Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited

BSNL Mobile

Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited

(known as BSNL, India Communications Corporation

Limited) is a state-owned telecommunication company in

India. BSNL is the sixth largest cellular service provider,

with over 57.22 million customers as of December 2009

and the largest land line telephone provider in India. Its

headquarters are at Bharat Sanchar Bhawan, Harish

Chandra Mathur Lane, Janpath, New Delhi. It has the status

of Mini Ratna, a status assigned to reputed public sector

companies in India.

BSNL is India's oldest and largest Communication Service

Provider (CSP).[citation needed] Currently has a customer base of

90 million as of June 2008.[3] It has footprints throughout

India except for the metropolitan cities of Mumbai and

New Delhi which are managed by MTNL. As on March 31,

2008 BSNL commanded a customer base of 31.55 million

Wireline, 4.58 million CDMA-WLL and 54.21 million

1

GSM Mobile subscribers. BSNL's earnings for the

Financial Year ending March 31, 2009 stood at INR

397.15b (US$7.03 billion) with net profit of INR 78.06b

(US$ 1.90 billion). BSNL has an estimated market value of

$ 100 Billion. The company is planning an IPO with in 6

months to offload 10% to public in the Rs 300-400 range

valuing the company at over $100 billion.

Services

BSNL provides almost every telecom service in India.

Following are the main telecom services provided by

BSNL:

Universal Telecom Services : Fixed wireline services

& Wireless in Local loop (WLL) using CDMA

Technology called bfone and Tarang respectively. As

of December 31, 2007, BSNL has 81% marketshare of

fixed lines.

Cellular Mobile Telephone Services: BSNL is major

provider of Cellular Mobile Telephone services using

GSM platform under the brand name BSNL Mobile[4].

2

As of Sep 30, 2009 BSNL has 12.45% share of mobile

telephony in the country[5].

Internet: BSNL provides internet services through

dial-up connection (Sancharnet) as Prepaid, (NetOne)

as Postpaid and ADSL broadband (BSNL Broadband).

BSNL has around 50% market share in broadband in

India. BSNL has planned aggressive rollout in

broadband for current financial year.

Intelligent Network (IN): BSNL provides IN services

like televoting, toll free calling, premium calling etc.

3G:BSNL offers the '3G' or the'3rd Generation'

services which includes facilities like video calling

etc.

IPTV:BSNL also offers the 'Internet Protocol

Television' facility which enables us to watch

television through internet.

3

FTTH:Fibre To The Home facility that offers a higher

bandwidth for data transfer.This idea was proposed on

post-December 2009.

Administrative units

BSNL is divided into a number of administrative units,

termed as telecom circles, metro districts, project circles

and specialized units, as mentioned below:

Maintenance Regions Jharkhand Telecom Circle Eastern

Telecom Maintenance Region Karnataka Telecom Circle

Telecom Circles Metro Districts Andaman & Nicobar

Telecom Circle Calcutta Andhra Pradesh Telecom Circle

Chennai Assam Telecom Circle

Project Circles Bihar Telecom Circle Eastern Telecom

Project Circle Chhattisgarh Telecom Circle Western

Telecom Project Circle Gujarat Telecom Circle Northern

Telecom Project Circle Haryana Telecom Circle Southern

Telecom Project Circle Himachal Pradesh Telecom Circle

IT Project Circle, Pune Jammu & Kashmir Telecom Circle

4

Maintenance Regions Jharkhand Telecom Circle Eastern

Telecom Maintenance Region Karnataka Telecom Circle

Western Telecom Maintenance Region Kerala Telecom

Circle Northern Telecom Maintenance Region Madhya

Pradesh Telecom Circle Southern Telecom Maintenance

Region Maharashtra Telecom Circle Specialized Telecom

Units North East-I Telecom Circle Data Networks North

East-II Telecom Circle National Centre For Electronic

Switching Orissa Telecom Circle Technical &

Development Circle Punjab Telecom Circle Quality

Assurance Rajasthan Telecom Circle

Production Units Telecom Factory, Mumbai Telecom

Factory, Jabalpur Telecom Factory, Richhai Telecom

Factory, Kolkata

Other Units Training Institutions Telecom Stores Advanced

Level Telecom Training Centre North East Task Force

Bharat Ratna Bhim Rao Ambedkar Institute Of Telecom

Training Telecom Electrical Wing National Academy of

Telecom Finance and Management Telecom Civil Wing

5

Regional Telecom Training Centres Circle Telecom

Training Centres District Telecom Training Centres

Present and future

BSNL (then known as Department of Telecom) had been a

near monopoly during the socialist period of the Indian

economy. During this period, BSNL was the only telecom

service provider in the country (MTNL was present only in

Mumbai and New Delhi). During this period BSNL

operated as a typical state-run organization, inefficient,

slow, bureaucratic, and heavily uinionised. As a result

subscribers had to wait for as long as five years to get a

telephone connection.The corporation tasted competition

for the first time after the liberalisation of Indian economy

in 1991. Faced with stiff competition from the private

telecom service providers, BSNL has subsequently tried to

increase efficiencies itself. DoT veterans, however, put the

onus for the sorry state of affairs on the Government

policies, where in all state-owned service providers were

required to function as mediums for achieving egalitarian

growth across all segments of the society. The corporation

6

(then DoT), however, failed miserably to achieve this and

India languished among the most poorly connected

countries in the world. BSNL was born in 2000 after the

corporatisation of DoT. The efficiency of the company has

since improved. However, the performance level is

nowhere near the private players. The corporation remains

heavily unionised and is comparatively slow in decision

making and implementation. Though it offers services at

lowest tariffs, the private players continue to notch up

better numbers in all areas, years after year. BSNL has been

providing connections in both urban and rural areas. Pre-

activated Mobile connections are available at many places

across India. BSNL has also unveiled cost-effective

broadband internet access plans (DataOne) targeted at

homes and small businesses. At present BSNL enjoy's

around 60% of market share of ISP services.[6]

Year of Broadband 2007

2007 has been declared as "Year of Broadband" in India

and BSNL is in the process of providing 5 million

Broadband connectivity by the end of 2007. BSNL has

7

upgraded existing Dataone (Broadband) connections for a

speed of up to 2 Mbit/s without any extra cost. This 2

Mbit/s broadband service is being provided by BSNL at a

cost of just US$ 11.7 per month (as of 21/07/2008 and at a

limit of 2.5GB monthly limit with 0200-0800 hrs as no

charge period). Further, BSNL is rolling out new

broadband services such as triple play.

