Managemen

t of Telecom
Services
Assignment

Amartya Kundu MS-02

Ankit MS-10

FMS Delhi
MBA (Management of Services)
Batch 2009-11

Question 1……………………………. Page 02

Question 2……………………………. Page 11
Question 3……………………………. Page 16
Question 4……………………………. Page 19
Batch 2009-11 Management of Telecommunications Systems MBA (MS), FMS Delhi

I. What has been the year wise growth of telephones (Land Line and Mobile
seperately) during the last ten years? What are the main reasons for this
growth? Discuss in detail. Has this filled the digital gap? If not what are the
reasons. Suggest suitable measures to bridge the gap.

Year Wise growth of Landlines and Mobiles: The Indian telecommunications industry is

the world's fastest growing telecommunications industry, with 688.38 Million telephone
(landlines and mobile) subscribers and 652.42 Million mobile phone connections as of July
2010. 

Source: TRAI Annual report 2008-2009

As the fastest growing telecommunications industry in the world, it is projected that India
will have 1.159 billion mobile subscribers by 2013. Furthermore, projections by several
leading global consultancies indicate that the total number of subscribers in India will exceed
the total subscriber count in the China by 2013. The industry is expected to reach a size of  
344,921 crore (US$ 74.85 billion) by 2012 at a growth rate of over 26 per cent, and generate
employment opportunities for about 10 million people during the same period. According to
analysts, the sector would create direct employment for 2.8 million people and for 7 million
indirectly. In 2008-09 the overall telecom equipments revenue in India stood at  136,833
crore (US$ 29.69 billion) during the fiscal, as against  115,382 crore (US$ 25.04 billion) a
year before.

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Batch 2009-11 Management of Telecommunications Systems MBA (MS), FMS Delhi

Wirelines (Landlines):

The subscriber base of Wire line subscribers as on 31st March 2009 was 37.96 million as
compared to 39.42 million subscribers on 31st March, 2008 registering a decrease of 1.46
million subscribers during the year 2008-09. Out of the 37.96 million wire line subscribers,
27.38 million are Urban wire line subscribers and 10.58 million Rural Subscribers. At present
there has been a further reduction of landlines to 35.96 million. (July 2010)

Factors Facilitating Growth of the Sector:

Liberalisation

The relaxation of telecom regulations has played a major role in the development of the
Indian telecom industry. The liberalisation policies of 1991 and the consequent influx of
private players have led the industry on a high growth trajectory and have increased the level
of competition. Post-liberalisation, the telecom industry has received more investments and
has implemented higher technology.

Increasing Affordability of Handsets

The phenomenal growth in the Indian telecom industry was predominantly aided by the
meteoric rise in wireless subscribers, which encouraged mobile handset manufacturers to
enter the market and to cater to the growing demand. Further, the manufacturers introduced
lower-priced handsets with add-on facilities to cater to the increasing number of subscribers

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from different strata of the society. Now even entry-level handsets come with features like
coloured display and FM radio. Thus, the falling handset prices and the add-on features have
triggered growth of the Indian telecom industry.

Prepaid Cards Bring in More Subscribers

In the late nineties, telecom service providers introduced prepaid cards, which was yet
another milestone for the wireless sector. Prepaid cards lured more subscribers into the
industry besides lowering the credit risk of service providers due to its upfront payment
concept. Prepaid cards were quite a phenomenon among first-time users who wanted to
control their bills and students who had limited resources but greater need to be connected.
Pre-paid cards greatly helped the cellular market to grow rapidly and cater to the untapped
market. Further, the introduction of innovative schemes like recharge coupons of smaller
denominations and life time incoming free cards has led to an exponential growth in the
subscriber base.

Introduction of Calling Party Pays (CPP)

The CPP regime was introduced in India in 2003 and under this regime, the calling party who
initiated the call was to bear the entire cost of the call. This regime came to be applicable for
mobile to mobile calls as well as fixed line to mobile calls. So far India had followed the
Receiving Party Pays (RPP) system where the subscriber used to pay for incoming calls from
both mobile as well as fixedline networks. Shifting to the CPP system has greatly fuelled the
subscriber growth in the sector.

