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The next 400 million
Though voice still remains the money spinner, telecom operators and handset makers are betting big on services to acquire the next 400 million customers. Kushan Mitra goes into the details.Broadband betGlobal downturn?The handsets pieThe new boys of telecomIndia epicentreBroadband for 99% IndiansThe crown jewel

India epicentre
The handset manufacturing leviathan is innovating for India and from India.
The crown jewel
Just past the 17 rows of machines that build the printed circuit boards and affix microphones, speakers and cameras into a steady stream of mobile handsets, a crude cardboard instrument resembling a clock catches your eye. It’s the most low-tech thing at Nokia’s manufacturing facility in Sriperumbudur near Chennai.  Nokia’s success in India is not restricted to the market—it has set up a world-class production facility, too.
The new boys of telecom
A clutch of new players is marking its presence in the crowded telecom space. Although, they all are aware of of the gigantic size of the established players and know that just innovation may not work when the big players fight back, they are dreaming of getting blockbuster user bases. Tejeesh N.S. Behl and Anusha Subramanian report.
The handsets pie
If the world’s fastest-growing telecom market is drawing service providers by the dozen, then it is also a honey pot for a host of new handset manufacturers. Several new players, big and small, therefore, see the Indian handset market as their new playground.
Global downturn?
While the Indian mobile market grows at a furious pace, the global market for handsets isn’t faring too well.
Broadband bet
Qualcomm is betting on its Kayak phonecum-computer device and Snapdragon chip to engineer a broadband revolution In India. Will it work?

2009-05-03

Digital

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Editors note

From The Editor

The common link in all the mobile phone advertisements today from Idea, Airtel, Aircel, LG and Vodafone is that none emphasises what most customers think to be the core value of the product: making and receiving calls.

Trends

Pay phone!

A survey by a mobile commerce solutions company says Indians are finally using their mobile phones to pay bills and buy movie tickets.

CEO Watch

The month of March saw signs of corporate India battling back to nullify the gloom of global recession with announcements of new product launches and merger activity.

'Companies should be process-driven'

In Hyderabad recently, Dipak C. Jain, Dean of the Kellogg School of Management in the US, spoke to E. Kumar Sharma on innovative management practices, corporate governance in India and how B-Schools need to come to terms with the reality of a slowdown.

Faster and Cleaner

In the length of an average lifetime, the field of aviation had gone from being barely able to fly an aircraft for 100 feet to landing on the moon.

Placement crunch haunts ISB

The Indian School of Business has extended its placement season after many students fail to get offers.

Television for the Expats

A glut of foreign channels is now available on cable and DTH platforms, targeting the expatriate community.

Response to the downturn

Despite the slowdown, many Indian firms are confident of achieving double-digit growth, says an E&Y survey.

Numbers of note

India’s rank among 223 countries in terms of average Internet connection speed (772 Kbps compared to the global average of 1.5 Mbps)

Signs of a recovery?

While industrial output figures are grim, growth across some sectors suggests that the worst may be over.

Instan tip

The fortnight’s burning question is will the stock market buoyancy last?

Live TV in your car

With election season in full swing, how would our politicians, used to creature comforts, keep up with the news from their election wagon or “rath”?

Retail tools

Caught in the fog of the global recession, India's retails players are looking for survival strategies as the odd footfall echoesin empty malls.

To be precise

“In life, there are no guarantees, and in economics, there are no guarantees. I have no doubt, though, that the steps that have been taken are critical to preventing us sliding into a depression. Whether they’re sufficient, we’ve got to wait and see,” says Barack Obama, US President.

Columns

How to sell your product without a single ad

The success of Swave-boards in many countries represents one of the most successful examples of “Diffusion of Innovation” and many companies can learn from it.

Broadband for 99% Indians

3G services could go a long way in driving broadband penetration in India. But the challenge is to ensure that the common man can afford the services.