BSNL is planning to increase its customer base to 108

million customers by 2010. With the frantic activity in the

communication sector in India, the target appears

achievable.

BSNL is a pioneer of rural telephony in India. BSNL has

recently bagged 80% of US$ 580 m (INR 2,500 crores)

Rural Telephony project of Government of India.[7]

On the 20th of March, 2009, BSNL advertised the launch

of BlackBerry services across its Telecom circles in India.

The corporation has also launched 3G services in select

cities across the country. Presently, BSNL and MTNL are

the only players to provide 3G services, as the Government

8

is still in the process of auctioning the 3G spectrum to

private players.

BSNL has also launched a Entertainment Portal called

BSNL Hungama Portal from where subscribers could

download contents like music, music videos for free and

also download or play various games online. Only

Tamil,Kannada,Telugu & Hindi are provided at present.

Hopes are there that the database could be expanded. BSNL

charges a fixed monthly subscription fee for this function.

Challenges

During the financial year 2006-2007 (from April 1, 2006 to

March 31, 2007) BSNL has added 9.6 million new

customers in various telephone services taking its customer

base to 64.8 million. BSNL's nearest competitor Bharti

Airtel is standing at a customer base of 39 million.

However, despite impressive growth shown by BSNL in

recent times, the Fixed line customer base of BSNL is

declining. In order to woo back its fixed-line customers

BSNL has brought down long distance calling rate under

9

One India plan, however, the success of the scheme is not

known. However, BSNL faces bleak fiscal 2006-2007 as

users flee, which has been accepted by the CMD BSNL.[8]

Presently there is an intense competition in Indian Telecom

sector and various Telcos are rolling out attractive schemes

and are providing good customer services.

Access Deficit Charges (ADC, a levy being paid by the

private operators to BSNL for provide service in non-

lucrative areas especially rural areas) has been slashed by

37% by TRAI, w.e.f. April 1, 2007. The reduction in ADC

may hit the bottomlines of BSNL.

BSNL launched 3G services in 11 cities of country in 2nd

march 2009.MTNL which operates in Mumbai and Delhi

first launched 3G services in these cities.

10

Vodafone

Vodafone's original logo, used until the introduction of the

speechmark logo in 1997

Vodafone Group plc (LSE: VOD, NASDAQ: VOD) is a

British multinational mobile network operator

headquartered in Newbury, Berkshire, United Kingdom.

Vodafone is the world's largest mobile telecommunication

network company, based on revenue, and has a market

value of about £71.2 billion (November 2009). It currently

has operations in 31 countries and partner networks in a

further 40 countries.[3] Based on subscribers, it is the

world's second largest mobile phone operator behind China

Mobile, with over 427 million subscribers in 31 markets

across 5 continents as of 2009. In the UK, its home ground,

Vodafone has badly underperformed in the last few years

11

due to brisk change in administration. It has slipped from

first to third largest telecom operator generating a revenue

of 4.9 billion from its 18.7 million customers in 2008-09.[5]

As of March 31, 2009, the company employs more than

79,000 people worldwide.

The name Vodafone comes from voice data fone, chosen

by the company to "reflect the provision of voice and data

services over mobile phones".

Vodafone owns 45% of Verizon Wireless, the largest

wireless telecommunications network in the United States,

based on number of subscribers.

It is listed on the London Stock Exchange, where it is a

constituent of the FTSE 100 index. Previously Vodafone

was listed on New York Stock Exchange, but later it

indented to transfer the listing of its American Depositary

Receipts, each representing ten ordinary shares of its

company, from NYSE to NASDAQ. Although it would

keep listing its debt securities on NYSE.

12

Vodafone Group

In 1982 Racal Electronics plc's subsidiary Racal Strategic

Radio Ltd. won one of two UK cellular telephone network

licences; the other going to British Telecom The network,

known as Racal Vodafone was 80% owned by Racal, with

Millicom and the Hambros Technology Trust owning 15%

and 5% respectively. Vodafone was launched on 1 January

1985. Racal Strategic Radio was renamed Racal

Telecommunications Group Limited in 1985. On 29

December 1986, Racal Electronics bought out the minority

shareholders of Vodafone for GB£110 million.

In September 1988, the company was again renamed Racal

Telecom, and on 26 October 1988, Racal Electronics

floated 20% of the company. The flotation valued Racal

Telecom at GB£1.7 billion. On 16 September 1991, Racal

Telecom was demerged from Racal Electronics as

Vodafone Group.

In July 1996, Vodafone acquired the two thirds of Talkland

it did not already own for 30.6 million. On 19 November

13

1996, in a defensive move, Vodafone purchased Peoples

Phone for 77 million, a 181 store chain whose customers

were overwhelmingly using Vodafone's network. In a

similar move the company acquired the 80% of Astec

Communications that it did not own, a service provider

with 21 stores.

In 1997, Vodafone introduced its Speechmark logo, as it is

a quotation mark in a circle; the O's in the Vodafone

logotype are opening and closing quotation marks,

suggesting conversation.

