 "Release more spectrum for commercial use: Jon Fredrik Baksaas")
President and Chief Executive Jon Fredrik Baksaas, the chairman for GSMA that lobbies for cellular operators worldwide, believes the over-the-top application providers, as part of the ecosystem, should come forward to share the cost of distribution. He talks to Sounak Mitra and Surajeet Das Gupta. Excerpts:
Telenor, which owns 100 per cent in the Indian entity, has a limited presence in just seven circles. When would Telenor look at a pan-India presence?
There is no plan at this moment. We have increased our footprints in existing circles. A pan-India presence for Uninor, which is the operating company of Telenor in India, will depend on the government's decision on the two important regulatory issues - merger and acquisition (M&A) norms and freeing up more spectrum for commercial usage.
There is more spectrum available, and there is a demand. In the government's Digital India initiative, the cellular services industry is one of the important parts. Availability of more spectrum for commercial use will help the industry.
Globally, OTTs are eating into messaging revenues of telecom operators. There have been discussions on whether OTTs should share revenues with the operators. What is your take on this?
OTTs are a very important part of the ecosystem. OTTs, telecom operators and other interlinked services work well together if they are tuned together. The operators, in the ecosystem, are making significant investments in each market, creating employments; they pay taxes. And we do enable things to happen. Operators are also regulated. The OTTs are not regulated. They don't make that much investment locally; they don't create that much employment locally. But, they are also a very attractive part of the ecosystem that works in any country. This could be better understood, and better aligned. The issue of sharing revenues is coming forward more clearly when video and streaming came into the picture. Video and streaming consumes huge bandwidth. It requires better traffic management, and investments by the operators to ensure required data volume. There is a cost attached to distribution, specifically for quality services that demands good bandwidth. This cost can't be borne only by the operators. However, the whole issue would take many discussions in the coming days.
Some telcos have launched OTT applications. How healthy it could be for the industry?
There have been such instances, and there would be more in future. There are challenges for operators, and many are looking at different ways to counter those. Operators, in any case, understand the local culture better than just the applications developers who don't have a real presence in a country.
Telenor has long-term evolution (LTE) services in five countries in 1,800 Mhz band. Will you look at entering the 4G game in India anytime soon?
In the longer scheme of things, we may look at converting part of the spectrum, which is currently being used for 2G, for more data-driven services. However, it is linked to affordability of smartphones as well. Most of India is actually not matured for LTE. There are pockets which are ready for this. However, it would take time for the market to become LTE ready. We are an innovative company that sticks to its 'sabse sasta' strategy. For us, it may take three-four years to look at an alternative data services for our consumers. We may not have the best network, but we have the network that is capable of offering good working services where we are present. This has helped us to get more than 40 million customers. In three years time market will be mature, and we aim to have 50 per cent internet using customers from 20 per cent as of now.
Telenor has mobile banking services in many countries, including Pakistan, Bangladesh, Malaysia and Thailand. Will you bring that to India?
The government has taken a good step forward by deciding to allow even telecom operators to offer basic banking services. In many countries, we are leading mobile money services. We welcome the structure and we will surely have look at it. The Indian authorities have issued draft guidelines for setting up Payment Banks. We will definitely explore the options once the final guidelines are in place.
Telenor, which owns 100 per cent in the Indian entity, has a limited presence in just seven circles. When would Telenor look at a pan-India presence?
There is no plan at this moment. We have increased our footprints in existing circles. A pan-India presence for Uninor, which is the operating company of Telenor in India, will depend on the government's decision on the two important regulatory issues - merger and acquisition (M&A) norms and freeing up more spectrum for commercial usage.
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Globally, many countries release nearly 100 per cent spectrum for commercial use, but in India, a comparably smaller amount of spectrum is released. This needs to be changed. If spectrum availability is there, we'll look for possible opportunities, if it's of any strategic value.
There is more spectrum available, and there is a demand. In the government's Digital India initiative, the cellular services industry is one of the important parts. Availability of more spectrum for commercial use will help the industry.
Globally, OTTs are eating into messaging revenues of telecom operators. There have been discussions on whether OTTs should share revenues with the operators. What is your take on this?
OTTs are a very important part of the ecosystem. OTTs, telecom operators and other interlinked services work well together if they are tuned together. The operators, in the ecosystem, are making significant investments in each market, creating employments; they pay taxes. And we do enable things to happen. Operators are also regulated. The OTTs are not regulated. They don't make that much investment locally; they don't create that much employment locally. But, they are also a very attractive part of the ecosystem that works in any country. This could be better understood, and better aligned. The issue of sharing revenues is coming forward more clearly when video and streaming came into the picture. Video and streaming consumes huge bandwidth. It requires better traffic management, and investments by the operators to ensure required data volume. There is a cost attached to distribution, specifically for quality services that demands good bandwidth. This cost can't be borne only by the operators. However, the whole issue would take many discussions in the coming days.
Some telcos have launched OTT applications. How healthy it could be for the industry?
There have been such instances, and there would be more in future. There are challenges for operators, and many are looking at different ways to counter those. Operators, in any case, understand the local culture better than just the applications developers who don't have a real presence in a country.
Telenor has long-term evolution (LTE) services in five countries in 1,800 Mhz band. Will you look at entering the 4G game in India anytime soon?
In the longer scheme of things, we may look at converting part of the spectrum, which is currently being used for 2G, for more data-driven services. However, it is linked to affordability of smartphones as well. Most of India is actually not matured for LTE. There are pockets which are ready for this. However, it would take time for the market to become LTE ready. We are an innovative company that sticks to its 'sabse sasta' strategy. For us, it may take three-four years to look at an alternative data services for our consumers. We may not have the best network, but we have the network that is capable of offering good working services where we are present. This has helped us to get more than 40 million customers. In three years time market will be mature, and we aim to have 50 per cent internet using customers from 20 per cent as of now.
Telenor has mobile banking services in many countries, including Pakistan, Bangladesh, Malaysia and Thailand. Will you bring that to India?
The government has taken a good step forward by deciding to allow even telecom operators to offer basic banking services. In many countries, we are leading mobile money services. We welcome the structure and we will surely have look at it. The Indian authorities have issued draft guidelines for setting up Payment Banks. We will definitely explore the options once the final guidelines are in place.