executive dossier

Having presence in more than 40 countries, Telecommunications Consultants India Ltd (TCIL) has added several feathers to its cap. Still, the company is diversifying in different areas in the wake of fierce competition in the telecom sector. Its CMD RK Upadhyay spoke to Bureaucracy Today about the different challenges being faced by the industry as well as TCIL’s strategy to overcome them. Excerpts:



What are the areas in which TCIL is operating?
TCIL is currently working in over 40 countries, notable among them being the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), Kuwait, Sultanate of Oman, UAE, Qatar, Ethiopia, Senegal, Mauritius, Ghana, Nepal, Afghanistan and Bhutan. In India some of our main clients are BSNL, Delhi Government, Delhi Police, Commonwealth Games Organizing Committee, ESIC and various state governments, among others.
Please tell us about the work undertaken by TCIL for the e-Payment system of the Department of Telecommunication.
The Department of Telecommunications (DoT), GOI, has decided to receive payments electronically as e-Receipts as per the decision of the Telecommunication Commission. For this purpose, DoT has decided to develop and implement an e-Payment system in order to enable its customers fill e-Challans on its website and make online or offline payment using the e-Challan. DoT has assigned the job of implementing the proposed e-Payment system to TCIL in two phases. In the first phase, TCIL has prepared the System Requirement Specifications (SRS) for the proposed e-Payment system of DoT. In the second phase, TCIL has completed development of the e-Payment system for DoT as per the SRS, and DoT has already accepted the system. TCIL will implement the e-Payment system once DoT is ready with the hosting infrastructure.

TCIL has undertaken projects in the North-Eastern part of India, like the Agartala City Area Network (ACAN) for the Government of Tripura. Can you highlight the achievements of these projects?
The project was completed within the target to the entire satisfaction of the client. We have received an expansion order as well which will be completed by this March.

What are the major challenges faced by an organisation like TCIL?
Delivering the projects on time and ensuring their execution strictly as per quality norms are the only way to progress in this fierce competitive environment. I am happy that at TCIL we are able to achieve this. The real challenge is how to improve one’s method of working, how to improve the execution of projects, so that there is no time overrun, no cost overrun and moreover one is able to work more efficiently. That means productivity per employee has to be drastically improved so that one is able to maintain or at least protect one’s margins. We are moving in that direction and as mentioned earlier, we are diversifying in different areas. Thus, the greatest challenge for a company like TCIL today is to see how the bottom line improves. There is enough work in the market and the topline is really no issue. It depends upon one’s own capacity to work and on how much work one can execute, but the margins are really thinning out.

How has been your experience working with TCIL?
I am through and through a Telecommunication man as I joined DoT through the Indian Telecommunication Services in the 1975 batch. Since then, I have been working in this sector. So, Telecommunication has become my second nature. Being the Chairman of this company, which is an extended arm of DoT, is a real privilege. It is very challenging too, as in the Telecommunication sector there is fierce competition. Almost every country is now thinking of liberalisation and privatisation in the Telecommunication sector and most of the countries have already done that. There are only a handful of countries like Kuwait who have not done that yet. However, it has done wonders for the customers as customer services have really improved and the prices have come down. But for companies like TCIL, there is another side of the story too. If service providers themselves get less revenue per user, then we are the ones who provide infrastructure for providing Telecommunication services. Obviously, our margins are under threat.