Changing Demographic Profile

The changing demographic profile of India has also played an important role in subscriber
growth. The changed profile is characterised by a large young population, a burgeoning
middle class with growing disposable income, urbanisation, increasing literacy levels and
higher adaptability to technology. These new features have multiplied the need to be
connected always and to own a wireless phone and therefore, in present times mobiles are
perceived as a utility rather than a luxury.

Increased Competition & Declining Tariffs

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Batch 2009-11 Management of Telecommunications Systems MBA (MS), FMS Delhi

Liberalisation of the telecom industry has fuelled intense competition, especially in the
cellular segment. The ever-increasing competition has led to high growth of subscribers and
has put pressure on tariffs, which have seen a sharp drop over the years. When the cellular
phones were introduced, call rates were at a peak of Rs 16 per minute and there were charges
for incoming calls. Today, however, incoming calls are no longer charged and outgoing calls
are charged at less than a rupee per minute. Thus, the tariff war has come a long way indeed.
Increased competition and the subsequent tariff war has acted as a major catalyst for
attracting more subscribers. Apart from these major growth drivers, an improved network
coverage, entry of CDMA players, growth of value-added services (VAS), advancement in
technology, and growing data services have also driven the growth of the industry.

Despite the rapid increase in the telecom sector, growth has been disproportionate. The
teledensity in rural areas is lagging behind urban areas. India's slow telecommunications
expansion especially in the rural areas can be attribited to a number of factors, including tight
bureaucratic control, poor policies and inadequate investment by private companies and lack
of funds of the government, which until recently held monopoly control.

Tele-density is low throughout the countries of the South Asia. Pakistan has highest tele-
density in Asia and Bangladesh has lowest. India is by far the largest South Asian country, in
terms of population, economy and telecommunication network. However, there are huge
disparities extant within the country, and this is evidenced in the uneven distribution of
telecommunication access. Many of the less developed states have state-wise average
penetration rates of below 20 per cent, including Bihar (12.13), Assam (13.67), Andaman &
Nicobar Islands (17.94), Uttar Pradesh (15.58), West Bengal (13.78) Orissa (14.28), Madhya
Pradesh (19.54) Uttaranchal (10.37) and Bihar (12.13). Tele-density in some states like
Jharkhand (3.49), Chhattisgarh (4.18) and North East-II (8.71) are less that 10 percent.

It is clear that there is huge gap of digital divide between rural and urban India. However, this
gap varies from State-to-State. In some States like North East, Uttaranchal, Bihar, Jharkhand,
Orissa and Andaman and Nicobar Island the gap of digital divide is really very significant, in
some other states it is narrow like Punjab, Maharashtra and Kerala. Added to this, the gap
also varies from technology-to technology. Some States are not able to adopt even one
technology but others have adopted very efficiently. In some states overall adoption of
technology is high, but, adoption rate is rural areas is very low. In some cities like Delhi,

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Batch 2009-11 Management of Telecommunications Systems MBA (MS), FMS Delhi

Mumbai, Kolkata, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Noida etc, ICTs adoption rate is very high,
whereas in some other cities like, Patna, Lucknow, Ahmadabad (even these are the capital of
States)etc, adoption rate is very low.

Causes:
The better educated are statistically more likely to have and use connected PCs. In particular
those with college degrees or higher, are ten times more likely to have access. Literacy rate is
high in the urban India (79.9 percent) whereas it is only 58.7 percent in the rural India.
Overall literacy rate in India is 64.8 percent. There is also huge difference in male (75.3
percent) and female literacy rate (53.7 percent).