On 29 June 1999, Vodafone completed its purchase of

AirTouch Communications, Inc. and changed its name to

Vodafone Airtouch plc. Trading of the new company

commenced on 30 June 1999. To approve the merger,

Vodafone sold its 17.2% stake in E-Plus Mobilfunk. The

acquisition gave Vodafone a 35% share of Mannesmann,

owner of the largest German mobile network.

On 21 September 1999, Vodafone agreed to merge its U.S.

wireless assets with those of Bell Atlantic Corp to form

14

Verizon Wireless. The merger was completed on 4 April

2000.

In November 1999, Vodafone made an unsolicited bid for

Mannesmann, which was rejected. Vodafone's interest in

Mannesmann had been increased by the latter purchase of

Orange, the UK mobile operator. Chris Gent would later

say Mannesmann's move into the UK broke a "gentleman's

agreement" not to compete in each others home territory.

The hostile takeover provoked strong protest in Germany,

and a "titanic struggle" which saw Mannesmann resist

Vodafone's efforts. However, on 3 February 2000, the

Mannesmann board agreed to an increased offer of 112bn,

then the largest corporate merger ever. The EU approved

the merger in April 2000. The conglomerate was

subsequently broken up and all manufacturing related

operations sold off.

On 28 July 2000, the Company reverted to its former name,

Vodafone Group plc. In April 2001, the first 3G voice call

was made on Vodafone United Kingdom's 3G network.

15

Vodafone in Iasi, Romania

A map showing Vodafone Global Enterprise' footprint.

Vodafone Operating Countries      Vodafone's partners and

affiliates

In 2001, the Company took over Eircell, then part of

eircom in Ireland, and rebranded it as Vodafone Ireland. It

then went on to acquire Japan's third-largest mobile

operator J-Phone, which had introduced camera phones

first in Japan.

On 17 December 2001, Vodafone introduced the concept of

"Partner Networks", by signing TDC Mobil of Denmark.

The new concept involved the introduction of Vodafone

international services to the local market, without the need

of investment by Vodafone. The concept would be used to

extend the Vodafone brand and services into markets where

it does not have stakes in local operators. Vodafone

16

services would be marketed under the dual-brand scheme,

where the Vodafone brand is added at the end of the local

brand. (i.e., TDC Mobil-Vodafone etc.)

Vodafone Global Enterprise

Global Enterprise is a business set up by Vodafone with the

sole purpose of handling Vodafone's multinational clients.

It is the high end business to business (B2B) section of

Vodafone Group, and acts like an operating country (such

as for example Vodafone UK). Devices and services

available in any operating country, are available to Global

Enterprise customers in the same country, and so Vodafone

Global Enterprise are able to offer a wide range of

products. Vodafone Global Enterprise have a presence in

over 65 countries, and this number is expected to grow in

future, as with the recent acquisition of Ghana Telecom.

Since its foundation in 2007, Global Enterprise has aimed

to be a world leader in managed mobility services.

Vodafone Global Enterprise are headquartered in Newbury,

but have operatives around the world; while many of

17

Vodafone's marketing employees are relocated to London,

Global Enterprise' team will remain in Newbury.

Nick Jeffery leads Vodafone Global Enterprise. He led the

creation of Vodafone Global Enterprise in 2007, and

continues to define the strategy and operational execution

for Vodafone's relationship with multi-national corporate

customers. Global Enterprise have a dedicated group of

account managers, at both global and national levels, who

look after customers needs, and are supported by pre-sales

and technical consultancy teams.

Products and Services include: Enterprise Central,

Telecomms Management, Global Device Portfolio and

Managed Mobility Services. In 2009, Vodafone Global

Enterprise was the winner of Best Mobile Enterprise

Service at the GSMA Global Mobile Awards 2009.

18

Aircel

.

Aircel is a mobile phone service provider in India. It offers

both prepaid and postpaid GSM cellular phone coverage

throughout India. Aircel is a joint venture between Maxis

Communications of Malaysia and Apollo Hospital

Enterprise Ltd of India. Maxis has a 74% stake in Aircel

and the remaining 26% is with Apollo Hospitals. It is

India’s fifth largest GSM mobile service provider with a

subscriber base of over 27.7 million, as of October 31,

2009. It has a market share of 12.8% among the GSM

operators in the country. As on date, Aircel is present in 18

of the total 23 telecom circles (including Andhra Pradesh,

Assam, Bihar & Jharkhand, Chennai, Delhi & NCR,

Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, Karnataka, Kerala,

Kolkata, Mumbai, North East, Orissa, Rest of Maharashtra

& Goa, Rest of Tamil Nadu, Rest of West Bengal, Uttar

Pradesh East, Uttar Pradesh West) and with licences

secured for the remaining 5 telecom circles, the company

19

plans to become a pan-India operator by 2010.

Additionally, Aircel has also obtained permission from

Department of Telecommunications (DoT) to provide

International Long Distance (ILD) and National Long

Distance (NLD) telephony services. It is also a category A

ISP. It is also having the largest service in Tamilnadu.

Aircel Business Solutions (ABS), part of Aircel, is an ISO

9000 certified company. ABS is a registered member of

WiMAX forum – both in the Indian and International

Chapters. ABS’ product range includes enterprise solutions

such as Multiprotocol Label Switching Virtual Private

Networks (MPLS VPNs), Voice over Internet Protocol

(VoIP) and Managed Video Services on wireless platform

including WiMAX.

Aircel has won many awards for its services. Aircel was

honored at the World Brand Congress 2009 with three

awards, Brand Leadership in Telecom, Marketing

Campaign & Marketing Professional of the Year. Aircel

was honored by CMAI INFOCOM National Telecom

Award 2009 for, ‘Excellence in Marketing of New

20

Telecom Service’. Aircel had been selected as the best

regional operator in 2008 by Tele.net. Aircel was rated as

the top mid-size utility company in Business World’s ‘List

of Best Mid-Size Companies’ in 2007. Aircel got the

highest rating for overall customer satisfaction and network

quality in 2006 by Voice and Data.

