CHAPTER - II

TELECOM SECTOR IN INDIA:

AN OVERVIEW

CHAPTER-II

TELECOM SECTOR IN INDIA: AN OVERVIEW2.1. Introduction

The telecom industry is one of the fastest growing industries in India. India

has nearly 200 million telephone lines making it the third largest network in the world

after China and USA. With a growth rate of 45%, Indian telecom industry has the

highest growth rate in the world. The telecom services have been recognized the

world-over as an important tool for socio-economic development for a nation. The

role of telephony in everyday life has undergone a complete transformation over the

last decade to warrant such a view. Close to 65 persons in every 100 own a phone

today. Sustained fall in handset price and telecom tariff and expansion of mobile

telephony’s geographic coverage continue to increase the size of India’s target able

population at an exponential rate1.

It is one of the prime support services needed for rapid growth and

modernization of various sectors of the economy. Driven by various policy initiatives,

the Indian telecom sector witnessed a complete transformation in the last decade. It

has achieved a phenomenal growth during the last few years. Indian Telecom service

sector is becoming one of the fastest growing sectors in the world. The impact of

telecom on the economy goes beyond mere connectivity. Telecom will continue to

generate both direct and indirect employment opportunities for millions of youth in

areas like manufacturing, telecom, BPOs, ancillaries, channel distribution, branding

and infrastructure labour. But its biggest impact is felt in the area of entrepreneurship

development. From farmers to fishermen, from the vehicle mechanic to the

neighborhood plumber, everyone has found a way to leverage the device to improve

is K U L I B R A kT«c NO...WS.WSCall.No.

his life. The omnipresent device clearly has the potential to nurture millions of

entrepreneurial dreams across rural and urban India, who could prove to be a critical

pivot around which India’s economic transformation will shape up.

2.2. Evolution of revolution

In the pre-liberalization days, India’s telecom growth remained hindered by an

elitist bias. Telephone was considered a luxury and was treated as the exclusive

preserve of the rich. Today, mobile telephony has graduated from its elitist status to

be one among the essentials such as roti, kapada and makaan for a large section of the

population. The customer base, which stood at 80,000 in 1948, had grown to a mere

five million by 1991, the year the country began its historic journey towards market

economy. The telecom revolution typically represents the country’s post 1991

economic transformation - from a hesitant beginning to explosive growth. This

mobile telephony led revolution is spreading to every corner of the country and over

eight million mobile subscribers’ sign up for services every month. Over the last

decade, not only has India emerged as the fastest growing mobile market but also as

one of the largest in terms of customers2.

This revolution should ideally be seen as a part of the wider change process

ushered in by India's liberalization drive, which opened many areas to private

entrepreneurs. In telecom service, mobile telephony was the first to see private

entrepreneurs in 1995. Bharti Airtel was a pioneer in the sector when it launched its

services in Delhi. Then nobody had anticipated this new technology to be such a

powerful trigger for change - connecting people across urban and rural India and in

turn contributing to the economic development of the country.

42

In terms of technology too, Indian telecom has evolved at a very fast rate since

the 1980s; from the first suitcase-sized ‘mobile’ phones to the slim hand-held

instruments now available, from 1G to 2.5G networks, with 3G and 4G now knocking

at the doors. Many more new technologies are likely to break through in the coming

years. But is it just technology that makes India the world’s fastest growing mobile

market with the lowest tariffs anywhere on the globe.

History of Indian Telecommunications started in 1851 when the first

operational land lines were laid by the government near Calcutta (seat of British

power). Telephone services were introduced in India in 1881. In 1883 telephone

services were merged with the postal system. Indian Radio Telegraph Company (IRT)

was formed in 1923. After independence in 1947, all the foreign telecommunication

companies were nationalized to form the Posts, Telephone and Telegraph (PTT), a

monopoly run by the government's Ministry of Communications. Telecom sector was

considered as a strategic service and the government considered it best to bring under

state's control3.

The first wind of reforms in telecommunications sector began to flow in 1980s

when the private sector was allowed in telecommunications equipment

manufacturing. In 1985, Department of Telecommunications (DOT) was established.

It was an exclusive provider of domestic and long-distance service that would be its

own regulator (separate from the postal system). In 1986, two wholly government-

owned companies were created: the Videsh Sanchar Nigam Limited (VSNL) for

international telecommunications and Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited (MTNL)

for service in metropolitan areas.

43

2.3. Liberalization

The process of liberalization in the country began in the right earnest with the

announcement of the New Economic Policy in July 1991. Telecom equipment

manufacturing was de-licensed in 1991 and value added services were declared open

to the private sector in 1992, following which radio paging, cellular mobile and other

value added services were opened gradually to the private sector. This has resulted in

large number of manufacturing units were set up in the country. As a result most of

the equipment used in telecom area is being manufactured within the country. A

major breakthrough was the clear enunciation of the government’s intention of

liberalizing the telecom sector in the National Telecom Policy resolution of 13th May

1994.

In 1990s, telecommunications sector benefited from the general opening up of

the economy. Examples of telecom revolution in many other countries, which resulted

in better quality of service and lower tariffs, led Indian policy makers to initiate a

change process finally resulting in opening up of telecom services sector for the

private sector4.