Another important reason of digital divide in India is knowledge divide. Knowledge divide is
directly related with digital divide. More educated people with computer knowledge and
English language are able to access new technologies. Rural India had 368 million literate
people out of whom only 63 million were found to be English speaking as on March 2008.
Given the high levels of literacy in rural India and very low levels of English speaking
population and computer savvy population, IMAI , 2008 made a clear case of content and
applications in local languages in order to ensure higher and faster adoption of internet in
rural. Internet use is primarily associated with a large section of the English-knowing urban
population-though they account for only 31 percent of the total urban population of 250

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Batch 2009-11 Management of Telecommunications Systems MBA (MS), FMS Delhi

million-as many, as 84 per cent of them are PC literate. Internet penetration extended to only
0.6 per cent of the population in rural areas, with the number of active Internet users
estimated at 3.3 million.

Electricity is the most basic condition for using ICTs and many studies established that
relationship between the level of electrification and digital divide. Rural India has low
electricity coverage (Table 6). Almost 10 per cent villages of India have no electricity. Some
areas may get ‘agricultural power- two hours in the morning and evening-but even this is the
exceptional. Added to this the cost of electricity is very high. In this situation, one can not
even think about using computers and Internet.

The digital divide is not simply an issue of access, but also of obstacles to use ICTs. Various
studies (Tracy et al, 2003; Winter and Huff; 1996; Spender, 1997; MacKenzie and Wajcman,
1985) revealed that even when women and men have equal access to the internet either
through home, work or school, they may not have the opportunity to access the Internet or
engage in a wide variety of uses. Women have been online less than men (Kennedy et al,
2003). They have been online for fewer months and when they do go online, they spend less
time. The gender issue is highly relevant in the developing countries like India. Women have
less access than men in India due to various social and
personal factors.

Added to these, the growing population, insufficient funds, affordability, and delays in
implementation of government policies and programmes have been some of the challenges
that have lead to unequal development in the society, which is responsible for digital divide.

Suitable Measures:

Last Mile Connectivity: Ashok Jhunjhunwala a professor at the prestigious IIT who has been
working at technological solutions that could make telephone connections cheaper and more
reliable, said much of the problem had to do with "last-mile connectivity". This means that
the existing telephone infrastructure cheaply and efficiently carries telephone signals over
long distances, but becomes costly and falters when it branches out into homes.

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Batch 2009-11 Management of Telecommunications Systems MBA (MS), FMS Delhi

His solution, increasingly popular in the southern state of Tamil Nadu, uses radio waves to
beam telephone signals from local exchanges into homes within a 10 kilometer radius, using
Wireless in Local Loop (WiLL) technology. Feeling threatened, private cellular-telephone
companies petitioned the Supreme Court for a stay, but the court has refused to oblige and
said that technology could not be held down.

Apart from reliable voice communication, this revolutionary technology also provides
reliable fast and affordable Internet at 70 kbps (kilobits per second), says Jhunjhunwala, who
thinks it could become a model for other developing countries.

Already it has been licensed to a few companies in Singapore, Tunisia, Brazil, Kenya, Fiji,
Argentina and Nigeria. Supported by solar-powered relay stations, the system can work in an
extended radius of up to 25 kilometers, making it useful in rural areas that have no electricity
supply and where expensive cabling is not practical. In Tamil Nadu's Nellikuppam district,
sugarcane farmers are already using a WiLL system to check their accounts with a local sugar
mill and also market prices of
fertilizer and pesticides.

Role of community information centres

The central and state governments of India, especially the Ministry of Information
Technology, have taken several initiatives for rural development through community
information centres. These may be considered as rural electronic libraries. The project has
been started in Sikkim and North Eastern states of India to provide IT facility in each and
every block. Each CIC will have one server computer system and five client configuration
computer systems linked in a local area network and connected to a V–SAT for Internet
access. The facility will help government functionaries to use e–mail and the Internet for
communicating with district and state officers. Efforts are being made to use the IT
Infrastructure at the CICs to capture local information of the block and make them available
worldwide through the Internet.

