Tikona Digital Networks, CEO & MD, Prakash Bajpai in a brief interaction with TelecomTiger

Q1) There is a possibility that WiMAX networks will rollout across the country in a year’s time. How do see yourself competing in such an environment?

Ans: WiMAX opportunity in India will be limited by the spectrum crunch. With only 20 MHz available, WiMAX in India will have limited opportunity in the retail segment. It will at best cater to niche pockets and will mainly cater to the enterprise segment.

We operate on unlicensed 5.8 GHz and 2.4 GHz. Our in-building coverage is also better than other wireless technologies. We are confident of relevance of our services even in presence of other advanced technologies such as WiMAX and LTE as our offering will be better in comparison. 

Q2) You have positioned your service as a 4G technology service. But there are very few end-user terminals available in the Indian market which support such advanced technology. Won’t this limit the end-user experience for your services?

Ans: To address this concern Tikona’s offerings will be a complete end-to-end in approach. In our value-chain of delivery of services we provide a router which is fixed at the customer’s end. The router ensures that end-user terminals are compatible to Tikona’s network and thus customers can enjoy 4G experience.

Customers are not required to buy any extra customer premise equipment (CPE) and thereby they save on costs.

We are probably the first service provider to adopt a concept of managed-CPE.

Q3) You have chosen the microcell concept to set-up your networks. This mode might be feasible in cities. But for rural market this might be financially challenging. Your view points.

Ans: Our initial focus will be covering the cities as this provides a ready market with broadband demand. We intend to have this focus atleast for the first year. Only later will be explore the rural market whenever the market is ready.

Q4) Is the network architecture technology exclusive to you?

Ans: No. The network architecture technology is not exclusive to us.