Aircel is one of the sponsors of the Indian Premier League

Cricket Team Chennai Super Kings, which is captained by

Mahendra Singh Dhoni. It is also the major sponsors for

Chennai Open (the only ATP tennis tournament in India),

and Professional Golf Tour of India.

In latest news, Maxis, Aircel's majority stake holder, raised

RM11.2 billions (USD 3.36 billions)for its shareholders,

making it the largest IPO in Malaysia and Southeast Asia.

Aircel boat. Aircel, placed an actual dinghy lifeboat to a

downtown billboard. A rope with a sign reading, “In case

of emergency, cut rope”, held up the branded raft. July 15,

2009 the monsoon arrived and so did Aircel customer

service. The dinghy was cut down and pedestrians were

21

safely transported. What Aircel calls “Corporate Social

Responsibility – A Solution”. The company was able to

generate positive publicity and show consumers that they

care.

22

Bharti Airtel

Bharti Airtel (BSE: 532454) formerly known as Bharti

Tele-Ventures LTD (BTVL) is the largest cellular service

provider in India, with more than 110 million subscribers as

of 2009.[2] With this, Bharti is now the world's third-largest,

single-country mobile operator and sixth-largest integrated

telecom operator. It also offers fixed line services and

broadband services. It offers its TELECOM services under

the Airtel brand and is headed by Sunil Bharti Mittal. The

company also provides telephone services and broadband

Internet access (DSL) in top 95 cities in India. It also acts

as a carrier for national and international long distance

communication services. The company has a submarine

cable landing station at Chennai, which connects the

submarine cable connecting Chennai and Singapore.

The businesses at Bharti Airtel have always been structured

into three individual strategic business units (SBU's) -

Mobile Services, Airtel Telemedia Services & Enterprise

23

Services. The mobile business provides mobile & fixed

wireless services using GSM technology across 23 telecom

circles while the Airtel Telemedia Services business offers

broadband & telephone services in 95 cities and has

recently launched a Direct-to-Home (DTH) service, Airtel

Digital TV. Shahrukh Khan is the brand embassador of the

mobile company and Kareena Kapoor and Saif Ali Khan

are the brand embassadors of the DTH company. The

company provides end-to-end data and enterprise services

to the corporate customers through its nationwide fiber

optic backbone, last mile connectivity in fixed-line and

mobile circles, VSATs, ISP and international bandwidth

access through the gateways and landing station.[3]

Globally, Bharti Airtel is the 3rd largest in-country mobile

operator by subscriber base, behind China Mobile and

China Unicom. In India, the company has a 24.6% share of

the wireless services market, followed by 17.7% for

Reliance Communications and 17.4% for Vodafone Essar.[4] In January 2010, company anonced that Manoj Kohli,

Joint Managing Director and current Chief Executive

24

Officer of Indian and South Asian operations, will become

the Chief Executive Officer of the International Business

Group from 1st April 2010. He will be overseeing Bharti's

overseas business. Current Dy. CEO, Sanjay Kapoor, will

replace Manoj Kohli and will be the CEO with effective

from 1st April, 2010.

25

Airtel

Airtel is a brand of telecommunication services in India,

Bangladesh and in Sri Lanka owned and operated by Bharti

Airtel. It is the largest cellular service provider in India in

terms of number of subscribers. Services are offered under

the brand name Airtel: Mobile Services (using GSM

Technology), Broadband & Telephone Services (Fixed line,

Internet Connectivity(DSL) and Leased Line), Long

Distance Services and Enterprise Services

(Telecommunications Consulting for corporates). It has

presence in all 23 circles of the country and covers 71% of

the current population (as of Financial Year 2007). Airtel

has also launched 16Mb/s broadband plans in India,

making it the first ISP to do so.

Airtel Sri Lanka

In December 2008, Bharti Airtel rolled out third generation

services in Sri Lanka in association with Singapore

26

Telecommunications. SingTel is a major player in the 3G

space in Asia. It operates third generation networks in

several markets across Asia.

Airtel's operation in Sri Lanka, known as Airtel Lanka,

commenced operations on the 12th of January 2009.

Airtel in Bangladesh

In January 2010, it was announced that the Bangladesh

Telecommuncations Regulatrory Commission (BTRC) of

The People's Republic of Bangladesh had given Bharti

Airtel the go ahead to acquire a 70% stake in the

Bangladesh business of Abu Dhabi based Warid Telcom.

The latter had till date invested a total of $600 million, with

plans to bring their Bangladesh investments to the $1

billion mark. Airtel's 70% stake in the company is said to

be at a cost of an initial $300 million.

Touchtel

Until September 18, 2004, Bharti provided fixed-line

telephony and broadband services under the Touchtel

27

brand. Bharti now provides all telecom services including

fixed-line services under a common brand "Airtel".

BlackBerry

On 19 October 2004 Airtel announced the launch of a

BlackBerry Wireless Solution in India. The launch is a

result of a tie-up between Bharti Tele-Ventures Limited and

Research In Motion (RIM).

Digital TV

Main article: Airtel Digital Tv

On 9 October 2008, Airtel joined the DTH bandwagon in

India with Airtel Digital TV, a Direct-to-Home Television

service.

iPhone 3G

The Apple iPhone 3G was rolled out in India on 22 August

2008 via Airtel & Vodafone.

28

Merger talks

In May 2008, it emerged that Bharti Airtel was exploring

the possibility of buying the MTN Group, a South Africa-

based telecommunications company with coverage in 21

countries in Africa and the Middle East. The Financial

Times reported that Bharti was considering offering US$45

billion for a 100% stake in MTN, which would be the

largest overseas acquisition ever by an Indian firm.