2.4. The Indian Telecom Sector

1. Telecommunication Services

a) Basic service

b) Cellular service

c) Internet Service Provider (ISP)

2. Telecommunication Equipment3. Issues

a) Rural Telecommunications

b) Interconnection

c) Spectrum Allocation

d) ICT and Gender

44

Table 2.1: Mobile service share (all India) (As on 29-6-2010)

S.No. Serviceprovider

Subscribers Market share in %

1 Bharati Airtel 12,76,19,314 21.84

2 RCom 10,24,22,145 17.53

3 Vodafone 10,08,58,358 17.26

4 BSNL 6,94,50,012 11.89

5 Tata 6,59,42,255 11.29

6 Idea 6,38,24,688 10.92

7 Aircel 3,68,61,174 6.31

8 Others 1,73,45,456 2.97

* The total telecom subscribers in India is 65.39 crores in 2010

Source: Websites

Table 2.2: Mobile service share (all India) (As on 25-6-2011)

S.No. Company Subscribers(Million)

Market share <%)

1 Bharti Airtel 164.61 20.00

2 Vodafone-Essar 136.98 16.64

3 RCom 136.95 16.64

4 Idea Cellular 91.95 11.17

5 Tata Teleservices 90.42 10.98

6 BSNL 87.15 10.59

7 Others 115.02 13.97

8 Total: 823.08

Source : COAI, AUSPI

45

Table 2.3: Indian Telecommunications at a glance (As on 31st March 2009)

Rank in world in network size 373

Tele-density (per hundred populations) 36.98

Telephone connection (In million)Fixed 37.96

Mobile 391.76

Total: 429.72Village Public Telephones Covered (Out of 66,822 uncovered villages)

57,167

Foreign Direct Investment (in million) (from January 2000 till January 2009)

275,441

Licenses issuedBasic 2

C MTS 39

UAS 240

Infrastructure Provider I 177

ISP (Internet) 349

ISP with Telephony (Broadband) 125

National Long distance 26

International Long Distance 24

Source: Web sites

Table 2.4: India - Key telecom parameters - 2009-10

Category 2009 2010 (e)Fixed-line services:• Total number of subscribers 37.1 million 36.5 million• Annual growth (e) -2% -2%

• Fixed-line penetration (population) 3.0% 2.9%

• Fixed-line penetration (household) 18% 18%

Broadband Internet:• Total number of subscribers 7.8 million 11.0 million

• Annual growth 44% 41%

• Broadband penetration (population) 0.7% 1.0%

• Broadband penetration (household) 3.5% 4.7%

Mobile services:• Total number of subscribers 525million 760 million• Annual growth 51% 44%• Mobile penetration (population) 45% 64%

(Source: BuddeComm)

46

2.5. National Telecom Policy (NTP)

Indian telecommunication sector has undergone a major process of

transformation through significant policy reforms, particularly beginning with the

announcement of NTP 1994 and was subsequently re-emphasized and carried forward

under NTP 1999. National Telecom Policy (NTP) 1994 was the first attempt to give a

comprehensive roadmap for the Indian telecommunications sector. In 1997, Telecom

Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) was created. TRAI was formed to act as a

regulator to facilitate the growth of the telecom sector. New National Telecom Policy

was adopted in 1999 and cellular services were also launched in the same year5.

In 1994, the Government announced the National Telecom Policy which

defined certain important objectives, including availability of telephone on demand,

provision of world class services at reasonable prices, improving India’s

competitiveness in global market and promoting exports, attractive FDI and

stimulating domestic investment, ensuring India’s emergence as major manufacturing

/ export base of telecom equipment and universal availability of basic telecom

services to all villages. It also announced a series of specific targets to be achieved by

1997.

2.6. Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI)

The entry of private service providers brought with it the inevitable need for

independent regulation. The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) was,

thus, established with effect from 20th February 1997 by an Act of Parliament, called

the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India Act, 1997, to regulate telecom services,

including fixation/revision of tariffs for telecom services which were earlier vested in

the Central Government6.

47

TRAI’s mission is to create and nurture conditions for growth of

telecommunications in the country in manner and at a pace, which will enable India to

play a leading role in emerging global information society. One of the main objectives

of TRAI is to provide a fair and transparent policy environment, which promotes a

level playing field and facilitates fair competition. In pursuance of above objective

TRAI has issued from time to time a large number of regulations, orders and

directives to deal with issues coming before it and provided the required direction to

the evolution of Indian telecom market from a Government owned monopoly to a

multi operator multi service open competitive market. The directions, orders and

regulations issued cover a wide range of subjects including tariff, interconnection and

quality of service as well as governance of the Authority7.

The TRAI Act was amended by an ordinance, effective from 24 January 2000,

establishing a Telecommunications Dispute Settlement and Appellate Tribunal

(TDSAT) to take over the adjudicatory and disputes functions from TRAI. TDSAT

was set up to adjudicate any dispute between a licensor and a licensee, between two or

more service providers, between a service provider and a group of consumers, and to

hear and dispose of appeals against any direction, decision or order of TRAI.

2.7. New Telecom Policy 1999

The most important milestone and instrument of telecom reforms in India is

the New Telecom Policy 1999 (NTP 99). The New Telecom Policy, 1999 (NTP-99)

was approved on 26th March 1999, to become effective from 1st April 1999. NTP-99

laid down a clear roadmap for future reforms, contemplating the opening up of all the

segments of the telecom sector for private sector participation. It clearly recognized

the need for strengthening the regulatory regime as well as restructuring the

48

departmental telecom services to that of a public sector corporation so as to separate

the licensing and policy functions of the Government from that of being an operator.

It also recognized the need for resolving the prevailing problems faced by the

operators so as to restore their confidence and improve the investment climate8.

Key features of the NTP 99 include:

• Strengthening of Regulator

• National long distance services opened to private operators.

• International Long Distance Services opened to private sectors.

• Private telecom operators licensed on a revenue sharing basis, plus a one-time

entry fee. Resolution of problems of existing operators envisaged.

• Direct interconnectivity and sharing of network with other telecom operators

within the service area was permitted.

• Department of Telecommunication Services (DTS) corporatised in 2000.

• Spectrum Management made transparent and more efficient.

All the commitments made under NTP 99 have been fulfilled; each one of

them, in letter and spirit, some even ahead of schedule, and the reform process is now

complete with all the sectors in telecommunications opened for private competition.

Telecommunication sector in India can be divided into two segments: Fixed

Service Provider (FSPs), and Cellular Services. Fixed line services consist of basic

services, national or domestic long distance and international long distance services.

