Aditya Birla controlled-Idea Cellular reported a strong set of numbers last fiscal, backed primarily by data growth. P Lakshminarayana, Chief Operating Officer (Corporate) of Idea Cellular, was recently in Kolkata as Idea gears up to launch its own 3G service here. In an interview to BusinessLine , he spoke about the company’s performance, growth of voice data, mobile tariff movements and 4G services. Excerpts:

Idea reported good numbers in FY15. What was it attributable to?

Over the last several years we have grown faster than the industry because of acquisition of subscribers. We have consistently demonstrated in market after market that we can bring in subscribers just like the top two (telcos) and that why we are the no. 3 operator.

As far as data is concerned, it’s a growing trend where we have participated aggressively and got a substantial part of that growth. So on one side there are new subscriber (additions), increased usage from current subscribers – voice, data and value added services (VAS) – and then there is data growth.

What is your take on voice revenues?

We believe there is a lot of juice in the segment. A huge number of subscribers are coming in from the under-penetrated areas; which gives rise to the scope. The trend of VOIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) is a very small one at this point of time.

Out of the 161 million subscribers we have, approximately 20-25 per cent of them are regular data users. So VOIP will be a subset of that.

How are mobile tariffs expected to behave especially because of high payouts during spectrum auctions?

Not just data tariff; I believe that mobile tariffs should go up too, fundamentally because of what each company has paid for the spectrum.

Then, the impositions by TRAI have put downward pressure on prices. So, if you ask any telco, they will say that prices should go up to meet the cost.

But can tariffs go up? Well that is unpredictable because, in reality, pricing is a competitive decision. Obviously the company cannot take a pricing decision which is way different from the market.

With Idea committing to ₹30,000 crore for the spectrum, will your bottom-line be impacted?

Out of this ₹30,000 crore, a large chunk is spectrum renewal for a period of 20 years. But I must say that if expenditure is made, it will affect the bottom-line. However, for a good enterprise, it is for them to ensure that such risks are mitigated.

What is your cap-ex, including investment in new circles, where you started your own 3G?

Our cap-ex guidance is between ₹5,000 crore and ₹5,500 crore, excluding spectrum payouts. The 3G services for the two new circles – Kolkata and Delhi – will also be a part of this.

When can you start having 4G services?

We are ready with 4G. Three things are important – spectrum, the partners who will supply us the equipment and third is devices on the consumer end.

As far as spectrum is concerned, we are future-ready. When the partners who supply equipment and the consumer devices reach a particular critical point or mass that is the time we will possible look to start 4G service.

When 3G services did not move on expected lines, telcos came up with their own device partnerships or own branded devices. Will that be done to popularise 4G services?

Data is a far more complex market than voice which is vanilla or a direct product.

Data can be consumed as voice, or video, or e-mail or browsing or various other forms.

Therefore, consumer needs are varied. In voice it was one, which partner, or tool, we would use is difficult for us to predict at this point because of the varied needs.

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