Towards a new economic order

There is a helping hand for the IMF and some progress has been made on trade. The G-20 summit managed to forge a consensus on some thorny issues after a brainstorming session.

BT More

Bordeaux meets China

Does the arrival of Lafite Rothschild in China herald a turnaround in a country where the most popular brand, called Great Wall, is reminiscent of rocket fuel?

Brute luxury

We associate Mercedes-Benz with big, luxury cars, but the ML320 CDI breaks that image with its diesel engine and serious off-road gear.

Fish eats man

A treatment for skin conditions has evolved into a ticklish pedicure that leaves your skin looking and feeling like new.

Letter from the Editor

Namaste Dear Readers! Hot isn’t it? It seems that spring has walked out on us, without so much as a goodbye, and now summer is glowering down on our precious metros, making them sweatier, stickier and generally less bearable.

Speak, memory

Waltz with Bashir is a brilliant investigation into the nature of guilt and memory.

Unified entertainment

Why carry two devices when one does the job just fine? That’s the logic of Sony Ericsson’s Walkman and Nokia’s XpressMusic phones.

Global cool

We talk to John Hooks, Giorgio Armani’s #2, about luxury, India’s commonality with Italy, and how he’s not really a stylish person at all. (And even if he was, he would never admit it.)

High rollers

The Rolls Royce 200EX may be an experimental model, but it points the way for the much-awaited RR4 next year.

Calender, May 2009

What’s new and what’s happening this month.

The books that shaped my life

Every issue we ask a prominent businessman about the books that made them the people they are today. This month: Sudip Bandyopadhyay, CEO, Reliance Money.

The marathon man

India’s original pin-up boy, Milind Soman, tells us how he keeps fit and runs marathons at the age of 44.

Getting a head

To win requires breaking out of that comfort zone and pushing oneself to be the very best one can be. It really is, as the cliché goes, all in the head.

Escape the heat

There’s only one way to survive summer in the metros and that’s to get the hell out. Run for the hills! Where the air is clean and the breeze is crisp and the snow crunches underfoot. Over the next few pages, we show you where to go, where to stay and what to do when you get there. From the spectacular Himalayan states of India to farther jaunts like Bhutan, Sweden and even South Africa. It’s time to get out of town!

Jesse Randhawa 30s

Raised in Delhi, Jesse moved to Mumbai a decade ago to become a ramp model and actress (she appeared in Anurag Kashyap’s Gulaal). She’s now dating Sandip Soparrkar, her dance teacher, and is a fan of pre-marital sex.

Sex on the beach

Once upon a time, two very evocative words came together to form the ultimate licentious cocktail.

New restaurants in the metros

The hottest new restaurants in the metros.

Kitchen confidential

Chef Morimoto’s landmark restaurant Wasabi will soon complete a year in New Delhi. We go behind the scenes to see what makes this temple of gastronomy tick.

Hot off the shelf

A new season calls for a brand new you. From watches to handsets to clothes, and even make-up, transform yourself with the hottest buys of the month.

Noted

Bagged, appointed, failed and voted!

Ratan Tata is voted as ‘India Inc.’s Most Powerful CEO’ by The Economic Times Corporate Dossier’s Most Powerful CEOs Survey.

Top Mind

MagCloud

Know about this new service from HP which allows anyone and everyone to print their very own magazine. Even if they want a single copy!

Special

How to end poverty in India

TeamLease’s India Labour Report 2008 presents a practical, well-thought-out and measurable way to cut unemployment and poverty.

Are you losing the good people?

The often unseen cost of attrition, voluntary and involuntary, can be staggering for organisations. Here's your primer on good and bad leavers.

Jobs shrink some more

IT, ITES worst-hit; Healthcare and Pharma in welcome uptick.

Printed Circuit

The ultimate storage device

With a capacity to store 16,000 songs or 70 DVD quality movies,SanDisk’s new flash drive is an alluring monster.

