New Delhi: Unitech Wireless Ltd’s new managing director Stein Eric Vellan, who has been in India for around six months now, expects to launch operations by the latter part of the fourth quarter of the calendar year under the brand name Uninor. Vellan comes to India after a two and half years as the chief executive officer of Telenor ASA’s operations in Serbia. Norway’s Telenor owns a 67.2% stake in the company founded by real estate developer Unitech Ltd. In an interview, Vellan talks of the challenges in doing business in India, the new brand name and what will differentiate Telenor’s operations from its rivals in the world’s fastest-growing and second largest telecom market. Edited excerpts:
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What is the story behind the new brand and what is the positioning?
Opportunity knocks: Stein Eric Vellan says Telenor is very optimistic about India. Ramesh Pathania / Mint
The story behind the brand is two strong partners coming together heading a joint venture. It’s up to us to fill that brand (Uninor) with values. These values have been clearly chosen for the company that will drive us in our everyday life. You see a brand that is different, it’s going to be cultural, vibrant and it’s going to change a lot.
I think that’s another important thing—that the ability to handle change, especially in a competitive environment like India, will lead to success in the future.
What will the key differentiator between you and the rest of the telecom companies in India?
First of all, we would have to start with the company itself. Uninor will be based upon clear values and these values will drive us in our everyday business life. We say that we want to be respectful, which means we treat each other with respect inside the company and that should be transferred to treating the customers outside the company with respect.
We want to be simple because a lot of the operators can talk of the challenges when it comes to technology and all the other areas. I think it can be simple like everything in life—you can over-complicate or you can make it simple. If you truly understand something and you know how to do things, you can make it simple. We want to take that simplicity out to the customer front and have them understand that being a customer of Uninor, it’s going to be simple. Another aspect is that we will keep promises.
When you come into a market like India, you see colours everywhere, you see smiling people and you take that and you can transfer it into, and build, a company that has a value that is inspiring as well. In the end, you will see that maybe you will be inspiring the customers.
These elements are not that easily copied, that’s what the customer is going to feel.