However, both sides emphasize the tentative nature of the

talks, while The Economist magazine noted, "If anything,

Bharti would be marrying up," as MTN has more

subscribers, higher revenues and broader geographic

coverage.[7] However, the talks fell apart as MTN group

tried to reverse the negotiations by making Bharti almost a

subsidiary of the new company.

In May 2009, Bharti Airtel again confirmed that it is in

Talks with MTN and companies have now agreed discuss

the potential transaction exclusively by July 31, 2009.[9]

Bharti Airtel said in a statement “Bharti Airtel Ltd is

29

pleased to announce that it has renewed its effort for a

significant partnership with MTN Group".

Talks eventually ended without agreement, some sources

stating that due to the South African government

opposition.[11]

Sponsorship

Bharti Airtel signed a five-year deal with ESPN Star Sports

to become the title sponsor of the Champions League

Twenty20 cricket tournament. The tournament itself is

named "Airtel Champions League Twenty20." [12]

Airtel 3G

Airtel plans to launch the nationwide 3G services in India

in the second quarter of 2010.

Asia-Pacific

Networks in Asia-Pacific

Majority- Minority- No Ownership

30

owned owned

AustraliaChina

mainlandAfghanistan Armenia

India Fiji Azerbaijan Hong Kong

New Zealand India Japan Malaysia

Samoa Singapore

Sri Lanka Taiwan

Thailand Turkmenistan

Uzbekistan

In July 1993, BellSouth New Zealand's network went live,

and October 1993 Vodafone Australia's network also went

live. This was followed in July 1994 by Vodafone Fiji's

network going live.

In November 1998, Vodafone purchased BellSouth New

Zealand, which later became Vodafone New Zealand. In

1999, J-Phone launched the J-sky mobile internet service in

response to DoCoMo's i-Mode service. In December, 2002

J-Phone's 3G network went live.

31

On 1 October 2003, J-Phone became 'Vodafone', and J-

Phone's mobile internet service J-Sky became Vodafone

Live!. On 3 November 2003, Singapore became a part of

the community as M1 was signed as partner network.

In December 2004, Vodafone Australia agreed to deploy

high-speed MPLS backbone network built by Lucent

Worldwide Services using Juniper hardware.

Then in April 2005, SmarTone changed the name of its

brand to 'SmarTone-Vodafone', after both companies

signed a Partner Network Agreement. In August 2005,

Vodafone launched 3G technology in New Zealand, and in

October 2005, it began launching 3G technology in

Australia. On 28 October 2005, the Company announced

the acquisition of a 10 per cent stake in India's Bharti

Televentures, which operates the largest mobile phone

network in India under the brand name AirTel. On 22

December 2005, the Company announced the completion

of the acquisition of the 10% stake in Bharti Televentures

of India.

32

In January 2006, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Sri Lanka were

added to the Vodafone footprint as Vodafone Group signed

a partner network agreement with Telekom Malaysia. On

17 March 2006, Vodafone announced an agreement to sell

all its interest in Vodafone Japan to SoftBank for £8.9

billion, of which £6.8 billion will be received in cash on

closing of deal. Vodafone Japan later changed its name to

SoftBank Mobile. On 9 October 2006, Vodafone New

Zealand bought New Zealand's 3rd largest internet service

provider, iHug, and on 1 November 2006, Vodafone

Australia signed the Australian Football League (AFL)'s

biggest individual club sponsorship deal with the Brisbane

Lions for seasons 2007, 2008 and 2009.

On 6 February 2007, along with the partnership with

Digicel Caribbean (see below), Samoa was added as a

Partner Market. Then on 11 February 2007, the Company

agreed to acquire a controlling interest of 67% in Hutchison

Essar Limited for US$11.1 billion. At the same time, it

agreed to sell back 5.6% of its AirTel stake back to the

Mittals. Vodafone would retain a 4.4% stake in AirTel. On

33

21 September 2007, Hutch was rebranded to Vodafone in

India.

On 6 February 2007, Vodafone Group signed a three-year

partnership agreement with Digicel Group. The agreement,

which includes Digicel's sister operation in Samoa, will

result to the offering of new roaming capabilities. The two

groups will also become preferred roaming partners of each

other. Along with Digicel's markets, the Vodafone brand is

now present in 81 countries, regions, and territories. What

is interesting to note, is that as well as being partners,

Digicel and Vodafone are also rival operators in Fiji, where

Digicel Fiji recently launched, and Vodafone owns a

minority (49%) stake in Vodafone Fiji.

On 10 February 2008, Vodafone announced the launching

of M-Paisa mobile money transfer service on Roshan's

(Afghanistan's largest GSM operator) network: Afghanistan

was added to the Vodafone footprint.

34

On 5 September 2008, Vodafone purchased Australia's

largest bricks and mortar mobile phone retailer Crazy

John's adding 115 retail stores to its local operations.

On 9 February 2009, Vodafone announced a merger with

3/Hutchison via a joint venture company VHA Pty Ltd,

which would offer products under the Vodafone brand. dtac

in Thailand is signed as a partner network of the Group on

25 March 2009.

On 19 June 2009, Vodafone-Hutchison Australia (VHA)

announced the end of its outsourcing of retail operations.

VHA committed to buying back and managing its entire

retail operation, including 208 Vodafone-branded retail

outlets Australia-wide. This project is slated to be

completed by 1 September 2009.

Nar Mobile in Azerbaijan was signed as a Partner Network

on 22 July 2009, while Chunghwa Telecom of Taiwan was

signed on 12 November 2009.

35

Africa and the Middle East

Networks in the Middle East and Africa

Majority-ownedMinority-

owned

No

Ownership

DR Congo1 Egypt Kenya Kuwait

Ghana Lesotho1 Bahrain

Mozambique1 Qatar2 UAE

Tanzania1South

Africa1

1Majority stakes held through majority-owned Vodacom

Group2Effective ownership is not majority, but full control

exercised by the group.

