No matter which corner of the earth you go to, you’ll be sure to find a “Gulf”-crazy Malayali. Legend has it that Messrs Armstrong and Aldrin stepped right off their Apollo 11 spacecraft in 1969 only to find a Malayali running a tea shop, on the moon. And in 2003 it was Malayalis who helped a retired Sikh Army colonel discover the sweet spot for his business, turning Tulip Telecom into one of the best success stories of Indian telecom.
Plug Me Up, Scotty!
For telecom operators, underground optical fibre cable is the preferred choice for carrying large amounts of data in big cities. Thousands of kilometres of underground fibre optic cables criss-cross most of India’s cities and towns. But none of it belonged to Tulip, so it was forced to lease capacity on these cables — in most cases from its larger competitors.
(This story appears in the 19 February, 2010 issue of Forbes India. To visit our Archives, click here.)
Only an army personnel can take such a brave step to go public.
on Sep 10, 2010Very entertaining style of writing. Really nice and Useful Will use this for my Research for sure. It fits the 'Innovation theories' i'm using :)
on Aug 31, 2010Going Public was really a bad idea i guess ! Now the company will need to constantly listen to its shareholders or they are likely to opt out. Also going on head-to head with existing players in their territory will not be wise, as mentioned in the article.
on Aug 31, 2010What an amazing story. And I'm certain that there are a good number of emerging Bedi's out there. Way to go sir.
on Jul 22, 2010