Interview with Himanshu Kapania, MD, Idea Cellular

What will be the tipping point of this growth in 3G?

There are three or four factors that favour Indian operators. One being the entry of operators about nine years after the technology established itself. So, the ecosystem that hampered the growth in developed countries has now transitioned and is well developed. Also, we expect 3G to touch one billion units globally by the end of the year. With such large volumes, the coverage provided by Indian telecom operators will grow significantly. A key deciding factor for growth will be the delivery of content and applications. The Indian IT industry is extremely strong. Also, Bollywood and cricket have a significant role to play. Their adoption onto wireless will be very fast and consumers will move from large screens to the small screens, like they moved from voice to text.

It�s all about 3G these days. Is that the next big idea? What about the voice business?

There is still a lot of juice left in the voice business and Idea is extremely well positioned for it, especially in the hinterland. According to our assessment, there are another 300 to 400 million new customers who are likely to join 2G or the wireless business in the next three to four years.