Bangalore: The Chairman and Group Managing Director of Bharti Enterprises Sunil Bharti Mittal may have made big bucks out of the mobile telephony revolution in India, but the man says it was a saga of struggle, fight and the "mother of all battles."
When he began his entrepreneurial venture in 1985, he was ignored and laughed at thereafter, before the fight erupted in the telecom sector leading to what he calls mother of all battles from which he came out fairly successful, he said.
Sharing his thoughts with students and faculty of Indian Institute Management, Bangalore, at a convocation function, Mittal said: "I am a new age entrepreneur. I believe I represent the changing face of India."
"When I came out of college in 1976, I was told by all my friends and people generally older and guiding me in my hometown in Ludhiana that the pole-positions the grand-stand positions have already been taken up by those who mattered."
Mittal added the period 1976 to 1985 was a period of great struggle, of great pain but one of great learning. "Learning that I could not take form B-school because I went straight to business after university. I picked up on the streets. I learnt my lessons on the streets and at every opportunity, tried to assimilate, gather, absorb some of the practices that were required to create an enterprise."
He said he saw his first battle with "big boys" in 1985-86 when he first launched India's first push-button telephones. "My romance with telecom started in 1985."
In 1992, Mittal said he applied for mobile licence --India's first attempt to provide mobile telephone services. "I felt we had the passion to deliver India's first mobile phone services. Many thought otherwise. We threw our hat in the ring."
He said 1993, 1994 and 1995 saw some major litigation around this area. First licence was awarded in 1995.
"Bharti got licence to provide mobile telephony in Delhi. People were still laughing. Because this was supposed to be a business with very deep pockets."
“It was only later that he realised that this business needed "large monies". Those were difficult times,” Mittal said.
"When it came to providing mobile services in the rest of the country it saw the awakening of all those who missed in round one."
"Everybody who missed out in the first round large industrial houses to many others came and jumped in round two. Bidding that happened in that round edged out almost all entrepreneurial initiatives. The bid went at Rs 85,000 crore and this was in 1996."
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