The state operators (BSNL and MTNL), account for almost 90 per cent of revenues

from basic services. Private sector services are presently available in selective urban

areas, and collectively account for less than 5 per cent of subscriptions. However,

49

private services focus on the business/corporate sector, and offer reliable, high- end

services, such as leased lines, ISDN, closed user group and videoconferencing9.

Cellular services can be further divided into two categories: Global System for

Mobile Communications (GSM) and Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA). The

GSM sector is dominated by Airtel, Vodfone-Hutch, and Idea Cellular, while the

CDMA sector is dominated by Reliance and Tata Indicom. Opening up of

international and domestic long distance telephony services are the major growth

drivers for cellular industry. Cellular operators get substantial revenue from these

services, and compensate them for reduction in tariffs on airtime, which along with

rental was the main source of revenue. The reduction in tariffs for airtime, national

long distance, international long distance, and handset prices has driven demand.

2.8. The growth of Telecom Sector

The past decade has seen an exponential growth in the Indian Telecom Sector.

In the year 2000, Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) Act was amended

and in 2001 Telecom Disputes Settlement And Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT) started

its functioning. In 2002, Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) entered into GSM

cellular operation and made incoming calls free for the first time and since then there

is no looking back. Currently, the call rates in India are one of the lowest; to the

extent where some operators are even offering Per-Second-Billing10.

Despite the financial slowdown, the industry continued its high growth rate. In

2009 the Indian Telecom sector contributed 5.65 to the country’s Gross Domestic

Product (GDP) and attracted a Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) of over $2 billion.

India is Third in the world in terms of the number of Telecom subscribers. The Indian

50

telecom industry had an awesome run in 2009, adding some 170 million phone

connections to take the subscriber base to nearly 550 million.

There were 442 million wireless subscribers as of July 2009, with a

Compounded Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 65% during the last five years.

The Telecom Scenario can be broadly dissected into four categories:

1) Rural India: Bridging the Telecom Divide: The emergence of Rural Market in

India provides an extensive market place for mobile industry. The adoption of 3G and

Broadband Wireless Association (BWA) is likely to galvanize competition and

expand network coverage into the hinterlands of the country. With in a short span of 3

years the rural tele-density has jumped from 4.5% to 19%.

2) India as hub for Telecom equipments manufacturing and exports: In order to

make the latest technology available in the market, focus is on commercialization of

telecom innovation and technology. This can contribute towards inclusive growth by

making low cost handsets available that support affordable access in rural areas.

The production of telecom equipments as of March 2009 was INR 518 billion with a

CAGR of 29% during the last five years. At the same time INR 81 billion of telecom

equipments were exported with a CAGR of 100% during the last five years11.

3) VAS, Mobile Banking and M-commerce: Value Added Services (VAS) has an

immense potential to grow with services like Mobile banking and Mobile -commerce.

Content development, pricing and innovative strategies are the key factors for driving

the VAS demand.

51

4) Exploring New Frontiers: With growing competitive pressure on all fronts and

the inevitable need to keep pace with emerging technologies globally, telecom

operators are re-examining their traditional business models and are making

substantial investments in upcoming technologies. These include 3G Band Allocation,

Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMax) and Future Generation

Networks12.

Today the world of telecom has changed. Earlier there was just Reliance

Communications providing mobile phones at cheap rates but, now there are many

mobile phone operators providing mobile phone services at cheap prices. All this has

indeed helped consumers. The entry of AIRCEL was not expected to be good due to

the existing tough competition but now it has become one of the most successful

operators in the country. Competition is on the rise and even foreign companies like

UN1NOR are trying their luck in India. The growth in the telecom sector has led to

the coming of 3G communication technology. The present number of companies

involved in Telecom industry will help the consumer gain to access the facilities like

video phone, high speed internet and streaming TV and all this because of the existing

competition.

2.9. Growth 2009-10

The opening of the telecom sector has not only led to rapid growth in

subscriber base but also helped a great deal towards maximization of consumer

benefits, particularly in terms of price discovery following the forbearance approach

in tariffs. From only 54.6 million telephone subscribers in 2003, the number

increased to 429.7 million at the end of March 2009 and further to 562 million as on

October 31, 2009 showing addition of 2.49 million during the period from March to

52

December 2009. With 525.1 million wireless connections, Indian telecom has

become the second largest wireless network in the world. Approximately 85 per cent

of the Eleventh Five Year Plan target of 600 million connections has already been

achieved at the halfway point13.

2.10. Growth 2010-11

The opening of the sector has not only led to rapid growth but also helped a

great deal towards maximization of consumer benefits as tariff have been falling

across the board. From only 76.54 million telephone subscribers in 2004, the number

increased to 764.77 million at the end of November 2010. Wireless telephone

connections have contributed to this growth as their number rose from 35.62 million

in March 2004 to 729.58 million at the end of November 2010. The wire-line has

shown a decline from 40.92 million in 2004 to 35.19 million in November 2010.

Table 2.5 : Growth of telephone connections

* Growth (%) (in millions)

Telephoneconnection

March2008

March2009

March2010

November2010

Wireline 39.41 37.96 36.96 35.19

Wireless 261.0

8

391.76 584.32 729.58

Gross Total: 300.4

9

429.73 621.28 764.77

Annual: 46 43 45 19

Source: Department of Telecommunications

The total number of telephone subscribers in the country was 826.25 million

as of Feb 2011. The total numbers of mobile phone subscribers have reached 791.38

million at the end of Feb 2011. The overall tele-density has increased to 69.29 % in

53

Feb 2011. In the wireless segment, 20.20 million subscribers have been added in Feb

2011. The total wireless (GSM, CDMA & WLL (F)) subscribers’ base is 791.38

million as of Feb 2011. The wire line segment subscriber base stood at 34.87 million.