Besides the efforts made by institutes and private sectors in the country in the context of
information dissemination, the community information services listed as follows is quite
impressive:

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Batch 2009-11 Management of Telecommunications Systems MBA (MS), FMS Delhi

Agri watch (www.agriwatch.org)

Greenstar (www.greenstar.org)
i–kissan.com (www.ikissan.com)
Soyachaupal (www.soyachaupal.com)
Web site for aqua farmers (www.cddc.vt.edu/aquachaupal.com)

E–Chaupals Project

The Project launched in the year 2000 has been quite popular in rural areas of India. The e–
chaupals enables rural people to access information in their local languages on crops and
market prices. Around 2,700 e–chaupals provides services to more than half a million farmers
in five states of the country, viz. Maharashtra, MP, Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh, and Andhra
Pradesh.

Digital Mobile Library

In order to bridge the digital divide in a larger way the government of India, in collaboration
with the Centre for Advanced Computing (C–DAC) based in Pune, aims to bring about one
million digital books to the doorsteps of common citizens. The Internet–enabled digital
library will promote literacy. It will make use of a mobile van with satellite Internet
connections. The van will be fitted with printers, scanners, cutters and binding machines for
providing books in bound form to end users.

These projects are encouraging steps taken by the government to bridge the gap between the
information haves and have–nots in the country. The poorest and underprivileged students
will no longer be deprived of the latest reading material by virtue of their remoteness or
affordability.

Library networks are playing an important role in bridging the information needs of the
people. Realising this need, the planning commission in 1984 recommended that the
government modernise library services and information in the seventh five–year plan by
means of library networks. Consequently the biggest library network, the INFLIBNET
(Information and Library Network), was initiated in 1991 by the university grants
commission with headquarters located in Ahmedabad. The programme is directed towards

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modernisation of libraries and information centres and the establishment of a mechanism for
information transfer and access to academicians and researchers in India.

Several city networks, such as CALIBNET, the Kolkatta Library Network; DELNET, the
developing library network, Delhi; Bombay Library Network (BONET); Madras Library
Network MALIBNET; Pune Library Network (PUNET); and, Ahemedabad Library Network
(all sponsored by NISSAT Department of Scientific and Industrial Research) are promoting
resource sharing and disseminating information by creating centralised union catalogues of
their holdings. Public libraries in India need to be geared up with the latest technologies and
IT infrastructure. At present the public libraries are technologically behind in both resources
and technology. Very few libraries provide access to the Internet. The Bill and Melinda Gates
Foundation has generously supported the process of modernisation of public libraries in
United States and beyond. It has provided technology grants so that people can access the
Internet. In India there is no major initiative for any local philanthropic help for
modernisation of public libraries. However, some scanty efforts are being made by Indian
Institutes of Technologies by launching the small project of “Infothela” (Information Box)
equipped with Internet facility for the people.

Several community information centres have been opened with efforts of the Ministry of
Information Technology to help people use e–mail and Internet for access to information. A
few states like West Bengal have encouraged the establishment of community library and
information centres (CLICs) in rural areas. Around 1,500 CLICs will be set up in places
where there are no public libraries. These centres would provide information relating to
career, vocational opportunities and developmental activities carried out by village
Panchayats in the state.

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Batch 2009-11 Management of Telecommunications Systems MBA (MS), FMS Delhi

II. The auction of 3G spectrum had been in news during last few months. What
was the method/uniqueness of its auction? Name the operators who got the
spectrum and the total revenue earned by the Government. Do you agree with
this method of auctioning?

Each of the auctions for 3G spectrum in India’s 22 telecom zones was a separate but
simultaneous process conducted over the Internet.

Bidders had authentication tokens and passwords to access the electronic auction from their
own computers. The names of bidders for each service area were not disclosed during the
auction, only the total number of applicants would be known.

The auctions consisted of multiple rounds and at the end of each round, provisional winners
were declared. The auctioneer, Rothschild and DotEcon, announced higher price for every
round and would look for demand at that price. It was be a multiple-round auction with
time limits.

