Networking market in Indian is growing very rapidly and will remain very hot market for all global vendors as well. Now there are several global and domestic brands who are trying to gain their foothold in India market by offering quality and affordable networking solutions. Tenda is one of the key players in Indian market currently which aims to retain major market share in years to come. DT interacted with Mr. Frank Rao, General Manager, India & SAARC, Tenda to dig out the overall networking market growth and opportunities for Tenda in Indian market.
DT: What kind of changes you see currently in Indian networking market? How do you see the future of networking market in India?
Mr. Frank Rao: With the thrust given by Government of India for digitization post demonetization and with GST already been rolled out and people getting familiar with the concept, I feel the Networking industry is looking forward to good business in 2017-18. Demand for All time active connectivity will lead to increase in deployment of wireless internet connectivity which will be met by deploying different methods like City/Village Wifi or 4G connectivity. According to IDC Router market in India witnessed a YoY growth of 33.5% in Q1 2017, that’s good news for future of networking market in India.
As Customers are advancing, usage of smart devices is witnessing rapid growth. Today an average household has 4 smartphones, 2 laptops, 1 desktop, possibly 1 smart TV, All these smart devices need a sustainable and powerful device to stay connected to each other.
DT: Do you think that the networking market in India is flourishing with impact of affordability of internet?
Mr. Frank Rao: If you compare, networking the market decade ago, the price of Internet was very high compared to speed an Individual used to derive from the connection. Having an Internet connection was a luxurious affair back then. But fast forward it to present day, the Internet has become a necessity for people. Where there is tough competition between mobile data provider (Jio, Airtel etc) offering a vast amount of Data at a cheaper rate, it has made ISP offer a better rate to the customer. Overall this fight between Net providers has benefited customers in a positive way. We as WLAN Provider understand customers need and make sure to provide a best powerful Router for the customer to utilize his Internet capacity at full potential that too at an affordable rate.
DT: What all investment you are planning for company to boost your presence in India?
Mr. Frank Rao: India is a growing market, adaptation to technology and increase in people lifestyle is highest I have seen compared to any other country. We are keen to strengthen our presence in India, as Tenda is already having a base sales structure, we are working on building a stronger human infrastructure of professionals from Industry to grow at rapid pace, we are also going to invest in building a brand presence in market and first step for same is already been initiated by our newly hired Marketing professional, who will be spearheading Tenda’s marketing activity in India.
Overall you can say, you will be seeing lots of Tenda in coming future and all will be for Better Networking.
DT: When it comes to affordability, what are your efforts to keep your products under affordable price range?
Mr. Frank Rao: We can’t assert it but Tenda has always believed in offering our customers with Best product at an Affordable rate, and this motive of ours has proven to be one of the key points we think over when introducing a new product to our customers in India. We also take care to provide sensible benefit for our partners and customers, and we believe it can be one major reason behind the rapid growth of Tenda as a brand in India.
DT: What are the challenges you face currently in this market? What are your strategies to overcome such challenges?
Mr. Frank Rao: Even though Technology has been advanced and people are upgrading their smart gadgets, a foremost challenge we witness is the acceptance of people on investing money on the router.
As far as margin is considered, Yes margin is an important part but Tenda’s strength of having very own manufacturing unit with enough resources for us to achieve and gain the lead in router segments. The brands that continually kill their competition are those who understand that strategic brand goes much deeper than traditional marketing techniques. Consumer buying habits, behaviour and thinking towards products keeps on evolving and our strategy is to be aligned with the market or consumer sentiments but also to remain intact with our prime factors such as quality and affordability.
At present we are operating pretty good and planning to invest more on marketing front to maintain and build up the brand notable and renowned Identity in India.
DT: How do you assure better service support for your customers?
Mr. Frank Rao: At Tenda, we relate to and understand our customer's requirement and complaints, and thus Tenda provides customer with 3 year limited warranty over range of products, also Tenda provide customers with ease to get problem solved by visiting nearest Tenda service center, which manages customers complaint with professionalism and treats customer as one of our family members.