Indian telecom operators added a staggering 227.65 million wireless

subscribers in the 12 months between Feb 2010 and Feb 2011 averaging at 18.97

million subscribers every month. Mobile tele-density increased by almost 18.5

percentage points from Feb 2010 and Feb 2011 (47.91% to 66.36%) while wire line

subscriber numbers fell by a modest 2 million. This frenetic pace of monthly

subscriber additions means that the Indian mobile subscriber base has shown a year

on year growth of 43.23%. According to recent reports, India was purported to

overtake China to become the world's largest mobile telecommunications market by

the year 2013. (However recent trends indicate that the event may occur earlier than -

as early as October 2011) It was also predicted that by 2013, the teledensity will shoot

up to 75% and the total mobile subscriber base would be a staggering 1.159 billion.

2.11. The economic impact of mobile telephony

Given its spread, it is reasonable to expect that mobile telephony will exert an

enormous influence on the level of economic activity. There is a causal relationship

between mobile tele-density and economic growth. Given its spread, it is reasonable

to expect that mobile telephony will exert an what fixed lines did in many other

regions and countries over two decades ago: widen markets, create better information

flows, lower transactions costs and substitute costly (in time and money) physical

transport enormous influence on the level of economic activity14.

The rapid spread of mobile telephony in India is the most obvious

manifestation of the benefit of telecom sector liberalisation. Fixed line penetration is

54

declining and projections now exclusively focus on mobile telephony. At the current

level of accretion of over 10 million wireless subscribers per month. This contrasts

dramatically with the situation in 1994, the year the National Telecom Policy was

drafted, when fewer than one in 100 Indians owned a phone. There are now over 350

million mobile users compared to about 38 million fixed-line users.

2.12. Big influence

The value of a mobile phone can be particularly high because other forms of

communication, such as postal systems, roads and fixed line networks, are often poor.

At the same time, in many developing countries, including India, growth has been low

due to a host of other reasons — poor governance, lack of capital, low skill levels and

many others. It is unlikely that increased mobile penetration by itself will be able to

alleviate these other constraints on growth.

States with high mobile penetration can be expected to grow faster than those

with lower mobile penetration rates by 1.2 percentage points for every 10 per cent

increase in the penetration rate15.

2.13. Trickle-down effect

Not only can the mobile phone help nudge up the rate of growth, but it can also

assist in the benefits of growth to ‘trickle down' to poorer socio-economic groups in

the country. The three segments of the population — agriculture, small and medium

enterprise (SMEs) and urban slum dwellers are the beneficiaries of mobile phones.

Access to telecommunications is an important catalyst to realizing productivity and

efficiency improvements and, thereby, making it possible for the benefits of economic

growth to be shared.

55

The telecom sector is also afflicted by a number of restraints. These include:

• Sluggish pace of reform process.

• 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.

• Limited spectrum availability.

But notwithstanding these constraints, telecom sector has undergone a

revolution in the past decade and has played a major part in bridging the rural-urban

divide

2.14. Key Players

With new players coming in, the intensity of competition in the industry has

increased, especially over the last few years. The market share of the telecom

companies reflects the fragmented nature of the industry, with as many as 15 players.

As of September 30, 2010, Bharti Airtel led the market with 20.8 per cent share,

Reliance (17.1 per cent), Vodafone (16.8 per cent), BSNL (11.4 per cent), Tata (11.5

per cent), Idea (10.8 per cent), Aircel (6.8 per cent), with the remaining share being

held by other smaller operators, according to Telecom Regulatory Authority of India

(TRAI) database16.

According to the data released by Telecom Regulatory Authority of India

(TRAI), the number of telephone subscribers in the country reached 806.13 million at

the end of January 2011 from 787.28 million in December 2010, thereby registering a

growth rate of 2.39 per cent. With this the overall tele-density (telephones per 100

people) has touched 67.67. The wireless subscriber base has increased to 771.18

56

million at the end of January 2011 from 752.19 million in December 2010, registering

a growth of 2.52 per cent17.

Meanwhile, Indian Global System of Mobile Communication (GSM) telecom

operators added 14.69 million new subscribers in February 2011, taking the all-India

GSM cellular subscriber base to 555.06 million, according to the Cellular Operators

Association of India (COAI). The GSM subscriber base stood at 540.37 million at the

end of January 2011.

2.15. Profile of different telecom operators

Bharti Airtel

Type Public

Industry Telecommunications

Founded 7 July 1995

Founder(s) Sunil Bharti Mittal

Headquarters New Delhi, India

Area served South Asian & African coun

Services Mobile Network; Wireless; 1 Satellite Television

Revenue $9,290 billion (2010)

Operating income $2,313 billion (2010)

Profit . $2,079 billion (2010)

Total assets • $15,527 billion (2010)

Total equity $9,491 billion (2010)

Employees 24,501 (December 2010)

Parent Bharti Enterprises (63.45%) SingTel (32.15%)Vodafone (4.4%)

57

Bharti Airtel Limited commonly known as Airtel, is an

Indian telecommunications company that operates in 19 countries across South Asia,

Africa and the Channel Islands. It operates a GSM network in all countries,

providing 2G or 3G services depending upon the country of operation. Airtel is

the fifth largest tgelecom operator in the world with over 207.8 million subscribers

across 19 countries at the end of 2010. It is the largest in india, with over 152.5

million subscribers at the end of 2010. Airtel is the 3rd largest in-country mobile

operator by subscriber base, behind China Mobile and China Unicom18.

Airtel 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 land-line telephone services and broadband Internet access (DSL) in

over 96 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.

It is known for being the first mobile phone company in the world to outsource

everything except marketing and sales and finance. Its network (base stations,

microwave links, etc.) are maintained by Ericsson, Nokia Siemens

Network and Huawei business support by IBM and transmission towers by another

company (Bharti Infratel Ltd. in India). Ericsson agreed for the first time, to be paid

by the minute for installation and maintenance of their equipment rather than being

paid up front. This enabled the company to provide pan-India phone call rates of Rs.

1/minute (U$0.02/minute). Call rates have come down much further. During the last

financial year [2009-10], Bharti has roped in a strategic partner Alcatel-Lucent to

manage the network infrastructure for the Telemedia Business19.