Egypt

In November 1998, Vodafone Egypt network went live

under the name ClickGSM.

On 8 November 2006, the Company announced a deal with

Telecom Egypt, resulting in further co-operation in the

Egyptian market, and increasing its stake in Vodafone

36

Egypt. After the deal, Vodafone Egypt was 55% owned by

the group, while the remaining 45% was owned by

Telecom Egypt.

Kuwait

On 18 September 2002, Vodafone signed a Partner

Network Agreement with MTC group of Kuwait. The

agreement involved the rebranding of MTC to MTC-

Vodafone. On 29 December 2003, Vodafone signed

another Partner Network Agreement with Kuwait's MTC

group. The second agreement involved co-operation in

Bahrain and the branding of the network as MTC-

Vodafone.

South Africa (Vodacom)

On 3 November 2004, the Company announced that its

South African affiliate Vodacom had agreed to introduce

Vodafone's international services, such as Vodafone live!

and partner agreements, to its local market.

37

In November 2005, Vodafone announced that it was in

exclusive talks to buy a 15% stake of VenFin in Vodacom

Group, reaching agreement the following day. Vodafone

and Telkom then had a 50% stake each in Vodacom.

Vodafone now owns 65% of Vodacom after purchasing a

15% stake from Telkom.

On 9 October 2008, the company offered to acquire an

additional 15 per cent stake in Vodacom group from

Telkom. The finalised details of the agreement were

announced on 6 November 2008. The agreement called for

Telkom to sell 15 per cent of its 50 per cent stake in

Vodacom to the group, and demerge the other 35 per cent

to its shareholder. Meanwhile, Vodafone has agreed to

make Vodacom its exclusive sub-Saharan Africa

investment vehicle, as well as continuing to maintain the

visibility of the Vodacom brand. The transaction is closed

in May/June 2009.

On 18 May 2009, Vodacom entered the JSE Limited stock

exchange in South Africa after Vodafone increased its stake

38

by 15% to 65% to take a majority holding, despite disputes

by local trade unions.

Ghana

In December 2007, a Vodafone Group-led consortium was

awarded the second mobile phone licence in Qatar, and on

3 July 2008, Vodafone agreed to acquire a 70% stake in

Ghana Telecom for $900 million. The acquisition was

consummated on 17 August 2008. The same group-led

consortium won the second fixed-line licence in Qatar on

15 September 2008.

On 15 April 2009, Ghana Telecom, along with its mobile

subsidiary onetouch, was rebranded as Vodafone Ghana.

U.A.E.

On 28 January 2009, the group announced a partner

network agreement with Du, the second-largest operator of

the United Arab Emirates. The agreement involved co-

operation on international clients, handset procurement,

mobile broadband etc.

39

The Americas

Networks in the Americas

Minority-

ownedNo Ownership

USA1 Anguilla2Antigua &

Barbuda2Aruba2 Barbados2

Bermuda2 Bonaire2 Canada3Cayman

Islands2

Chile4 Curaçao2 Dominica2French West

Indies2

Grenada2 Guyana2 Haiti2 Honduras2

Jamaica2 Panama2St. Kitts &

Nevis2St. Lucia2

St. Vincent &

the Grenadines2

Trinidad &

Tobago2

Turk &

Caicos2

1 – Verizon Wireless2 – Digicel (Partner)3 – ?4 – Entel PCS (Partner)

For more information, see Verizon Wireless.

40

In the United States, Vodafone owns 45% of Verizon

Wireless, the country's largest mobile carrier after their

merger with Alltel. The percentage of the customer base,

and revenues of Verizon Wireless that Vodafone

consolidates is slightly lower, since some Verizon Wireless

subsidiaries have minority investors. (Hence the exact

percentages that Vodafone and Verizon report vary from

period to period: in June 2006 Vodafone reported that

Verizon Wireless owned 98.6% of its customers at that

date.) Before this joint venture was formed, Vodafone

merged with AirTouch Communications of the U.S. in June

1999, and changed its name to Vodafone Airtouch plc. In

September 1999, Vodafone Airtouch announced a $70-

billion joint venture with Bell Atlantic Corp. Verizon

Wireless was composed of Bell Atlantic's and Vodafone

AirTouch's U.S. wireless assets, and began operations on 4

April 2000. However, Verizon Communications - the

company formed when Bell Atlantic and GTE merged on

30 June 2000 - owns a majority of Verizon Wireless, and

Vodafone's branding is not used, nor is the CDMA network

compatible with GSM phones. This relationship has been

41

quite profitable for Vodafone, but there have historically

been three problems with it. The first is the above-

mentioned incompatibility with the GSM 900/1800 MHz

standard used by Vodafone's other networks, and the

consequent difficulty of offering roaming between

Vodafone's U.S. and other networks. The other two stem

from the fact that Vodafone does not have management

control over Verizon Wireless. Vodafone is thus unable to

use the Vodafone brand for its U.S. operations, and

(perhaps more importantly) has no control of dividend

policy at Verizon Wireless, and is therefore entirely at the

mercy of Verizon management with respect to cash flow

from Verizon Wireless.

Perhaps as a consequence of these reasons, Vodafone made

a bid for the entirety of AT&T Wireless when that

company was for sale in 2004. Had this bid been

successful, Vodafone would presumably have sold its stake

in Verizon Wireless, and then rebranded the resultant

business as Vodafone. However, Cingular Wireless, at the

time a joint venture of SBC Communications and

42

BellSouth (both now part of AT&T), ultimately outbid

Vodafone and took control of AT&T Wireless (the

combined wireless carrier is now AT&T Mobility), and

Vodafone's relationship with Verizon has continued.

Early in 2006, Verizon re-iterated their desire to buy out

the remaining 45% of stock of Verizon Wireless from

Vodafone Group. Vodafone has also repeatedly indicated

that it would be willing to buy out Verizon's stake.

