Stand out and shine

Kohli says that three objectives have been set out for the brand: It should be the preferred brand for prospective customers with its promise of trust and innovation; two, it should help retain existing customers and make them buy other services the brand has to offer; and three, it should help the company double its mobile subscriber base to 200 million in the next three years.

Though there are several services, the two which are expected to drive growth for the company in the near future are mobile services and DTH, followed by broadband.

There are challenges in mobile services as well as DTH. To begin with, the market place is overcrowded. Each mobile circle has at least half a dozen operators and more are ready to get in.

There are five large DTH players (Essel Group, Tata Sky, Bharti Airtel, Reliance Communications and Sun Direct). At least one more, Videocon, is all set to join the bandwagon.

Two, both the services have no entry barriers. After the government has given its nod to virtual mobile network, the go-to-market time for a new operator has come down sharply. DTH technology too can be bought off the shelf.

Three, both the services have a commodity element -- they are sold in bulk, are not personalised and the underlying technology is somewhat similar. The differentiator in this scenario has to be the brand.