Jain: Mobile magic

New Delhi, Aug. 27: Real estate firm Parsvnath Developers plans to enter the domestic mobile phone segment to tap opportunities in the world’s fastest growing telecom market.

“Parsvnath has applied to the department of telecom (DoT) for licence to offer GSM-based services in all the 22 circles in the country,” said Pradeep Jain, chairman of Parsvnath Developers.

The company seeks to tap the open policy on spectrum to provide unified access service on a pan-India basis. Parsvnath also wants to enter rural telephony.

“Parsvnath can get unified access service licence, subject to getting necessary approvals. However, spectrum allocation is subject to availability,” said officials.

Spectrum — radio waves that enable wireless communications — is in scarce supply. Several existing players such as Vodafone Essar and Idea Cellular are even now awaiting spectrum allocation to start 2G services in various circles where they have already got the licences from the DoT. Spectrum allocation for a new player is unlikely till defence forces vacate spectrum over which they have rights.

Jain, however, said Parasvnath was confident that the government would resolve the spectrum issue by the time the company entered the telecom sector.

DoT is in discussion with the defence ministry to vacate 35MHz of spectrum for basic voice or 2G services and is optimistic about progress by the end of 2007.

The licence for unified access services will entail a 2G licence for GSM and a triple play of various services such as IPTV, Wi-Max, Internet, broadband and other value-added services.

“It is a great opportunity to diversify into this business area as the penetration of mobile telephony is still low in India compared with developed countries,” said Jain. When number portability is introduced, it will offer immense business opportunity to new entrants, Jain added.

The real estate major plans to form a joint venture with a foreign telecom company to start its telecom venture in India. However, the company did not provide details on its stake in the joint venture or investments required in the project. The company’s diversification will be the first outside the real estate-related businesses such as townships, special economic zones and hospitality.