Of all the new entrants, Sistem Shyam Teleservices (SSTL) is the only one which has set the ball rolling and is aggressively expanding its footprint across the country. SSTL President and CEO Mr.Vsevolod Rozanov shares the company’s vision in an interaction with TelecomTiger

Q1) Your decision to offer mobile services on CDMA platform surprises most of the people. How do you address these concerns especially considering the fact that even incumbent CDMA operators are migrating to the GSM platform?

Ans: We do not believe there is that much of a difference between GSM (global system for mobile communications) and CDMA (code division multiple access). Customers using CDMA technology are approximately one quarter of all. Given the size of the Indian market, this is quite a good percentage of the population.

Another important consideration for choosing CDMA was the fact that the demand for data services is the expected to grow meteorically, for which CDMA is better suited. We have plans to foray into this segment and garner significant market share. 

Being a Greenfield player, our go-to-market strategy, for the India foray was to break the price barrier while maintaining quality standard and connectivity. CDMA has tremendous potential and we will continue to develop its market with pan-India coverage of our service brand MTS.   

Q2) Subscribers often complain of lack of wider options while choosing CDMA handset terminals. What are your plans to offer subscribers with a wider bouquet of options?

Ans: I think is more of a problem of perception. CDMA handsets are no longer the bulky and aesthetically less-appealing devices that we saw early on in the market. As a result of continued innovations in designing and manufacturing, the CDMA handsets today look sleeker, and are equipped with advanced features that have the capability to support data-rich applications and next generation networks- which were otherwise perceived to be only GSM’s strong point.

We have partnered with ZTE, Samsung, and Huawei to offer attractive range of handsets compatible with the MTS network.

We have a range of 16 handsets for customers to choose from, starting from Rs 999-16,999. We are offering connection with and without handsets, giving customers the choice of either using our SIM on any CDMA handset available in the market or alternatively buying one from our range.