NEW DELHI: Richard Branson`s Virgin group will soon step into India`s mobile phone market and make animated films while expanding the FM radio business.
"We have a partner now and will reveal it in two months. It will not be long before we enter the mobile phone business in India," said maverick magnate Branson, dressed in a full attire of a north Indian dulha, resplendent in his red dhoti, immaculate sherwani and ornate pagri.Richard Branson and Rajiv Verma
Branson was addressing the press to mark the first anniversary of Virgin Radio`s tie-up with HT Media Ltd.
Branson also spoke about the expansion in the Indian comics business. Plans are afoot to convert many of these comics into films.
Virgin comics is a joint venture with motivational guru Deepak Chopra and film director Shekhar Kapoor.
Regarding the music industry, Branson said live shows was an important piece of the revenue cake. "The future of the music industry lies not in record sales - which is a dying business - but in Live shows," he added.
This indicates the route the music industry is going to take, as this seems part of the audience research findings by the channel, as well as Branson`s own massive international experience in the radio business.
Sir Branson`s entry was typical of the man who could dare to start the first space tourism company.He alighted at the gate of the Imperial Hotel in a dulha (bridegroom) attire, mounted a steed and followed all the way to the lawns gesticulating in bhangra style, and then exchanged large headphone `garlands.`
On a more serious note, Branson stated that he has been astounded by the talent pool at the Fever 104 team, "just 120 odd people who have the extraordinary calibre of making the channel the No 2 in the country in just one year".
"I have visited the team in their studios," he said, "and this is an amazing team, and I am sure that the in the next two years, the channel will reach all the major towns of the country, if not go on to become a full national channel."
Asked what was the truly differentiating factor for Fever 104 FM, HT Media chief Rajiv Verma said it was high quality music but Branson was more focussed.
"Our research across the world has shown that young people are not really interested in RJs babbling about health tips and what to eat in the morning than constant good music, and that is what Fever 104 FM is doing, which to my mind is the real differentiating factor," he said.
Verma himself had earlier stated that as and when more licences are released, Fever 104 FM would open many more channels, and the upcoming one, after Mumbai, Delhi and Bangalore, is Kolkata.
Branson said also that HT Media has undergone a tremendous change over the past three years, much in reflection of the terribly exciting changes that India has seen, and added that India`s sheer power and talent is becoming a major challenge for Britain and the latter would have to struggle to keep up with India.
Answering a query, Verma said that HT Media`s decision to tie up with Virgin was because the latter has tremendous experience and major success stories, first in UK, and then in Thailand and other places.
"We thought that since the industry here is nascent, we would really learn from this and have common associations, and now it seems that all our assumptions have come true," he said.