already trailing that route since 2003, Vodafone Essar will be the first GSM operator to adopt this line of attack. Sarin also plans to provide a handset for as low as Rs.666, a move aimed to go deeper into rural India.
The savvy Sarin is also planning a dual attack on its competitors. On one hand, he plans to target high-value customers by providing innovative products, and on the other, he intends to expand distribution channels to increase the company’s market share. With a vision to topple RCOM from second place and inch closer to Bharti’s dominance in the sector, Sarin is planning to take forward the company’s lead in Value Added Services. Apart from regular commitment plans, bonus cards & micro recharge, Sarin plans to storm the market by providing futuristic services like banking, hotmail, data cards, Blackberry & customised messages, among others.
Interestingly, while Sarin plans to register his presence in the Indian telecom market, industry watchers are still not convinced. A telecom analyst on conditions of anonymity says, “though Vodafone has some interesting plans, but still Bharti & RCOM will continue to dominate the sector in 2008.” Well, if Sarin has to prove the analyst wrong, he must devise strategies to address the still-untapped rural markets (even as the metros and A circle markets approach saturation). And not to forget, RCOM already dominates the hinterlands, while Bharti has now initiated its massive rural foray.
For Complete IIPM Article, Click on IIPM Article
Source : IIPM Editorial, 2008
An IIPM and Professor Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist) Initiative
Read these article :-
B-schooled in India, Placed Abroad (Print Version)
IIPM in Financial times (Print Version)
IIPM makes business education truly global
The Indian Institute of Planning and Management (IIPM)
IIPM Campus
Labels: 4ps, ARINDAM CHAUDHURI, BUSINESS AND ECONOMY, Guru economist, IIPM, iipm-article, iipm-press, iipm-publications, management guru, news weekly, renowned management guru, the Sunday indian
<< Home