Verizon has announced that its 4G data network will be

LTE, which is considered part of the GSM path and not the

CDMA2000 path Verizon has been using; it has been

suggested[who?] this is to appease Vodafone, which uses

GSM on its own networks.

On 11 May 2008, Vodafone sealed a trade agreement with

the Chilean Entel PCS Chile, in which Entel PCS has

access to the equipment and international services of

Vodafone, and Vodafone will be one of the trademarks of

Entel for the wireless business. This step will give the

Vodafone brand access to a market of over 15 million

43

people, currently divided among three companies:

Telefonica Movistar, Claro, and Entel PCS.

Mobile Money Transfer Service

In March 2007, Safaricom, which is part owned by

Vodafone and the leading mobile communication provider

in Kenya, launched a mobile payment solution developed

by Vodafone.[35] M-PESA is aimed at mobile customers

who do not have a bank account, typically because they do

not have access to a bank or their income is insufficient to

justify a bank account. The M-PESA system allows

customers to deposit and withdraw cash via local agents,

and transfer money to other mobile phone users via SMS.

By February 2008, the M-PESA money transfer system in

Kenya had gained 1.6 million customers[36] and Vodafone

announced that it was to extend the service to Afghanistan.

The service here was launched on the Roshan network

under the brand M-Paisa with a different focus to the

Kenyan service. M-Paisa was targeted as a vehicle for

microfinance institutions' (MFI) loan disbursements and

44

repayments, alongside business to business applications

such as salary disbursement.

The Afghanistan launch was followed in April 2008 by the

announcement of further a further launch of M-PESA in

Tanzania. As an operator of money transmission services,

Vodafone became subject to anti-money laundering

regulation and in July 2008, it was revealed that it had

deployed a sanctions and PEP (Politically Exposed

Persons) screening solution from Datanomic for weekly

screening of 2.5 million customers in Tanzania.[38] The

screening service was to be rolled out to Afghanistan,

Kenya, India and Datanomic disclosed that the solution

might be used to screen all of Vodafone's 300 million

customers globally.

Chief Executives

In a period just short of twenty years from its initial public

offering, the Company had had just three Chief Executives.

The fourth CEO, Vittorio Colao, stepped up from Deputy

Chief Executive in July 2008. Each of his predecessors

45

made a personal contribution to the development of the

Company.

Sir Gerald Whent, at that time an Executive with Racal

Electronics plc, was responsible for the bid for a UK

Cellular Network licence. The Mobile Telecoms division

was de-merged, and was floated on the London Stock

Exchange in October 1988 and Sir Gerald became Chief

Executive of Racal Telecom plc. Over the next few years

the company grew to become the UK's Market Leader,

changing its name to Vodafone Group plc in the process.

Sir Christopher Gent took over as Chief Executive in

January 1997, after Sir Gerald's retirement. Sir Christopher

was responsible for transforming Vodafone from a small

UK operator into the global behemoth that it is today,

through the merger with the American AirTouch and the

takeover of Germany's Mannesmann.

Arun Sarin was the driving force behind the Company's

move into emerging markets such as Asia and Africa,

through the purchases such as that of Turkish operator

46

Telsim, and a majority stake in Hutchison Essar in India.

Faced with increased competition, and penetration rates

above 100% in the more mature European markets, he saw

it necessary to diversify from being a mobile-only business

into a company which provided all telecommunications

services. This has seen Vodafone launch DSL and other

fixed-line services in markets such as Germany and the

UK.

Financial results

Vodafone reportes its results in accordance with

International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS).

Vodafone has some large minority stakes, which are not

included in its consolidated turnover. In order to provide

additional information on the overall scale and growth

trends of its business, it publishes "proportionate turnover"

figures, and these are included in the tables below. For

example, if a business in which it owns a 45% stake has

turnover of £10 billion, that equals £4.5 billion of

47

proportionate turnover for Vodafone. Proportionate

turnover is not an official accounting measure, and

Vodafone's proportionate turnover should be compared

with other companies' statutory turnover.

Vodafone also produces proportionate customer number

figures on a similar basis, eg. if an operator in which it has

a 30% stake has 10 million customers that equals 3 million

proportionate Vodafone customers. This is a common

practice in the mobile telecommunications industry.

Year

ended 31

Turnover

£m

Profit

before

Profit for

the year

Basic

eps

Proportionate

customers (m)

48

March tax £m £m (pence)

2008 35,478 9,001 6,756 12.56 260

2007 31,104 (2,383) (5,297) (8.94) 206.4

2006* 29,350 (14,835) (21,821) (35.01) 170.6

2005 34,073 7,951 6,518 9.68 154.8

2004 36,492 9,013 6,112 8.70 133.4

*Losses for year to 31 March 2006 reflect write downs of

assets, principally in relation to the Mannesmann

acquisition. Proportionate turnover includes £7,100 million

from discontinued operations.

The group's recent first quarter trading update (24 July,

2009) saw management reiterating its profit guidance for

the full year. Whilst revenues across Europe had been

relatively weak, mirroring general economic conditions,

there had been a positive showing from South Africa, with

the company's Indian purchase of Hutchison Essar

continuing to generate returns. Meanwhile, its joint venture

with Verizon in the US had strengthened further, with

Vodafone's overall customer base now standing at 315

million - 8 million having been added during the first

49

quarter. In addition, management noted that its cost

reduction programme, targeted to save £1bn in operating

costs by the end of the 2011 financial year, would reach

65pc of its target by the end of the current financial year.

Products

Motorola "T2288" (Talkabout)

mobile phone, branded

"Vodafone"

Products promoted by the Group

include Vodafone live!,

Vodafone Mobile Connect USB

Modem, Vodafone Connect to

Friends, Vodafone Passport,

Vodafone Freedom Packs, Vodafone at Home, Vodafone

710 and Amobee Media Systems. Between June and

August 2009, Vodafone suspended roaming charges within

35 different countries, allowing their customers to take

their standard UK price plan abroad.