The bid value in each round is to be determined by the auctioneer based on demand. If for a
circle where there are three slots available and at least six bidders, then the price
increment was 10%. If there are five bidders for three slots, the bid increment is 5%
and for four bidders, the bid increment is 1%. Measures are to eliminate irrational bids
and cartelization.

The bidder’s earnest money deposit will determine eligibility to bid in the first round. Each
round will earn eligibility points, which in turn will determine eligibility to participate in
successive rounds. Only valid bids based on eligibility was accepted. At the end of each
round, bidders were shown the number of bidders for the round. Each round was for a fixed
time period. Maximum extra time permitted is four hours, broken up into 10-minute chunks
for extensions. At the end of the auction, bidders were notified of the provisional outcome on
a confidential basis. The government has to approve the results before it is made public. The
auctions end when demand is equal to the number of slots available in each service area. The
auctions were held from 9am to 7:30pm on all days except Sundays and national holidays
in India, beginning 9 April.

The essence of Auction is to get the maximum benefit due to the perceived or true rarity of
the desired object. Thus the auctioning of 3g spectrum was a logical step. The huge
expenditure caused by the buying of spectrum will lead to high tariff pricing of 3g
plans. The early adopters of 3g were well heeled customers who may be able to bear the
costs. Unlike 2g which needed to be priced low to increase the telecom penetration. The
money raised will help in decreasing the fiscal deficit.

The Indian government has managed to raise Rs. 67,718.95 crores from the auction, with
Rs. 50,968.37 crores from private telecom operators, and Rs. 16,750.58 crores from the state
owned telecom operators BSNL and MTNL. The two circles of Delhi and Mumbai
together account for 39.19% of the total money raised, while the top five circles – Delhi,
Mumbai, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh account for 65.56% of the bids.

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Batch 2009-11 Management of Telecommunications Systems MBA (MS), FMS Delhi

The Following table lists the operators and their winning bids:

The table is described in detail below with respect to each bidder:

1. BSNL

While it did not participate in the 3G auction, BSNL will have to pay the Indian government
Rs. 10,187 crores for spectrum in 20 of the 22 circles. Its costliest circles are Karnataka,
Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh, at Rs. 4418 crores for the three circles.

2. Bharti Airtel

– Will pay Rs. 12,295 crores for spectrum in 13 circles, the most amount spent by an operator
in this auction

– Has won spectrum in: Delhi, Mumbai, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Uttar
Pradesh (West), Rajasthan, West Bengal, Himachal Pradesh, Bihar, Assam, North East,
Jammu & Kashmir.

– It’s most expensive acquisition was spectrum in Delhi – Rs. 3316 crores, followed by
Mumbai – Rs. 3247.07 crores

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– Spectrum in 5 circles – Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh (West), West Bengal
and Himachal Pradesh is in the 1959-1964 Mhz band.

– Spectrum in 5 other circles – Delhi, Rajasthan, Assam, North East & Jammu & Kashmir
was in the 1969-1974 Mhz band

– Spectrum won in Mumbai and Karnataka was in the 1974-1979 Mhz Band, and in Bihar
was in the 1964-1969 Mhz band

– In a statement, Airtel has said that they wanted to achieve a pan-India 3G footprint, but
could not, due to “the auction format and severe spectrum shortage along with ensuing policy
uncertainty”, which drove the prices beyond reasonable levels.

3. Reliance Communications

– Will pay Rs. 8585.04 Crores for spectrum in 13 circles

–  Has won spectrum in Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Punjab, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, West
Bengal, Himachal Pradesh, Bihar, Orissa, Assam, North East, Jammu & Kashmir

– Is one of the three operators to get both Delhi and Mumbai, both its most expensive
acquisitions.