Current

World Wide Worm

The slowdown is fuelling the explosive growth of malware or malicious software and both India Inc. and Indian consumers are in the firing line.

Here comes the sun

Solar power goes megawatt, as promoters rush to tap government incentives.

The regional rush

The regional film industry is set to get a corporate makeover with the entry of big production houses.

The coming grain glut

From shortage to surplus—bordering on glut—government actions and policies yet again play havoc with India’s food grain economy.

Google's new search

The Internet giant wants to leverage its India R&D teams to explore new growth avenues.

Heady brew

The success of Tata Tea’s Jaago Re campaign may inspire many more companies to elevate their advertising to an intellectual plane.

In This Issue

Banking on India

While financial services giants have posted huge losses overseas, they are either making substantial profits or planning ambitious expansions in India.

Back of the Book

Jeez, it's cheese

Top quality Italian cheese is being produced in rural Haryana and Himachal Pradesh. Tejeesh N.S. Behl feeds on mozzarella, scamorza and other varieties to unravel the secret of this success.

Letters

Keep the standard flying high

When business the world over is being walloped by the economic crisis, India’s Mini Global Champs (BT, April 19) offers grounds for hope. In looking for bright spots when many American and European MNCs are on the ropes, these select Indian companies are able to build on their growth acceleration stories.

People

Bowled over

Few know of his passion for cricket, but 42-year-old Ajay Bijli, CMD, PVR, is doing everything to offer a sporting experience—in whatever form.

Money

Pulling out of the debt trap

The financial slowdown has set back many households on their debt repayments. BT examines some of the options and how you can bridge the gap.

A safe badla?

A SEBI committee moots physical settlement in derivatives. But the markets may not be ready for the transition yet.

Features

Oxygen for fertiliser industry

The commencement of gas supply from RIL’s finds is set to re-energise India’s fertiliser industry, hitherto hobbled by costly feedstock and subsidies.

Grounded

Can the credibility—and the prospects—of the Maytas companies improve if Ramalinga Raju’s sons continue to be at the helm of their operations?

The real cost of populism

Political parties have made tall promises in their manifestos, unmindful of the high cost of fulfilling them later borne by the voters who were once lured by the promises.

Does KYC = Kick Your Customer?

‘Know Your Customer’ (KYC) was an initiative meant to curb the misuse of funds. Instead, it is keeping large numbers out of the banking system and impeding business activity.

Games Indians play

The world of online gaming is changing— and how! Not so long ago it was restricted to only a few broad categories— action, sports, puzzles and adventure games. Today, that universe is rapidly expanding. Burgeoning internet usage in India is giving a fillip to the online gaming industry as well. Manu Kaushik reports.

K Sera Sera

For three decades, the three Ks—Kothari, Kampani and Kotak—ruled The Street. Today, Kothari has hung up his gloves, Kampani is in the eye of a storm and Kotak is building a bank—ending an era of home-grown dealmakers. Rachna M. Koppikar goes into the details.

Leadership Spotlight

Leading from the front

Nusli Wadia is still fighting his battles and emerging stronger from them. His latest victory, after three years of sparring: a separation from French major Groupe Danone, which had a 25.48 per cent stake in foods major Britainnia, with Wadia holding another 25.48 per cent. Wadia now has sole control over Britannia.

60 minutes

'Asia needs to change its growth model'

Stephen Roach, Chairman, Morgan Stanley Asia, is widely recognised as one of the most seasoned economists in the world. Known for his bearish forecasts, Roach’s research covers a broad range of topics, with particular emphasis on globalisation and the emergence of China.

Book

From rivals to partners

A book on India and China—and not on India vs China—that is practical and incisive.

Treadmill

Hard abs, one simple move

Why is the abdominal crunch the most popular abs exercise ever? The answer: ’Coz it’s easy! Unfortunately, it’s hardly as effective as it’s touted to be!

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