58

History

Sunil Bharti Mittal founded the Bharti Group. In 1983, Sunil Mittal was into an

agreement with Germany's Siemens to manufacture the company's push-button

telephone models for the Indian market. In 1986, Sunil Bharti Mittal incorporated

Bharti Telecom Limited (BTL) and his company became the first in India to offer

push-button telephones, establishing the basis of Bharti Enterprises. This first-mover

advantage allowed Sunil Mittal to expand his manufacturing capacity elsewhere in the

telecommunications market. By the early 1990s, Sunil Mittal had also launched the

country's first fax machines and its first cordless telephones. In 1992, Sunil Mittal

won a bid to build a cellular phone network in Delhi. In 1995, Sunil Mittal

incorporated the cellular operations as Bharti Tele-Ventures and launched service in

Delhi. In 1996, cellular service was extended to Himachal Pradesh. In 1999, Bharti

Enterprises acquired control of JT Holdings, and extended cellular operations to

Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh. In 2000, Bharti acquired control of Skycell

Communications, in Chennai. In 2001, the company acquired control of Spice Cell in

Calcutta. Bharti Enterprises went public in 2002, and the company was listed on

Bombay Stock Exchange and National Stock Exchange of India. In 2003, the cellular

phone operations were rebranded under the single Airtel brand. In 2004, Bharti

acquired control of Hexacom and entered Rajasthan. In 2005, Bharti extended its

network to Andaman and Nicobar20.

In 2009, Airtel launched its first international mobile network in Sri Lanka. In

2010, Airtel began operating in Bangladesh and 16 African countries. Today, Airtel is

the largest cellular service provider in India and fifth largest in the world.

59

Vision: To be globally admired for telecom services that delight customers.

Mission: We will meet global standards for telecom services that delight

customers through customer service focus, empowered employees, innovative

services and cost efficiency.

Core Values of Airtel

•Empowering People - to do their best

•Being Flexible - to adapt to the changing environment and evolving customer needs

•Making it Happen - by striving to change the status quo, innovate and energize new

ideas with a strong passion and entrepreneurial spirit

•Openness and transparency - with an innate desire to do well

•Creating Positive Impact- with a desire to create a meaningful difference in

society

BSNL

The foundation of Telecom Network in India was laid by the British sometime

in 19th century. The history of BSNL is linked with the beginning of Telecom in

India. In 19th century and for almost entire 20th century, the Telecom in India was

operated as a Government of India wing. Earlier it was part of erstwhile Post &

Telegraph Department (P&T).

In 1975 the Department of Telecom (DoT) was separated from P&T. DoT was

responsible for running of Telecom services in entire country until 1985 when

Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited (MTNL) was carved out of DoT to run the

telecom services of Delhi and Mumbai.

60

It is a well known fact that BSNL was carved out of Department of Telecom to

provide level playing field to private telecoms. Subsequently in 1990s the telecom

sector was opened up by the Government for Private Investment, therefore it became

necessary to separate the Government's policy wing from Operations wing21.

The Government of India corporatized the operations wing of DoT on October

01, 2000 and named it as Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL).BSNL operates as a

public sector.

BSNL

Type State-owned enterprise

Industry Telecommunication BSNLFounded 19th century, incorporated 2000

Headquarters New Delhi, India

Key people S.C.Mishra(CMD)

Products WirelessTelephoneInternetTelevision

Revenue ▼?32,045 crore (US$7.11 billion)(2009-10)llJ

Net income ▼?-1,822 crore (USS-0.4 billion)(2009-10)

Total assets ^ 132,243 crore (US$29.36 billion)(2009-l 0)l2J

Employees 299,840 (March 31, 2009)13i

Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (abbreviated BSNL; is a state-owned

telecommunications company headquartered in New Delhi, India. BSNL is one of the

largest Indian cellular service providers, with over 86.4 million subscribers as of

March 2011, and the largest land line telephone provider in India. However, in recent

61

years the company's revenue and market share plunged into heavy losses due to

intense competition in Indian telecommunications sector22.

BSNL is India's oldest and largest communication service provider (CSP). It had

a customer base of 90 million as of June 2008. It has footprints throughout India

except for the metropolitan cities of Mumbai and New Delhi, which are managed

by Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited (MTNL). As of June 30, 2010, BSNL had a

customer base of 27.45 million wireline and 72.69 million wireless subscribers.

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 unionised. 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 (then DoT), however,

failed miserably to achieve this and India languished among the most poorly

connected countries in the world. BSNL was bom in 2000 after the corporatisation of

DoT. The efficiency of the company has since improved little a bit. However, the

performance level is nowhere near the private players.

62

Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd. formed in October, 2000, is World's 7th largest

Telecommunications Company providing comprehensive range of telecom services in

India: Wireline, CDMA mobile, GSM Mobile, Internet, Broadband, Carrier service,

MPLS-VPN, VSAT, VoIP services, IN Services etc. Presently it is one of the largest

& leading public sector unit in India.

BSNL has installed Quality Telecom Network in the country and now focusing

on improving it, expanding the network, introducing new telecom services with ICT

applications in villages and wining customer's confidence. Today, it has about 46

million line basic telephone capacity, 8 million WLL capacity, 52 Million GSM

Capacity, more than 38302 fixed exchanges, 46565 BTS, 3895 Node B ( 3G BTS),

287 Satellite Stations, 614755 Rkm of OFC Cable, 50430 Rkm of Microwave

Network connecting 602 Districts, 7330 cities/towns and 5.6 Lakhs villages.

BSNL is the only service provider, making focused efforts and planned

initiatives to bridge the Rural-Urban Digital Divide ICT sector. In fact there is no

telecom operator in the country to beat its reach with its wide network giving services

in every nook and corner of country and operates across India except Delhi and

Mumbai. Whether it is inaccessible areas of Siachen glacier and North-eastern region

of the country. BSNL serves its customers with its wide bouquet of telecom services.

