TELECOM INDUSTRY IN INDIA

From- BADM

Dept.

TELECOM INDUSTRY IN INDIA

HISTORY Well Postal means of communication was the only mean communication until the year 1850. In 1850 experimental electric telegraph started for first time in India between Calcutta (Kolkata) and Diamond Harbor (southern suburbs of Kolkata, on the banks of the Hooghly River).

In 1851, it was opened for the use of the British East India Company. Subsequently construction of telegraph started through out India. A separate department was opened to the public in 1854. Dr.William O’Shaughnessy, who pioneered the telegraph and telephone in India.

ESTABLISHMENT

1851 First operational landlines were laid by government near

Calcutta 1881 Telephone services introduced into India. 1883 Merger with postal system. 1923 Indian radio telegraph company formed. 1932 Merger of ETC and IRT Indian radio and cable

communication company

CONT.. 1947 Nationalization of foreign telecom companies to form

posts, telephone & telegraph. 1985 Department of telecommunication established. 1986 Conversion of DOT into two wholly state owned

companies VSNL for international telecommunications & MTNL for service & metropolitan areas.

1994 National telecom policy created with a motto

“telecommunication for all & telecommunication within reach of all”.

CONT.. 1995 Entry of GSM in india triggering

telecom revolution. BPL mobile services launched.

1997 Telecom regulatory authority of india

formed in January. 1999 NTP-99. national telecom policy with

reformed goals set. 2000 1st October BSNL created.

CONT.. 2005 ILD & NLD annual license fees reduced

from 15% to 6%. 2008 3G guidelines issued, spectrum

allocation through auction, foreign players allowed to bid.

2009 TRAI announces rules & regulations to

be followed for mobile number portability.

2010 BSNL 1st one to launch WIMAX service.

MAJOR PLAYERS OF TELECOM INDUSTRY & YEAR OF ESTABLISHMENT

1) Bharti airtel-19852) BSNL-20003) Vodafone Essar-20074) Reliance communications-19995) Idea cellular-19956) Tata communications-19867) Tata teleservices-19968) Aircel-19999) MTNL-198610) TTML-1998

CONTD. Bharti Airtel is holding the lead position in India by

recording a five per cent growth in the year 2011. The company is dealing with four major categories namely digital television, enterprise, telemedia and mobile.

BSNL or Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited is the oldest player in the telecom sector in India and they hold the pride of being the first to connect even remote villages through their telephone service.

Vodafone Essar began its operations in the year 1994 and the company has operations all over India with more than 106.34 million customers.

Reliance is one of the largest private sector company in the information and telecommunication sector in India.

.

CONTD. Idea Cellular is a part of Aditya Birla Group

and they are the leading GSM Mobile service provider in India. They are offering both pre-paid and post paid mobile service.

Tata Communications influence its domain expertise and advanced solutions across India and global network, with connectivity to more than 400 PoPs & 200 countries.

Tata Teleservices hold the pride of being the first to introduce CDMA mobile services in India. The company introduced its mobile operations in the year 2005 under the brand name of Tata indicom.

CONTD. Aircel have earned the status of the leading mobile operator

in the state of Tamil Nadu in India. The company has emerged as leader in the North Easter states of India within a short period of its launching.

Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited or MTNL has grabbed a customer base of 8.06 million in Mumbai and Delhi. They have become the leaders in technology induction by converting its telephone exchange network into digital mode.

TTML is another telecommunication company under the Tate group. The company has more than 6 lakh subscribers in the telecom circles of Mumbai, Goa and Maharashtra.

TELECOM COMPANIES MARKET SHARE IN INDIA AS OF AUGUST 2011

TELECOM COMPANIES MARKET SHARE IN INDIA AS IN AUGUST

Sl. No. Name of Company

Total Sub Figures

Additions in Aug

% Market Share

1 Bharti Airtel

171,846,824

1,150,298 28.09%

2 Vodafone Essar

144,144,031

1,133,024 23.56%

3 IDEA 98,441,714

2,330,239 16.09%

4 BSNL 90,622,219 388,057 14.81%

5 Aircel 59,191,661 602,312 9.68%

6 Uninor 27,738,154 349,488 4.53%

7 Videocon

6,382,493 -652,383 1.04%

8 MTNL 5,298,081 32,932 0.87%

9 Loop Mobile

3,181,967 19,035 0.52%

10 Stel 3,433,988 -67,259 0.56%

11 Etisalat 1,477,495 52,941 0.24%

12 All India611,758,627

5,338,684

100.00%

MARKET LEADER

As we see the above there are four major companies in telecom industry. Airtel, Reliance, Vodafone, Idea and BSNL.

Airtel is a market leader with 28.09% market share and Vodafone on the 2nd place with 23.56% market share.

CHALLENGES FACED BY TELECOM INDUSTRY

Unlike many countries where the allocation of spectrum is separate from the grant of license to provide service, in India licenses are still bundled with the allotment of a certain amount of spectrum.

Limited spectrum availability and interconnection charges between the private and state operators.

Telecom manufacturing in India is not in pace. With only a few equipment manufacturers currently operating in the country, most of the telecom equipment is imported as the country lags behind in terms of telecom R&D.

CONTD. Lack of infrastructure in semi-rural and rural

areas, which makes it difficult to make inroads into this market segment as service providers have to incur a huge initial fixed cost.

One of the major challenge is the absence of a uniform approval process across the country for setting up telecom towers and other infrastructure.

Inadequate utilization of existing towers.

CONTD. Multiple levies and high taxes on the set up of

mobile towers.

lack of reliable power for telecom towers and higher tariffs on telecom sites. This increases the dependence on diesel- fueled power sources, which is considered expensive and more harmful to the environment.

Low penetration.

The prepaid services were terminated by DoT during September 2009 which was subsequently allowed in January 2010 on condition that all prepaid subscribers will be reverified by the operators. For new customers the guidelines have been further strengthened.  Prepaid services in J&K and North East and Assam are renewed on yearly basis.

The launch of 3G operations require huge funds for spectrum fee and also for network roll out.  The other challenges are rolling out new 3G value added services and ensuring availability of 3G handsets at affordable prices. The 3G roll out will pose major challenge to the non 3G operators

IMPACT OF GLOBAL CRISIS

As we know world economy is fighting with economic slow down.

It seems something special about the telecom industry which renders it partially immune to the worst effect of the down turn.

Total base of connection in world is 3.2 bln.

Quarterly 3, 2011 Anticipated 177 million connection world wide but it could not cross 160 million mark.

CONTD. There is less impact of global crisis on

Indian telecom industry as India became the 1st country in the world to have 10.4 million new connections in a month.