“We missed the bus but we will catch up”

BANGALORE: Spice Telecom's senior executives today admitted that they had slipped up a bit in terms of market share in Karnataka, a state where the company had the intrinsic advantage of being the first in the market.

The company, which operates in Punjab and Karnataka is the market leader in Punjab while it is number five in Karnataka.

Prakash Nanani, CEO, Spice Telecom is confident of changing this scenario. “ We missed the bus but we will catch up in Karnataka. Between 2002 and 2005, we did not invest much in Karnataka which is why we did not grow,” he said.

He also blamed the disconnect in vision between the two operating partners MCorp Global and Distacom, for the slack growth. “Mcorp had plans of expanding in India while the other partner was looking for opportunities abroad,” Nanani said.

Last month, Hong Kong-based Distacom, which held 42 percent stake in Spice, sold its stake.

Spice's holding has increased to 36 per cent from 22 per cent with this development. The company is now looking to increase this further to 51 per cent.

Now that MCorp has regained full control of the company, Nanani hopes to bring a turnaround in its fortunes.

“You will see us making more and more investment in Karnataka. We will invest Rs 100 crore in 75 days to increase the network capacity in the state,” he said.