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The telecom market is growing dramatically every day, almost every hour. Operators are striving to offer better value to consumers. "We face a bigger challenge in the days ahead with five new telecom companies joining the fray, to add to seven strongly entrenched players. But competition is healthy and will help each service provider to evolve and raise the bar some more. The challenge will be to increase revenue growth and sustain customer loyalty. View this against the backdrop of the launch of our GSM services in 2009, and the larger picture becomes crystal clear –­ these are exciting times for Indian telecom," says Mathias.

He expects tremendous growth this year and next year in terms of sheer subscriber additions, after which the pace of growth will decrease. With mobile number portability in the offing, the ability of telecom companies to retain their subscribers is bound to be tested. More specifically, Mathias foresees two distinct trends in the telecom market: the growth of mobile internet and a focus on valueadded services (VAS) and convergence.

And this is exactly where TTSL has the edge, he feels, thanks to its recently concluded partnership agreement with Japanese mobile giant NTT DoCoMo. "When we talk about NTT DoCoMo, there are two main aspects to bear in mind. One, it is a technology leader and that's important when we get into the GSM space. The technologists at NTT DoCoMo will define our products and services over the long term, and we will benefit immensely from this. Take long term evolution (LTE), which will ultimately get the CDMA and GSM technologies onto one platform. For players like us, this evolution is critical since we are going to be on both platforms. DoCoMo will be the largest LTE company –­ at the very least an early player –­ because it has already started doing trials in physical geographies, not just inside laboratories," explains Mathias.

"Second, DoCoMo is the world leader in VAS, both in terms of services and handset design, and particularly in integrating services at the platform stage. This is another area of expertise that we're looking forward to utilise. VAS has had it very tough in the Indian market, and that's why there hasn't been any slip in the voice market. Look at the numbers –­ about 90-92 per cent of traffic in India is voice based. If you remove SMS and the internet, which is accessed through wireless downloads, VAS is actually just 2-3 per cent of the market," says Mathias.

Another area where DoCoMo is the undisputed global leader is next-generation 3G services. TTSL will strongly leverage its partner's expertise to create new benchmarks in the 3G arena. The company is already working closely with the DoCoMo team to create India-specific 3G applications and products.

Mathias joined TTSL in December 2008. As chief marketing officer, he oversees marketing, distribution, product management, supply chain and logistics, business development and VAS.

Prior to TTSL, he worked with Motorola, Inc. as senior director, sales and distribution. He was also operations head of Motorola's Southwest Asia region comprising India, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Bhutan and Myanmar. He led the sales and distribution teams across the retail, organised trade, carrier sales and enterprise businesses, and also handled Motorola's distribution and operator partnerships.

"At Motorola, my team was acknowledged by the industry for having created some of the most innovative and effective marketing programmes, incorporating sponsorship, entertainment and out-of-home activation, driving a strong brand turnaround for Motorola over 2006-07," he says with some pride. In effect, his team managed to transform the company's position in the market in a very short span of time and moved the brand from being technology oriented to being consumer oriented.

Before Motorola, Mathias worked as marketing director at PepsiCo, where he learnt a lot from the "inspirational" leadership of P.M. Sinha, former chairman of PepsiCo India. Mathias admires Sinha profoundly. "He continuously defined and lived the role of customer centricity," Mathias explains.

The reason for the switch to the telecom industry is almost self-evident. The sector was growing at a sizzling rate, and teledensity was witnessing a tremendous surge. It was the right industry to be in and it was the right time to join.

"In any case, after spending over 15 years with transnational corporations such as PepsiCo and Motorola, for me, the Tatas represented a seamless change both in values and scale in that it is India's largest MNC with over 60 per cent of revenues coming from businesses outside India," he says.

His goal now is to make Tata Indicom a benchmark in the Indian telecom industry. That should not be too difficult given the company's strengths: it is part of the Tata Group, which is one of India's most trusted brands; it recently tied up with one of the world's most technologically advanced telecom carriers; it has a base of over 34 million subscribers and a retail network of over 3,500 stores in India. The operator has also repeatedly topped the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India's survey for having the least congested network.

"The areas we need to build on are consumer empathy and regard. And then, we have to remember that Tata Indicom is a relatively new player and there are operational and regulatory hiccups which need to be sorted out," he says.

Born and brought up in Mumbai, Mathias pursued his higher education in the city. A science graduate from St Xavier's College, he has a master's in management studies from the University of Mumbai.

He thinks his personal strengths are knowledge of technology and a deep understanding of the consumer psyche. What he cannot tolerate easily are mediocrity and a casual approach to work. His management style is to be hands-on. "I set a strong focus on meeting up and interfacing with consumers and I expect the same from my team. A non-hierarchical individual, I am a good listener and a team player with passion and aggression going hand in hand."

Mathias says that his ambition has always been to be a significant contributor to a large business group whose values and objectives he identifies with closely. "Today, most of us spend a big chunk of our waking hours working in the office. It's very important to develop a congenial working environment where you are comfortable with your team members and work with passion and satisfaction. Otherwise, work is no fun," he says.

His day starts with a brisk 30-minute walk, followed by reading the newspapers and then getting ready for work. He reaches the office at 9.30 a.m. The first half hour of the day is spent defining the agenda, working on schedules and thinking through the weekly goals that he wishes to pursue.

His family has to tolerate a long day. Mathias is rarely home before 8-8.30 p.m., but he tries to make it up to them on weekends and annual vacations. An outdoors person, he loves travelling and visiting new places.

"To sum things up, I am a person with principles who strongly believes in leaving behind a legacy. This is the line that describes me the best," he says.