"Wireless data - that's what I worry about the most," said Umesh Amin, Director of New Technologies and Planning, AT&T Wireless Services AWS (Redmond, WA). Explaining further, Umesh continued, "Long-term, AWS needs to be able to not just become profitable, but derive our profits from consistent revenue-streams, in order to remain healthy and competitive."

I had the pleasure of interviewing Umesh about two weeks ago at his Redmond, WA-office and we discussed his views and predictions about the wireless industry. "There is no question that excesses were committed by all leading industry players, AWS included, during the tech boom era, circa 1998-2000. Hindsight is indeed 20-20, but you have to remember that this business is highly capital intensive, and in order to remain competitive, AWS had to engage in, what we believed at the time, viable business opportunities, investments and acquisitions." [It is now widely believed that investing in plants, not goodwill would have been among the more appropriate long-term, sound corporate strategies.

Umesh has been a proponent of the industry's next-generation 3G (Third Generation) wireless capabilities long before global, expensive 3G spectrum license auctions took place in the US and elsewhere. At a September 1998 wireless conference in Bangalore, when asked about the adoption of wireless technology, Umesh answered, "The driving force [for adoption of wireless technology] both in the West and in India would be three-fold; market driver - what do people want, return on investment - how long before I see a return on my investment and competition - a company that enters late adopts a different technology and lures subscribers because of a differentiating value proposition."

Umesh's education includes a BSEE and MSEE, plus a mini-MBA from UPenn's Wharton School. He holds seven wireless patents, has made over 40 presentations at telecommunications conferences worldwide and is widely considered an authoritative spokesperson in the wireless industry. Prior to joining McCaw Cellular (now AWS) in 1994, Umesh spent many years at AT&T Bell Labs. Less than two years ago, Umesh retired as Chairman Emeritus, Universal Wireless Communication Consortium (now 3GAmericas). UWCC was a US-based non-profit industry organization, whose membership included every major wireless services and handset manufacturers. At AWS, Umesh leads a team responsible for new services planning, managing the wireless research program, product development and technology development alignment, evaluating new technologies, supporting intellectual property management, and coordinating the Technology Development Group budget activities, within the enterprise.

AWS is optimistic about the continuing wireless business opportunities, and announced their Indian presence initially, with a Birla-AT&T (later Birla-AT&T-Tata) joint venture, in 1996. Renamed in April 2002 as Idea Cellular Limited, and headquartered in Pune, Idea is India's leading cellular services provider. Its services span the entire cellular value chain from voice to text. [During 2001-2002 Idea Cellular was India's fastest growing cellular operator, with an annual growth rate of 135 percent]. When queried about Idea, Umesh remarked, "To my knowledge, AWS is among a handful of international wireless operators in India [and probably the only one], that continue to consistently contribute fresh equity. We believe in the long-term, and according to the Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI), the country's wireless subscriber base is expected to double to 140m, within the next five years." Among his many responsibilities, Umesh helped AWS develop intimate, wireless business relationships in China. "India has the potential of surpassing China in every aspect of the wireless business, but only if we allow the markets to behave naturally and let simple capitalism - supply and demand - dictate the outcome. Ad hoc industry regulations, government interference and even predatory pricing paradigms cannot help build sustainable business models, either for any particular firm or the industry, in general."