Q: What could it do to you in the interim – that is what people are worrying about? Your average revenue per user (ARPUs) have come off to Rs 209, revenue per minute (RPMs) are down to Rs 0.56. Will they drift down significantly lower in this interim period however long its lasts and what kind of levels could they be dragged down to?

A: I never even look at the ARPU because it is inconsequential. Yes, with the kind of pricing happening and the pricing is not related to the cost – it is related to just lack of opportunity for various people – who can rule out that margins can go down for 1-3 quarters? I don’t think it can be ruled out. I would certainly say that my guess that the people will be surprised by the resilience of our profitability because of various countervailing forces which come into play given the scale of decline of the prices. But the larger point I want to make is that at moment the market keeps looking at ARPUs, they keep looking at subscribers – what they don’t look at is what is the potential difference in long-term sustainable profit margins.

My assessment of the sector is that the difference between businesses, companies is so wide and that is the reason that so-called the consolidation period is not going to last very long – the dust will settle – the companies which are intrinsically stronger – I am not claiming that mine is one of those companies, I am making just an analytical statement – I think there will be a separation.

Eventually in this big telecom market, there would be a handful of companies which would be there for the long-term. So if you take a long-term view what is happening has to happen – it is good it happens fast. I am infact happy that the prices are tumbling because it has to happen and better to get done with it and to have this separation.