TT: What are your views about Indian market?

AG: Indian market is difficult but I am confident that we can be a large player. Russian companies are not present in India’s high tech sector. Russian companies do not have much experience except military supplies in India. Sistema is the only Russian company that has invested substantial amount in Indian telecom sector.

TT: What are your investment plans?

AG: We have already invested more than $600 million. The future investment plans depend on the frequency spectrum we obtain. In any case our investment would be close to several billion dollars.

TT: Indian telecom market is very competitive as more than six operators are present in this field. Average Revenue Per User (ARPU) is very low in India. In such a competitive environment what would be your strategy?

AG: We have the ability to use experience of those companies that entered first in the telecom sector. Therefore, we will not repeat their mistakes. We are carefully examining their experience.

In last few years, prices of equipment have fallen. We also have very good relations with suppliers who are vendors for our subsidiary Mobile Telesystems (MTS). We have more than 80 million subscribers in Russia and Europe. In India, we have very good relations with Shyam which has a lot of experience in providing services in one circle i.e. Rajasthan. Shyam also understands the technology very well as it is also into manufacturing of equipments.

Therefore, we can unite experience of Shyam and MTS. This will have major impact on our success in Indian market..

TT: What about tariffs for subscribers?

AG: Only time will show what will be the tariff. However, our tariffs will be competitive. I think not only tariff is important but also what services one can offer to the customers is also worth looking.

TT: What other services would you offer to your subscribers?

AG: We plan to offer a number of value added services including Mobile TV. One of our subsidiaries is rolling out Mobile TV network in Russia. Sistema is also into production of Films and Media services. All these facilities will be used to promote our services.

TT: Are there other sectors besides telecom where Sistema will be interested in India?

AG: We will like to be in Real Estate and tourism business in India. We are exploring possibilities of entering in both the fields.