On the current scenario of the enterprise telephony market

Telcos drove the SME and corporate markets in the year 2008-09 offering free PBX with their PRI Lines. Government purchase was affected by the announcement of election and hence, last quarter did not see the kind of business expected.

A major shift from analog PBX to digital PBX has been seen in the small to mid range PBX business, thanks to telcos offering free PBX bundled with PRI. Corporates preferred to switch over to private telco players offering free PBX, not showing any concern about the brand offered with PRI ISDN lines. As most of Greenfield projects deferred purchases due to economy slowdown, business was heavily affected.

On the market and technology trends in the voice solutions market

The market has seen preference for PRI ISDN based PBX for standalone application and IP based solution for multi-location requirements. This is likely to continue in the year 2009-10.There is a good amount of interest, particularly from BFSI for voice applications such as voice logging, voice mailing, call center etc.

On the impact of the slowdown on the market

There was a major impact seen as far as corporates and SME segment is concerned, particularly in Q4 2008 and Q1 2009. Purchases were stopped or deferred. Though the market is showing some signs of recovery, it will start showing reasonable growth only after Q4 2009. Government business was good till the elections were announced. The announcement of code of conduct and shifting of government officers for election duties affected government purchase heavily. However, government purchases will definitely go up post elections.

On the key challenges faced by the players in India

The enterprise telephony industry faces a multitude of challenges and the slowdown in the economy has made matters worse.BFSI, hospitality, and infrastructure segments are heavily affected due to slow down. Telcos driving PBX market have squeezed the margins drastically and unless volume goes higher, it is an unviable proposition.

On the future of enterprise telephony market in India

The Indian enterprise telephony market is bound to grow as the new government is in place and we have huge expectations in terms of reforms. Future looks good as economy is likely to bounce back in India and investment will resume in Greenfield projects. There is a huge replacement market waiting for PRI ISDN/IP technologies adaptation and that will fuel the growth further.