– Has won 3G in all circles where it has 900 MHz spectrum

– Is the only operator to win spectrum in 6 circles in the 1969-1974 Mhz band: in Delhi,
Kolkata, Himachal, Orissa, North East and Jammu & Kashmir

– Has won all Category C circles for less than Rs 500 crores

– Claims to be the only operator that has pan India 3G capability in CDMA and among the
top 3 with highest coverage in WCDMA

– Says it will have minimum 3G network CAPEX investment, and is 3G Ready

– RCOM plans to strongly leverage its media, gaming, cinema and broadcasting businesses
for 3G

4. Aircel

– Has won spectrum in 13 circles for Rs. 6499.46 crores, the least cost per circle

– Does not have spectrum in the expensive but high ARPU Delhi and Mumbai circles

– It’s most expensive circles are: Karnataka (Rs. 1579.91 crores) and Rs. 1464.94 crores,
followed by Andhra Pradesh at Rs. 1373.14 crores

– It has spectrum in Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Kolkata, Kerala, Punjab, Uttar
Pradesh (East), West Bengal, Bihar, Orissa, Assam, North East and Jammu & Kashmir

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– Has spectrum in 7 circles in the 1974-1979 Mhz band: Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu,
Kerala, Punjab, West Bengal, Bihar, and Assam. This is the most circles any telecom
operator has in a single band.

– Has spectrum in the 1964-1969 Mhz band in Jammu & Kashmir

5. Idea Cellular

– Has won spectrum in 11 circles for Rs. 5768.59 crores, though it did not win in Delhi and
Mumbai
– Won spectrum in 11 circles: in Maharashtra, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, Punjab,
Haryana, Uttar Pradesh (E), Uttar Pradesh (W), Madhya Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, and
Jammu & Kashmir

– Has won 5 circles in the  1969-1964Mhz band: Kerala, Punjab, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh
and Jammu & Kashmir

– Has won 5 circles in the 1969-1974 Mhz band: Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Uttar
Pradesh (East), Uttar Pradesh (West) and Himachal Pradesh.

– Gujarat is the lone circle where Idea Cellular has spectrum in the 1974-1979 MHz band

6. Vodafone

– Has spectrum in 9 circles for Rs. 11617.86 million, and has spent the second highest
amount in these auctions

– Opted out of most Category C circles, and got Delhi and Mumbai
– Has spectrum in Delhi, Mumbai, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, Kolkata, Haryana,
West Bengal and Uttar Pradesh (East)

– Doesn’t have either Karnataka or Andhra Pradesh, so Vodafone Bangalore and Hyderabad
customers will have to look to other telecom operators.

7. Tata Teleservices

– Will pay 5864.29 crores for spectrum in 9 circles

– Doesn’t have spectrum in Delhi or Mumbai, so Tata Docomo customers will lose out
– Has spectrum in Maharashtra, Gujarat, Karnataka, Kerala, Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh
(West), Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh

– Spectrum is equitably distributed within bands – three circles each for 1959-1964 Mhz,
1969-1974 Mhz and 1974-1979 Mhz band

8. S-Tel

– S-Tel won spectrum in 3 Circles for Rs. 337.67 crores

– It has spectrum in Himachal Pradesh, Bihar and Orissa

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– Surprisingly, S Tel did not try to get 3G spectrum in circles where it doesn’t have license
for 2G services. It has license to offer 2G services in Assam, Bihar, Himachal Pradesh,
Jammu & Kashmir, North East, Orissa.

9. MTNL

Though it did not participate in the 3G Auction, MTNL will have to pay Rs. 6564 crores for
spectrum in the two cities of Delhi and Mumbai. It is currently grappling with losses (Rs.
1573.76 crores in Q4-2010), and a fairly low subscriber base of 3G customers – only 348,000
as of 31st March 2010, despite having launched services a year ago.

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III. Who are the lead telecom operators in the country? What is their market share?
What are their strengths to meet the competition? How do you see the
competition/consolidation of the industry? Are there any barriers in exit?

