Debasis Chatterji
Debasis Chatterji, CEO, Netxcell Limited, has been successful in taking along multi-cultural and multi-talented teams. Debasis is a Doctorate in Science and holds an Advanced Management Program from Indian Institute of Management Bangalore with a Diploma in Patent Law from NALSAR university of Law. He attended an executive management programme called "Managing Business in Global Context" in ESADE Business School, Barcelona, Spain under the chair of Prof. Pedro Parada, the renowned strategic management expert of Harvard Business School. A VAS Company of Choice and an Employer of Choice is what Debasis wants Netxcell to become in the coming years. Stints at Rohm GmbH earlier in his career brought out the capability of understanding a new space and developing ingenious ways of getting breakthroughs into it. With this grounding, Debasis grew into being at the helm of affairs at Netxcell. Under his leadership Netxcell has launched Mobismart portal which is a mix of Hosted Voice Exchange for automated voice dialing and bulk SMS(data) for the first time in India creating new business possibilities for automated voice and data dissemination thereby creating a huge opportunity of reaching out to people in the language of their choice. His emphasis on Intellectual Property Rights helped Netxcell file several products / services for Patent, Service Mark and Copyright.
Netxcell Limited is a pioneer in the telecom sector, with a collective vision: To cater to the global emerging and demanding trends in wireless technology. The company specializes in providing frontline technology in mobile applications and enterprise solutions. Incorporated in the year 2000, it is promoted by Prathima Group of Industries, Andhra Pradesh, India. Netxcell undertakes product development for customer specifications, offering cutting-edge technology solutions that are already being used by leading cellular service providers in India and abroad.
Replying to Anil Mascarenhas of India Infoline, Debasis Chatterjii says, "After voice, SMS is most widely used as primary application and has found favor with retail and business users."
VAS is still a developing industry. How large do you think it can get? Where do you see Netxcell headed?
VAS market in India is crowded with a lot of players claiming to be offering similar services. While the fact remains that most of these players have not developed products of their own, it is contradictory to what the mature markets have to offer since most of them concentrate on developing of products / services themselves rather than trying to just do a commissioning job. We are respected in the industry both within India and abroad for the technological advantage we carry as all the products are self developed. Hence, maturity is still a challenge in the Indian market while sales / revenue is still a distant dream.
Can VAS products see tariff pressures in the short term in India?
VAS tariffs can see definite pressure as there are many operators and the services given by operators at different levels are also varying.
Are most of your deals are on revenue share basis?
Yes to an extent.
What proportion of revenues will come from international operations in the coming years?
20% of the revenues will be contributed by the International Operations .
Tell us about some of your milestones?
Netxcell provides seamless mobile solutions to cater to the emerging and demanding trends in wireless technology. Netxcell has been the major content aggregator to service providers in India. Netxcell has been ‘The Most Innovative Company Of 2007’, and has won award for ‘The Best Integrated and Cross Platform Strategy utilizing Mobile Marketing’ at MAMA 2009 for Mobismart (Enterprise Voice Messaging Solutions).
Netxcell has innovated turnkey messaging solution to Enterprise messaging solution, CRBT and Video Streaming for 3G networks. Having a widespread reach in India, Netxcell is planning to go global and achieve success by providing win-win situations amongst its various clients providing customizable products and enhancing customer satisfaction.
Are you looking at raising funds?
Yes we are looking at raising Funds for Expansion and Better Prospects.
What are your main products?
Our products like Mobismart, Streaming Video Server, ICM and M-infinity are our next gen platforms addressing the growth areas. If you see all the products are addressed keeping future in view like Mobile advertisement is huge growth area and with 3G in the anvil, our video streaming server can serve the service providers and media companies.
What is your vision for Netxcell?
We are looking to exploit the latest and best technology available to develop software products and services for our customers to meet their demand and expectations in a constantly changing environment. We are also looking to offer them best possible service. All in all, we want to be a globally recognized Mobile Solutions Company by providing quality solutions.
What are the values that drive people at Netxcell?
People in Netxcell are driven by Growth / Uniqueness and Smart work. They like to on par with the External Market both technically and functionally and ensure that they maintain the standards.
What kind of innovative applications do you have? Which are the sectors you see huge potential for?
NetXcell Limited provides innovative and attractive services using SMS, IVR, WAP and GPS. Their services are targeted to generate more revenue to the mobile operator by focusing on the current market trends. The company provides SMS information services on mobile like news, business news, stock updates, horoscopes, movie reviews, jokes and downloading of ringtones, picture messages, operator logos, etc. NetXcell was the first to introduce 'Cricket on Mobile', 'Advertising on Mobile' and 'Exam Results on Mobile' in India and these services are the most popular value added services accessed by the mobile users. After analyzing the Indian Mobile Industry, NetXcell has identified around 100 such SMS informational and entertainment services which are offering to the mobile operators in different mobile networks in India.
With SMEs already using the bulk messaging services to the core, what potential does it have for VAS players?
I think stand-alone enterprise VAS app I would believe is SMS based communications. Be it ring tones, video clips, Bill payment, or any information, they can all be accessed and downloaded by sending SMSes. Enterprises, on their part, broadcast their offerings by pushing SMSes to users who in turn send another SMSes to avail the service. After voice, SMS is most widely used as primary application and has found favor with retail and business users. Operators are also happy as it uses less bandwidth and gives good revenue per message, ranging from Rs 6 to Rs 200. Developers use SMS as the base for other applications.
To what extent do you see ARPUs increasing?
Drastic competition among telecom companies has led to the falling of average revenue per user (ARPU) for GSM subscribers to Rs.221 for the quarter ended September 08; all India blended ARPU (per month) for the second quarter is Rs.122 as compared to Rs.139 for the previous quarter. Mobile customer base worldwide grew by another 17% in 2008, but is offset by a steady decline in average revenue per user (ARPU) which dropped to US$17.50 a month in 2008. Meanwhile, fixed network services are stagnating.
Tell us about your R&D?
The Team here in R&D handles working on new products and ideas as per the market requirement. They have immense knowledge in handling situations which makes them learn new Technologies and start practicing them based on industry standards.