BSNL is numero uno operator of India in all services in its license area. The

company offers vide ranging and most transparent tariff schemes designed to suite

every customer.

BSNL cellular service, CellOne, has 55,140,282 2G cellular customers

and 88,493 3G customers as on 30.11.2009. In basic services, BSNL is miles ahead of

63

its rivals, with 35.1 million Basic Phone subscribers i.e. 85 per cent share of the

subscriber base and 92 percent share in revenue terms.

BSNL has more than 2.5 million WLL subscribers and 2.5 million Internet

Customers who access Internet through various modes viz. Dial-up, Leased Line,

DIAS, Account Less Internet(CLI). BSNL has been adjudged as the NUMBER ONE

ISP in the country.

BSNL has set up a world class multi-gigabit, multi-protocol convergent IP

infrastructure that provides convergent services like voice, data and video through the

same Backbone and Broadband Access Network. At present there are 0.6 million

DataOne broadband customers.

Scaling new heights of success, the present turnover of BSNL is more than

Rs.351,820 million (US $ 8 billion) with net profit to the tune of Rs.99,390 million

(US $ 2.26 billion) for last financial year. The infrastructure asset on telephone alone

is worth about Rs.630,000 million (US $ 14.37 billion).

The turnover, nationwide coverage, reach, comprehensive range of telecom

services and the desire to excel has made BSNL the No. 1 Telecom Company of

India.

Vision: To become the largest telecom Service Provider in Asia.

Mission: To provide world class State-of-art technology telecom services to its

customers on demand at competitive prices. To provide world class telecom

infrastructure in its area of operation and to contribute to the growth of the country's

economy.

64

Vodafone

Vodafone Group pic is a global telecommunications company headquartered

in London, United Kingdom. It is the world's largest mobile telecommunications

company measured by revenues and the world's largest measured by subscribers

(behind China Mobile), with around 341 million proportionate subscribers as of

November 2010. It operates networks in over 30 countries and has partner networks in

over 40 additional countries. It owns 45% of Verizon Wireless, the second largest

mobile telecommunications company in the United Stated measured by subscribers23.

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

Type Public limited company

Industry Telecommunications

Predecessor 1983-1991 Racal Telecom

Founded 1984

Headquarters London, United Kingdom

Area served Worldwide

Key people Sir John Bond (Chairman);

Products Fixed line and mobile telep

Revenue £44.47 billion (2010)1'1

Operating income £9.480 billion (2010)m

Profit £8.645 billion (2010)1'1

Total assets £156.98 billion (2010)1'1

Total equity £90.38 billion (2010)l,J

Employees 84,990 (2010)l'J

vodafone

65

History

In 1980, Sir Ernest Harrison OBE, chairman of Recal Electronics Pic’s, the UK's

largest maker of military radio technology, agreed a deal with Lord

Weinstock of General Electric Company Pic to allow Racal to access some of GEC's

tactical battlefield radio technology. Briefing the head of Racal's military radio

division Gerry Whent to drive the company into commercial mobile radio, Whent

visited GE’s factory in Virginia, USA in 1980.

In 1982, Racal's newly formed subsidiary Racal Strategic Radio Ltd under CEO

Whent, 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, Millicom with 15% and Hambros Technology Trust 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.

Under stock market pressure to realize full value for shareholders (the mobile

unit was being valued at the same amount as the whole Racal group), 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 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

66

the 80% of Astec Communications that it did not own, a service provider with 21

stores23.

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 pic. Trading of

the new company commenced on 30 June 1999. To approve the merger, Vodafone

sold its 17.2% stake in E-Plus Mobifunk. 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 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 other's 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 £1 !2bn,

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.

67

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

pic. In April 2001, the first 3G voice call was made on Vodafone United Kingdom's

3G network.

In 2001, the Company acquired Eircell, the largest wireless communications

company in the Republic of Ireland, from eircom. Eircell was subsequently rebranded

as Vodafone Ireland. Vodafone 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 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.)

Vision: Our Vision is to be the world’s mobile communication leader - enriching

customers’ lives, helping individuals, businesses and communities be more connected

in a mobile world.

Driving in a wireless world

Vodafone is primarily a user of technology rather than a developer of it, and this

fact is reflected in the emphasis of its work programme on enabling new applications

of mobile communications, using new technology for new services, research for

improving operational efficiency and quality of its networks, and providing

technology vision and leadership that can contribute directly to business decisions24.

68

Idea

Idea Cellular, usually referred to as Idea, is a wireless telephony company

operating in all the 22 telecom circles in India based in Mumbai.

Inception and growth

In 2000, Tata Cellular was a company providing mobile services in Andhra

Pradesh. When Birla-AT&T brought Maharashtra and Gujarat to the table, the merger

of these two entities was a reality. Thus Birla-Tata-AT&T, popularly known as

Batata, was born and was later branded as Idea.

Then Idea set sights on RPG’s operations in Madhya Pradesh which was

successfully acquired, helping Batata have a million subscribers, and the licence to be

the fourth operator in Delhi was clinched25.

In 2004, Idea (the company had by then been rechristened) bought over the

Escorts group’s Escotel gaining Haryana, Uttar Pradesh (West) and Kerala — and

licences for three more — UP (East), Rajasthan and Himachal Pradesh. By the end of

that year, four million Indians were on the company’s network. In 2005, AT&T sold

its investment in Idea, and the year after Tatas also bid good bye to pursue an

independent telecom business. And Idea was left only with one promoter, the AV

Birla group. When the company's stock listed on the bourses in March 2007, its

subscriber base was 13 million with presence in 11 circles. In less than three years,

the subscriber numbers have more than quadrupled. The public issue was

oversubscribed 50 times and raised Rs 2,450 crore.In June 2008, Idea Cellular bought

out BK Modi’s stake in Spice Communications for Rs 2,700 crore adding Punjab and

Karnataka circles. Modi’s joint venture partner, Telekom Malaysia, invested Rs 7,000

69

crore for a 14.99% stake in Idea. Just around then, Idea’s subsidiary, Aditya Birla

Telecom sold a 20% stake to US-based Providence Equity Partners for over Rs 2,000

crore.