India is one of the biggest telecom markets in the world with 581.81 million users, which
according to the Industry is expected to reach 1000 million by end of 2012. The total tele-
density was recorded at 49.5 per cent. The telecom sector is one of the highest FDI attracting
sectors in India, and has recorded FDI inflows worth over US$ 8.8 bn between 2000 and
2010. Major factors for the growth in the industry are low tariffs, low cost of handsets, liberal
government regulations, and increase in disposable income and change in consumer
behaviour.
In the future, penetration of telecom service will be done in rural area which in the current
situation is a highly untapped market. In the future i.e. by 2012, rural telecom service
penetration is expected to increase to 40 per cent compared to 16.61 per cent as of now.
Current revenue of Indian Telecom Industry is $ 30 bn and is projected to reach US$ 45
bn by the end of 2012.
In the present situation the key players in the Indian Telecom market are:

 Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL)

 Bharti Airtel Limited
 Reliance Communications
 Vodafone Essar
 Idea Cellular
 Aircel, and
 Tata Teleservices.
Share of wireless service providers as on January 31, 2010 (in per cent)
16 14.31 14.97
13.36 14.08
14
12 11.29 11.42
10.1
10
8 6.68
6
4
1.83 1.07
2 0.23 0.26
0

MARKET SHARE

The strengths of leading operators to meet the competition and consolidation of the
industry:
Below are the strengths of leading operators to meet the competition

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 Airtel
 VERY FOCUSED ON TELECOM Bharti Airtel is largely focused on the
telecom, around 93 per cent of the total revenue comes from telecom
 LEADERSHIP IN FAST GROWING CELLULAR SEGMENT: Airtel is
holding leadership position in cellular market. Airtel is present in all five
segments of telecom industry.
 PAN INDIA FOOTPRINT: Airtel offer the most expansive roaming network.
Letting you roam anywhere in India with its Pan-India presence, and trot
across the globe with International Roaming spread in over 240 networks.
 HIGH CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility): Airtel is one of the highest
spenders in CSR. Airtel regularly does something or the other for benefit of
common people. For Ex : Marathon, Airtel icreate and many more.
 THE ONLY OPERATOR IN INDIA OTHER THAN VSNL HAVING
INTERNATIONAL SUBMARINE CABLES: Airtel, the monopoly breaker
shattered the telecom monopoly in international Long Distance Space with the
launch of International Submarine cable Network i2i jointly with Singapore
Telecommunications Ltd. In the year 2002. This has brought a Hugh value to
the IPLC customers, giving them an option besides an incumbent carrier, to
connect to the outside world.
 HIGH WORD TO MOUTH MARKETING: Today, Airtel has the biggest
base of subscribers and Airtel provides a quality service with high
connectivity and low cost. So, when a new person wants to take the
connection the first choice comes in his/her mind is Airtel because of the
visible users.
 RELIANCE COMMUNICATION
 As Reliance entered the market when things were not so stringent so the
cost of entry was low as compared to other players.
 Fast Activation Process
 Excellent network
 High presence in rural area.
 Excellent connectivity
 First operator to provide CDMA technology to Indian consumers.
 As Reliance is present in other sectors and is doing well, so it becomes
easy for it create the brand value.
 BSNL
 As it is government owned operator, it gets first priority in allocation of
any new technology and doesn’t have to go through rigid processes of the
government.
 High penetration in rural areas.
 Competitive pricing policy
 Provides continuous training, career advancement opportunities and a self
-motivated work environment to its employees.
 Has a corporate culture of mutual respect and is an excellent service
provider.
 Because of its long term presence has a highest share in Wireline market
and is able to leverage on it for wireless service.
 VODAFONE
 As Vodafone is MNC, so has the better work culture as compared to
Indian companies because it is able to pull best talent present.

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Batch 2009-11 Management of Telecommunications Systems MBA (MS), FMS Delhi

Spends huge amount on advertising.

