RCom has leveraged its existing network to keep fixed costs down. For instance, a similar launch by a new player would need twice the investment, as the network and the towers would have to be set up from scratch.

The company can also leverage its existing distribution network of over 5,000 distributers, 2,000 exclusive stores and more than a million outlets.

It's a muscle that will be difficult to match for new players except for the Tata Group, which, too, already has a CDMA network and is making a foray into GSM.

Above all, RCom is counting on two factors. One, it does not expect any of the new GSM licence winners to roll out in the next 12 months. The second is the financial meltdown.

"We clearly have time to consolidate our GSM foray in the next one year as we don't see new players coming in. So we will be competing with the same players that we used to. The only change is that we have a pan-India GSM product," says a Reliance ADAG executive. Not only that, by the time the other newcomers get in, RCom will also have more spectrum.

Image: Anil Ambani gets blessings from his mother. | Photograph: Rediff archive

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