Idea

Type Public

Industry

Founded

Telecommunications

1995Idea

Headquarters Santacruz East, Mumbai, India1 j

Key people Kumar Mangalam Birla (Chairman)

Products Mobile

Revenue ?12,447.08 crore (US$2.76 billion)(2010)L2J

Operating income ? 1,475.87 crore (US$327.64 million)(2010)

Net income ?953.94 crore (US$211.77 million)(2010)

Total assets US$5,334 billion (2010)

Employees 6,481 (2010)

Parent Aditya Birla Group (49.05%) Axiata Group Berhad (15%) Providence Equity (10.6%)

History

The company was incorporated as Birla Communications Limited on March 14,

1995 and granted a certificate of commencement of business on August 11, 1995. its

registered office was in Mumbai, Maharashtra. The company name was changed to

Birla AT&T Communications Limited on May 30, 1996 following the execution of a

joint venture agreement dated December 5, 1995 between AT&T Corporation and

70

Grasim Industries Limited pursuant to which the Aditya Birla Group held 51% of our

Equity Share capital and AWS Group held 49% of our Equity Share capital. The

registered office was transferred from Industry House, 1st Floor, 159 Church Gate

Reclamation, Mumbai 400 020, Maharashtra to Suman Tower, Plot No. 18, Sector 11,

Gandhinagar 382011 Gujarat on October 22, 1996. With effect from January 1, 2001

following our merger with Tata Cellular Limited the joint venture agreement between

AT&T Corporation and Grasim Industries Limited dated December 5, 1995 was

replaced by a shareholders agreement dated December 15, 2000 entered into between

Grasim Industries Limited on behalf of Aditya Birla Group, Tata Industries Limited

on behalf of Tata Group and AT&T Wireless Services Inc. on behalf of AWS Group

following which our name was changed to Birla Tata AT&T Limited on November 6,

2001. Consequent to the introduction of'Idea' brand, our name was changed to Idea

Cellular Limited on May 1, 2002. The AWS Group exited from the Comp, on

September 28, 2005 by selling 371,780,740 Equity Shares of the Company, which

constituted 50% of holding of AT&T Cellular Private Limited in its equity share

capital, to ABNL and by transferring the remaining 371,780,750 Equity Shares to

Tata Industries Limited. The Tata Group ceased to be a shareholder of Comp, on June

20, 2006 when Tata Industries Limited & Apex Investments [Mauritiuss] Holding

Private Limited [formerly known as AT&T Cellular Private Limiteds] sold all their

shares in the Comp, to the Aditya Birla Group.

On October 26, 2006, P5 Asia Investments [Mauritiuss] Limited ['P5 Asia's]

acquired 14.60% of its Equity Share capital. Under a Governance and Exit Rights

Agreement dated October 23, 2006 between P5 Asia, ABNL & Birla TMT, so long as

an initial public offering has not occurred and P5 Asia holds no less than 10% of its

Equity Shares, ABNL and Birla TMT are required to procure that [as] Comp.and its

71

Subsidiaries shall not take or pursue any of following actions without P5 Asia prior

consent [such consent to be obtained in a board and/or shareholders resolutions]

including in respect of [i] any merger with, acquisition of, or amalgamation or

consolidation with another Comp, or business; [ii] assuming or permitting to exist any

borrowings or indebtedness in the nature of borrowings if the amount of all such

borrowings of its Comp, and its Subsidiaries would exceed Rs. 6,800 million; [iii]

entering into a new line of business; [iv] increasing our authorized or issued share

capital; or [v] entering into a joint venture and [vi] our Comp, makes available to P5

Asia certain financial information relating to its Comp, and its Subsidiaries such as

monthly management accounts, quarterly unconsolidated balance sheet and profit and

loss Acc. And the annual audited consolidated balance sheets and profit and loss

accounts.

The company, either directly or through its Subsidiaries, provide mobile

services in the Andhra Pradesh, Delhi, Gujarat, Haryana, Kerala, Madhiya Pradesh,

Maharashtra & Uttar Pradesh [Wests] Circles, and have recently launched services

and as such are in the process of fully rolling-out our network in the Uttar Pradesh

[Easts], Rajasthan & Himachal Pradesh Circles pursuant to licenses issued by DoT.

Reliance

Reliance Communications Limited (commonly called RCOM) is a major

Indian telecommunication company headquartered in Navi Mumbai, India. It is

the 16th largest operator in the world with more than 128 million subscribers. RCOM,

founded by Dhirubhai H Ambani (1932-2002), is the flagship company of the

Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group. The Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group

currently has a net worth in excess of ?64,000 crore (US$ 13.6 billion), cash flows of ?

72

13,000 crore ($2.8 billion), and a net profit of ?8,400 crore ($1,8 billion).

The Equity Shares of RCOM are listed on Bombay Stock Exchange

Limited and National Stock Exchange Limited. The Global Depository Receipts and

Foreign Currency Convertible Bonds are listed on Luxembourg Stock

Exchange and Singapore Stock Exchange respectively.

Reliance Communications

Type Public

/VIndustry Telecommunications /\Founded 2004 m m W

ReuANceCommunicationsHeadquarters Navi Mumbai, Maharashtra,India

Key people Anil Ambani (Chairman)Satish Seth,(MD)

Products Wireless Telephone, Internet Television, Data Cards, Recharge Vouchers, VC

Revenue $4,774 billion (2010)

Net income $1,061 billion (2010)

Total assets $20,559 billion (2010)

Total equity $9,776 billion (2010)

Employees 30,974 (2010)

Parent Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group

Subsidiaries Reliance Telecom LimitedReliance Globalcom Limited Reliance Tech ServicesReliance Communications Infrastructure Limited (RCIL) Reliance Big TV Limited Reliance Infratel Limited

73

Vision

The company will leverage its strengths to execute complex global-scale

projects to facilitate leading-edge information and communication services affordable

to all individual consumers and businesses in India. The company will offer

unparalleled value to create customer delight and enhance business productivity. The

company will also generate value for its capabilities beyond Indian borders and enable

millions of India's knowledge workers to deliver their services globally.

