Vodafone to foray into Indian SME space

MUMBAI, INDIA: Vodafone Essar, one of lndia’s leading telecommunication services providers, is slowly foraying into the enterprise business solutions market, also known as B2B offerings in the Indian market.

According to Naveen Chopra, Vodafone Essar’s director — Enterprise & Carrier Business, the company has around 10,000 corporate customers that include small and medium enterprises (SMEs).

“We are not only providing connectivity to customers but also providing complex enterprise solutions and products to small and large enterprises,” Chopra said.

It’s quite interesting that Vodafone Essar is relatively new to the enterprise business offerings, compared to other telecom companies such as Tata Communications, Reliance Communications and Bharti Airtel.

However, the company has taken key steps in order to increase its enterprise customer base.

“Although we had offered enterprise solutions before, it wasn’t done in a more focused manner. But two years back, we started our enterprise business unit to offer fixed lines connectivity such as leased line, MPLS and others. And secondly, we started addressing SMEs and focussing on opportunities surrounding small businesses,” Chopra pointed out.

“We also set up SME solutions teams to address the large base of SMEs and their requirements in India,” he added.

Presently, India has around 4 million SMEs, however, Chopra stressed that these SME customers are highly underserved and have different shades in the segment. “SMEs need business partners who can understand their business and requirements and help them grow their business,” he said.

In terms of serving the needs of enterprises and SMEs, Chopra explained that the company is taking support and leveraging Vodafone Group’s reach and capabilities.

“Our separate enterprise team is serving many global as well as local SME accounts in India. The enterprise business unit is growing faster than the consumer business,” Chopra concluded.