Low on cost
Provides best value added services
Diversified geographical portfolio with strong mobile telecommunications
operations in Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Asia Pacific and to some
extent the US.
 Strong presence in cities.
 Excellent network Infrastructure.
 World’s biggest mobile phone operator by revenue.
 IDEA CELLULAR
 Presence in telecom infrastructure so the cost of spreading the network is
low compared to other players.
 Attractive existing footprint
 Original licence in seven of the Established circles, providing incumbency
advantages.
 Market leader in two of the circles i.e. Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh
established positions in remainder of the Established circles.
 Strong distribution channel
 A national brand
 High quality network structure.

Competition/Consolidation of the Telecom Industry

 The government extends full support to industry through reform processes.

 Policies are in place to safeguard the interest of service providers as well as those of
consumers.
 Intensive competition in the country has made it possible for service providers to offer
services with lowest fare in the world, profitably.
 Many new handsets have been launched.
 Presence of skilled labour pool.
 Rapidly developing robust telecom infrastructure.
 Increasing disposable income of consumers.
 Increasing demand due to changing lifestyles and growing attraction for mobiles with
new features.
 Various value added service providers and content developers are present in India.
 Low tele-density offers huge future potential.
 Growing affordability and lifetime schemes have created a market at the bottom of the
pyramid.
 Spectrum Sharing by service providers as nobody has a pan Indian presence.
 Acquisitions are low probability as spectrum allocated to company acquired, will
revert back to government
Looking at the above mentioned points it is clearly visible that India is best to invest
market and in the future it is possible that some more mobile phone operators will enter
the market and the competition will go to its extreme level, but still the market will be
profitable.

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Batch 2009-11 Management of Telecommunications Systems MBA (MS), FMS Delhi

IV. Name the submarine cables landing in India, their capacities, route and
ownership?

Submarine Cables play a distinct role in linking countries together, submarine cables have
been silently at work, ensuring seamless Ethernet and mobile connectivity at all times.

While Tata Communications (VSNL) has been the most active operator in the submarine
cable space, tying up with major players abroad; Reliance, Bharti, Airtel, MTNL, BSNL also
have a major share of the submarine cabling pie. Tata, Pacnet and Cable&Wireless and
Verizon are also some of the key players looking at launching a few more lines within the
next three to five years.

 LOCOM linking Chennai to Penang, Malaysia

 India-UAE cable linking Mumbai to Al Fujayrah, UAE.
 SEA-ME-WE 2 (South East Asia-Middle East-Western Europe 2)
 SEA-ME-WE 3 (South East Asia-Middle East-Western Europe 3) - Landing sites at
Cochin and Mumbai. Capacity of 960 Gbit/s.
 SEA-ME-WE 4 (South East Asia-Middle East-Western Europe 4) - Landing sites at
Mumbai and Chennai. Capacity of 1.28 Tbit/s.
 Fiber-Optic Link Around the Globe (FLAG-FEA) with a landing site at Mumbai
(2000). Initial design capacity 10 Gbit/s, upgraded in 2002 to 80 Gbit/s, upgraded to
over 1 Tbit/s (2005).
 TIISCS (Tata Indicom India-Singapore Cable System), also known as TIC (Tata
Indicom Cable), Chennai to Singapore. Capacity of 5.12 Tbit/s.
 i2i - Chennai to Singapore. Capacity of 8.4 Tbit/s.
 SEACOM from Mumbai to the Mediterranean, via South Africa. It currently joins
with SEA-ME-WE 4 off the west coast of Spain to carry traffic onward to London
(2009). Capacity of 1.28 Tbit/s.
 I-ME-WE (India-Middle East-Western Europe) with two landing sites at Mumbai
(2009). Capacity of 3.84 Tbit/s.
 EIG (Europe-India Gateway), landing at Mumbai (due Q2 2010).
 MENA (Middle East North Africa).
 TGN-Eurasia (Announced) Landing at Mumbai (due 2010?), Capacity of 1.28 Tbit/s
 TGN-Gulf (Announced) Landing at Mumbai (due 2011?), Capacity Unknown.

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