Budget 2001: A Primer

Says Mr Sunil Bharti Mittal, chairman and managing director, BhartiEnterprises: "We still bet on GSM versus CDMA for mobility, since it is abetter technology. So we will bid for as many licences as we can and hope towin as many as we can. If we bid for 10 circles, we can hope to win at leastthree or four."

Bharti Enterprises will be in race for "all good potential circles" for GSM.Though he refused to reveal the exact circles Bharti would be bidding for MrMittal did say that the company, which has "reasonably covered North andSouth" would be aiming for "fillers in the West (this includes Maharashtra),something in the South, a couple of circles in the North, and Calcutta".However a final decision in this regard will be taken only after thetendering process is completed, he adds. The company, currently operates themobile services in Himachal Pradesh, Delhi, Karnataka, Chennai and Keralaand basic services in Madhya Pradesh.

BPL Mobile, which is one of the biggest cellular players in India, will alsobe bidding for fourth licences. "We will be bidding for fourth operatorlicences in South, West, and some strategic parts of North India," says MrRajeev Chandreshekhar, chairman and CEO, BPL Innovision Business Group. Theexact wishlist includes Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Delhi, andCalcutta, he adds. However, he says: ``The final decision will be taken oncewe get the tender document and see the terms''. Then the deciding factorswill be capital availability, etc. However, Mr Chanderashekher does notexpect the bidding to be very aggressive considering the unstable policyenvironment. Mr Mittal also says that with "unlimited licences in CDMA, itdoes not make too much sense to be very aggressive in GSM. You get Delhibasic in Rs 50 crore, CDMA frequency, so how much will you pay for GSM?"Senior officials of the Birla-AT&T-Tata combine say that the company isinterested in picking up the Delhi, Mumbai, and Karnataka circles as thefourth cellular operator.

Forecast bids fair for fourth cellular licences Others like Escotel,Hutchison, and Spice Communications have adopted a wait and watch policybefore they make up their minds. Says Mr Umang Das, managing director,corporate affairs, Spice Communications Limited: "We are interested inexpanding our footprint as a cellular player, however it is not possible tosay right now where we will bid. Let the tender come out first. We willanalyze the terms and conditions before we decide."

The same holds true for Escotel, which apart from Spice Communications isthe only other major telecom player which has not submitted applications forbasic telecom licences. Says Mr Manoj Kohli, CEO, Escotel: "The environmentis so uncertain, we are not able to decide what to do. Let the tenderdocument come out."

Hutchison Whampoa, according to its country head, Mr Aseem Ghosh is also inthe "wait and watch" mode. Meanwhile, HFCL and Shyam Telecom have ruled outany possibility of their entering the fray for fourth cellular licences.Says Mr Mahendra Nahata, director, HFCL Group, "We will not be bidding forfourth cellular licences anywhere."

However, just in case the GSM route does not work out the companies haveplaced their eggs in the CDMA basket as well. According to Mr Mittal,"Wherever we don't get GSM, we will get CDMA. For instance, if inMaharashtra we don't get GSM, we will do CDMA in Mumbai. And wherever wehave GSM, like in Delhi, we have also applied for CDMA because that gives usadditional CDMA spectrum. So we will give CDMA mobile, fixed line, and GSM -all three services." Clearly, despite all the policy hiccups, when it comesto ambition, telecom czars are always hungry for more.