Spice Mobility plans to expand 4G enabled product portfolio in 2016

With the continued launch of 4G services across the country, there is growing demand for affordable 4G enabled products, keeping this factor into consideration, Spice Mobility plans to increase the  4G enabled products portfolio. In an interview, Prashant Bindal, chief executive officer, Spice Mobility tells EC’s Mohd Ujaley, “Customers’s demands are evolving fast and they are demanding a superior internet experience for consuming videos, music and accessing social media networks. Hence, we have launched our 4G enabled handset and in the future, we are planning a larger portfolio of 4G enabled mobile internet products.”

Edited Excerpts:

How Spice is looking at 4G evolution in the country?
Mobile communication systems have evolved exponentially in the last few years and evolutionary changes are taking place rapidly such as the shift from feature phones to smartphones, 2G to 3G and now we are looking at 4G enabled handsets. With these changes in the backend technology, mobile handset manufacturers like ourselves have to rapidly adapt to the latest technologies introduced in the market.

With the launch of 4G technology in the country, we envisage a growing demand for economically priced 4G enabled smartphones with users demanding faster downloads, higher surfing and streaming speeds. Customers’ demands are evolving fast and they are demanding a superior internet experience for consuming videos, music and accessing social media networks. We have always been committed towards offering the best technology at affordable prices and keeping that in mind, we have recently launched 4G enabled smartphone.

Is there any plan to increase the portfolio of 4G enabled products?
The recently launched 4G services in the country will be successful conditional to the availability of superior 4G enabled handsets that capitalize on this latest technology and deliver a superior internet experience to end users. We have a significant presence in the Indian market and we have always strived to offer the latest technology to a larger audience. With a vast majority of Indians accessing internet through their mobiles, we anticipate that the mobile will become a connectivity hub in the future.

Keeping these factors in mind, as mentioned above we have launched our 4G enabled handset which is very attractively priced. At the customer end, the attributes that can drive the growth of 4G further may be combo offers, high speed movie downloads and Voice calls through the internet that may be offered by the various telecom players in the country. In the future as well, we are planning a larger portfolio of 4G enabled mobile internet products.

3G faced problem such as high tariff, limited foot print and immature device ecosystem. Will the 4G face the same challenges?
Not necessarily, but the operators are under tremendous pressure to optimize their network infrastructure. Enhancing mobile internet connectivity in the country will require significant investments from telecom tower companies to increase tower and allied infrastructure penetration in the country, which needs to be supplemented by availability of easy financing options, taxation policies and subsidies. The mobile industry has impacted and redefined several aspects of a consumer’s life, allowing them to remain connected with the world and access information. All the relevant players in the ecosystem, such as telecom players and mobile handset manufacturers will have to join hands to enable a successful adoption of this technology.

Will anything immensely improve because of 4G technology in near future?
We recognize the broader vision and the remarkable realm of possibilities that can open up through 4G LTE technology and strongly believe that it is going to be the next revolution in the telecom sector with a great potential to disrupt the market. With more customers shifting to personal messaging services and video calling applications, the improved internet speeds will significantly enhance the user experience and enable the emergence of several new products and internet services using VoIP and Video on mobile services.

4G services with its differentiating factors will be able to attract more customers to mobile internet and also foster the adoption of more mobile internet products such as tablets. The adoption of 4G will however be largely benefitted from the low-cost/budget smartphones supporting the network. In the long run consumers will use more and more enhanced voice quality and media/data services. In today’s scenario, the development in the 4G networks and related technologies is an indicator of advancement in the field of wireless communication and technology.

Do you see any impact of 4G roll-out on government’s ‘Digital India’ and ‘Make in India’ projects?
The large scale roll out of 4G will enable the Digital India vision to become a reality through high speed and reliable internet networks. As compared to broadband, the mobile penetration in the country is much higher and therefore mobiles represent an opportunity to address and make services available to a much larger audience in the country. The government should acknowledge and capitalize on this latest technology to roll out their vision at a grand scale. I personally feel that 2016 will be very significant year for the growth of telecom sector in India. And, we are strongly in favour of the ‘Digital India Campaign’ as it has potential to enhance the reach of basic services such as healthcare and education to millions of Indians remotely through technology, thus significantly improving their quality of life.

As far as ‘Make in India’ project is concern, I believe it is an ambitious and progressive initiative and has the caliber to position India on the global map as a competitive manufacturing destination. The mobile handset industry is emerging as one of the biggest consumers that is growing rapidly and the industry will benefit significantly from a local manufacturing policy. It will open up several new avenues and opportunities for domestic and international players in the telecom sector as well.

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