Tikona in no awe of Rel's entry, set for BWA battle

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Tikona in no awe of Rel's entry, set for BWA battle

Tikona Digital, which bagged five circles in the broadband wireless access (BWA) auctions, is getting ready to launch its services. And it is not worried about the entry of Reliance Industries into the sector through Infotel.

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Excerpts from India Business Hour on CNBC-TV18 Watch the full show » Nifty BSE | NSE 30/05/12 Are Mutual Funds betting on Nifty? Other Stocks in this news Quadrant Televentures | Reliance Communications |

Tikona Digital, which bagged five circles in the broadband wireless access (BWA) auctions, is getting ready to launch its services. And it is not worried about the entry of Reliance Industries into the sector through Infotel . CNBC-TV18's Priyal Guliani reports.

Prakash Bajpai, the former head of Reliance Communication 's broadband business, is all set to compete with Reliance Industries in the broadband wireless business and says that the five circles it has won in the recent BWA auctions for Rs 1,058 crore will help it multiply its network. Tikona says it has managed to get a 30%-coverage for just 8% of the cost for a pan-India presence. And while two players in every circle may not mean disruptive pricing, tariffs could see a sizeable drop.

Prakash Bajpai, MD & CEO, Tikona Digital, said, "There is a 50% drop in tariffs."

However, Bajpai says that the consumer may still spend the same amount, since better technology will attract more usage.

"Spend level may not go down dramatically but today you are paying Re 1 per mega byte for wireless download or Rs 2, which are huge, and highest across territories, with capacities and ecosystem coming in, this will reduce substantially," he said.

Tikona expects to receive spectrum by next week and is not worried about the pan-India presence of Mukesh Ambani's Infotel.

"It is good for us as it has brought attention to broadband, and more people are now believing in the broadband business," Bajpai added.

And what with getting FIPB approval for Rs 1,142 crore before the auctions, Tikona has sufficient funds for Phase-I of its rollout plans.

But first things first: Tikona is waiting for vendors to make equipment commercially available and affordable, to begin roll out.