50

In October 2009, it launched Vodafone 360[1], a new

internet service for the mobile, PC and Mac. On February

15, 2010 Vodafone launched world's cheapest mobile

phone known as Vodafone 150, will sell for below $15

(£10) and is aimed at the developing world. It will initially

be launched in India, Turkey and eight African countries

including Lesotho, Kenya and Ghana.

51

!dea

In the most narrow sense, an idea is just whatever is before

the mind when one thinks. Very often, ideas are construed

as representational images; i.e. images of some object. In

other contexts, ideas are taken to be concepts, although

abstract concepts do not necessarily appear as images.[1]

Many philosophers consider ideas to be a fundamental

ontological category of being.

The capacity to create and understand the meaning of ideas

is considered to be an essential and defining feature of

human beings.

In a popular sense, an idea arises in a reflex, spontaneous

manner, even without thinking or serious reflection, for

example, when we talk about the idea of a person or a

place.

52

Innate and adventitious ideas

Main articles: Innate idea and Adventitious idea

One view on the nature of ideas is that there exist some

ideas (called innate ideas) which are so general and

abstract, that they could not have arisen as a representation

of any object of our perception, but rather were, in some

sense, always in the mind before we could learn them.

These are distinguished from adventitious ideas which are

images or concepts which are accompanied by the

judgment that they are caused by some object outside of the

mind.[2]

Another view holds that we only discover ideas in the same

way that we discover the real world, from personal

experiences. The view that humans acquire all or almost all

their behavioral traits from nurture (life experiences) is

known as tabula rasa ("blank slate"). Most of the

confusions in the way of ideas arise at least in part from the

use of the term "idea" to cover both the representation

percept and the object of conceptual thought. This can be

53

illustrated in terms of the doctrines of innate ideas,

"concrete ideas versus abstract ideas", as well as "simple

ideas versus complex ideas". [3]

Philosophy

Plato

Main article: Theory of Forms

Plato was one of the earliest philosopher to provide a

detailed discussion of ideas. He considered the concept of

idea in the realm of metaphysics and its implications for

epistemology. He asserted that there is realm of Forms or

Ideas, which exist independently of anyone who may have

thought of these ideas. Material things are then imperfect

and transient reflections or instantiations of the perfect and

unchanging ideas. From this it follows that these Ideas are

the principal reality (see also idealism). In contrast to the

individual objects of sense experience, which undergo

constant change and flux, Plato held that ideas are perfect,

eternal, and immutable. Consequently, Plato considered

54

that knowledge of material things is not really knowledge;

real knowledge can only be had of unchanging ideas.

From Ideals to Practice

Whether you’re a project manager or an educator, you can

more dynamically and effectively disseminate information.

Check out our Journal of Interaction Recipes for ideas and

first steps.

If you’re an educator, a project director, or a content

developer and have found a solution to an online learning

obstacle, please share your recipe for success.

Contribute Your Time

55

Your time and expertise are invaluable in our work to

enhance the ways people think, learn, and use technology,

both within and outside of the realm of formal education.

We have a wide range of volunteer opportunities, at least

one of which is sure to dovetail with your interests and

skills.

One of IDEA’s most formidable resources is our cadre of

supporters who are willing and eager to provide us with

feedback about our online publications and technology

tools. From the early stages of brainstorming, to

prototyping and early beta testing, your feedback will help

us better serve the public.

Your Financial Support

As a nonprofit organization, IDEA relies on generous

contributions from individuals, foundations, corporations,

and public agencies, all of whom donate money and time to

support our theoretical and technological innovations for

improving the ways people interact with online

information.

56

Make Different

If you share our passion for leveraging technology to

increase scientific, artistic, and cultural literacy, then get

involved! You can nurture bold ideas so that they grow and

flourish.

Here’s how:

Begin using technology in a way that’s organic, akin

to the way the mind really works. Join the SpicyNodes

community (it’s free), create nodemaps that convey

meaningful information, and share them with the

world via your web site, blog, social network, or the

online SpicyNodes gallery.

Promote IDEA’s programs and projects — from our

WebExhibits online museum to our ColoRotate 3D

color picking tool — on your web site, blog, or social

network and link back to IDEA’s site.

Write new pages or provide illustrations for our

WebExhibits. You can become an active contributor

57

by sharing your unique experience and expertise —

such as photos or tips about your local calendar,

butter, or Daylight Saving Time.

Translate a WebExhibit into a language other than

English.

If you’re a teacher, you’re likely already using

technology in your classroom. Continue to set an

example for your students by using innovative

approaches and technologies that facilitates the

exchange of meaningful information. You can use our

WebExhibits teacher’s guides or lesson plans using

concept maps with SpicyNodes. And, please share

your experiences so that we can expand our teacher’s

guides and provide educators with additional

resources.

Promote the creative use of technology in your

community by using some of our Recipes for Dynamic

Education; tell us your stories and successes.

Promoting IDEA’s mission can take just a few hours of

your time, or much more. Our tools have grown organically

58

with a variety of input from academicians, researchers, and

the general public. Learn more about trying out our new

ideas.

Each of our projects and programs involves a lengthy

research and development phase. We rely upon the

feedback and counsel of our supporters to ensure that our

concepts, information, and technologies are sound and

useful. We believe strongly in the iterative process, and

have found that the back-and-forth between our

development team and our testers lead to refinements that

enrich our projects and help us better serve the public. It’s

been our experience that our volunteer testers find the

process rewarding as well.

When you volunteer, you’ll hear from us from time to time.

We may solicit ideas for new Web Exhibits or lesson plans,

ask for your feedback on early prototypes, inquire about

how you may or may not use a new technology, or ask you

to be a beta tester.

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