Surya Mahadevan: Chief Operating Officer, Loop Mobile

With operations running since 1994, Loop Mobile is India's one of the oldest operators. Earlier known as BPL Mobile, it took on the new name after a change in the company's ownership in 2009.

The company faces unique challenges since it operates only in the Mumbai circle and does not have 3G spectrum. (See Is MVAS Industry Ready For A 3G Revolution? and 3G Roaming: The Axe Of Split Verdict.)

Light Reading India spoke to Surya Mahadevan, Chief Operating Officer, Loop Mobile to find out about its strategies to compete with other telecom operators and future plans.

Here are the excerpts from the interview:

Light Reading India: How does Loop compete with other operators, considering it only offers services in Mumbai?

Surya Mahadevan: Being a single-circle operator, we have a better understanding of the market, have a better decision-making strategy, and there is a sharper focus on the business. Our offerings are customized for Mumbai as a market so an absence of diversity is a huge advantage. The disadvantage is scale and size which are enjoyed by the pan-India operators.

Light Reading India: Do you plan to expand your services to the other circles? Any plan to bid for the upcoming 2G auction?

Surya Mahadevan: We dont intend to expand our service as of now and will continue to focus on the Mumbai circle to provide innovative and best-in-class services to our consumers in the city.

Light Reading India: What will be your strategies to strengthen your footprint in the Mumbai circle? (See IndiaWatch: Vodafone Hikes Call Tariffs in Mumbai.)

Surya Mahadevan: We are an incumbent player in the city with 900-MHz spectrum, offering one of the best networks in the city with 2000-plus sites. We did a complete network revamp about a year ago and will consistently upgrade it, both in terms of network and capacity. We will also stress on bringing more value-for-money offerings to our subscribers.

Light Reading India: How many subscribers does the company have at present, and what is the market share?

Surya Mahadevan: We have 3.2-million subscribers in Mumbai with a 10-percent market share.

Light Reading India: How is the company doing on the data front? What makes your data offerings better than that of your competitors?

Surya Mahadevan: In the last couple of years, we have seen a huge shift in data consumption with more than 70 percent of our post-paid and 40 percent of our pre-paid customers now using data services. It now contributes 45 percent to our overall MVAS (Mobile Value Added Services) revenue. We give primary importance to customer experience ensuring a seamless connectivity to our users.

We also have a more flexible and wider range of data compared to our competitors. Though we are not in 3G, we are providing data services which are sufficient for most of the tasks of our consumers at extremely competitive prices. We are also planning to launch exclusive data subscriptions next month wherein a customer can buy a data-SIM with value propositions meant exclusively for data usage.

Light Reading India: What is the company doing on the MVAS front?

Surya Mahadevan: The contribution of MVAS has gone up to 27 percent of our entire revenue, with most of the growth happening in data and it is likely to grow at a much faster pace. All our applications are billed on our network and the customer does not have to go to any other platform for a transaction.

We have recently tied up with Zipcash to provide mobile transactions and mobile payment services to our customers. But we have to wait for various merchandisers to accept this format of payment. While we are fully ready to provide mobile payment services, it is the entire ecosystem which has to develop for a critical momentum. We are also in discussion with Axis Bank and ICICI Bank to offer mobile account services.

Light Reading India: What is your opinion on recent allegations by Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) of Loop not complying with the Mobile Number Portability (MNP) regulations?

Surya Mahadevan: There have been queries from TRAI about rejections of MNP requests from our side. We have provided them with all documents in our support in compliance, and they have dropped the case after getting convinced that we have followed all the MNP procedures.

Light Reading India: As most of the operators today offer 3G services, what is your strategy to compete against them?

Surya Mahadevan: It's being debated by the Department of Telecommunications along with other operators whether 3G services can be provided via intra-circle or inter-circle roaming and now the case is in the Supreme Court. We already have a business understanding of the 3G and the moment the clouds of the regulatory issues clear, we will be providing 3G services via intra-circle roaming with an operator which we can not name as of now. (See IndiaWatch: Telcos To Continue 3G Roaming Pacts, IndiaWatch: 3G Roaming Might Cost the Carriers and IndiaWatch: DoT Frets Over 3G Roaming Deals.)

Light Reading India: What will be you key points-of-focus this fiscal year?

Surya Mahadevan: We will focus on adding quality revenue-generating customers and on retaining high-value subscribers. Most of our decisions on the product portfolio will be driven by these objectives.

Light Reading India: Are there any plans to provide bundled services in near future?

Surya Mahadevan: We are looking forward to providing bundled services initially to our postpaid customers. Customers will get smartphones with discounts on the phone's MRP (Maximum Retail Price) as well as data subscription plans. The customer will also get an EMI (Equated Monthly Installments) facility at zero-percent interest. We have engaged with a distributor who has alliance with multiple handset manufacturers and banks for the EMI facility, and very soon our customers will be availing this service through our galleries in the city.

Rimit Singh, Correspondent, Light Reading India