Mission

The successful rolling out of real broadband services across the nation marks the

second chapter of Reliance Communications’ commitment to usher in a digital

revolution in India. Reliance Communications is setting new standards for the world

to follow through inventive use of cutting-edge technologies in the field of fibre

optics, Ethernet, microwave radios, switching, routing, digital compression and

encoding. The mass roll out of broadband being carried out by Reliance

Communications across the length and breadth of the country, offering speeds of up to

100 Mbps to millions of users, in itself is a technological marvel. The uniqueness of

Reliance Communications’ broadband initiative lies in the fact that our

entire nationwide network is being conceptualized and built from ground zero.

The company network is designed to deliver affordable quality education, drive

governance, transform healthcare, enhance efficiency in business and, finally,

generate new job opportunities for millions of unemployed Indians.

Reliance Communications’ broadband service is set to revolutionize Indian society by

removing the traditional bottlenecks of development including a lack of capital and a

74

weak infrastructure, and help tide over the challenges of distribution in a vast country

like India.

The company mission of changing lives across India meant that we needed to

have a nationwide presence — something we achieved in a relatively short span of

time. Dream of helping people create, transfer and apply knowledge challenged the

company to bring together contemporary communication technology from across the

world.

Tata Indicom

Tata Teleservices Limited (TTLS) is a subsidiary of the Tata

Group headquartered in Navi Mumbai, an Indian conglomerate. It operates under the

brand name Tata Indicom in various telecom circles of India.

In Nov 2008, Japanese telecom giant NTT Docomo picked up a 26 per cent

equity stake in Tata Teleservices for about Rs 13,070 crore ($2.7 billion) or an

enterprise value of Rs 50,269 crore ($10.38 billion).

In Feb 2008, TTSL announced that it would provide CDMA mobile services

targeted towards the youth, in association with the Virgin Group on a Franchisee

model basis.

Tata Teleservices Provides mobile services under 3 Brand names:

■ Tata Indicom (CDMA Mobile operator)

■ Tata DoCoMo (GSM Mobile operator)

75

Tata Indicom

Type Private

Industry Telecommunications

Founded Incorporated 1996

Headquarters Navi Mumbai, India

Key people Mr. Ratan N. Tata (Chairman)Srinath Narasimhan (MD)

Products WirelessTelephoneInternetTelevision

Parent Tata Group

Divisions Tata Indicom (CDMA)Tata DoCoMo (GSM)Virgin Mobile India (CDMA/GSM)

Website Tatateleservices.com

History

Tata Comm, is India's leading international telecom service provider. It is today

part of the Tata Group. It started as a successor to the erstwhile Overseas

Communication Services, and went on to become the premier provider of

international voice and data services. Tata Teleservices Limited (TTSL) is a part of

the Tata Group of companies, an Indian conglomerate. It runs under the brand name

Tata Indicom in India, in various telecom circles of India. The company forms part of

the Tata Group's presence in the Telecommunication Industry in India, along with

Tata Teleservices (Maharashtra) Limited (TTML) and TATA COMMUNICATIONS

LTD.

76

TTSL is offering CDMA mobile services targeted towards the youth, in a

joint venture with Virgin, UK,on a Franchisee model basis.

Tata Teleservices operates primarily on the CDMA network. CDMA offers a

robust and technologically superior path and an ecosystem. CDMA has an edge over

GSM as it allows more communication to be carried with the same infrastructure and

also brings costs down. Tata Indicom’s enterprise solutions work on the CDMA 3G-

IX technology that offers superior voice clarity and congestion-free networks. Many

existing GSM 2G (GSM/GPRS) operators are slowly beginning to switch to

WCDMA technology. 25 GSM operators worldwide have deployed CDMA2000 to

deliver 3G value added services.

The total tower strength of Tata Indicom is currently at 12,500 towers

nationwide, which includes 10,000 for TTSL and 2,500 for TTML. This Tata Indicom

is also the most familiar mobile company and it launches the CDMA to the peoples.

This CDMA facility was used by Reliance and TATA Indicom. This CDMA Sim

cannot be used in other mobiles like nokia, soniericsson and etc. This card CDMA can

be used only the CDMA make up mobiles which will be given to the customers at

their own showroom.

TATA DoCoMo, usually referred to as DoCoMo (not to be confused with NTT

Docomo), is a Tata Teleservices Limited (TTSL) owned cellular service provider on

the GSM platform-arising out of the Tata Group's strategic joint venture with

Japanese telecom giant NTT Docomo in November 2008. Tata Teleservices received

a license to operate GSM telecom services in 19 telecom Circles and has been allotted

spectrum in 18 of these circles, under the brand "TATA DoCoMo". Tata Docomo

launched GSM services on 24 June 2009. It first launched in South India and

77

currently operates in 18 of 22 telecom circles. It has licence to operate in Delhi but

has not been allocated spectrum from the Government. Tata Teleservices is the

country's fifth largest operator in terms of wireless subscribers (including both CDMA

and GSM), after Bharti Airtel, Reliance Communications and Vodafone and state run

player BSNL. Tata DOCOMO offers both prepaid and postpaid GSM cellular

phone network in 18 circles. It has become very popular with its one second pulse

especially in semi-urban and rural areas.

On 5 November 2010, Tata DOCOMO became the first private sector telecom

company to launch 3G services in India . Tata DOCOMO had about 42.34 million

users at the end of December 2010.

Vision: To represent ourselves as the most preferred Human Resource Supplier in the

corporate sector.

Mission: Service Mission: Provide our clients with the quality and efficiency that sets

the benchmark for the world’s back offices and “Help our clients deliver outstanding

customer interactions, effectively and efficiently”.

Economic Mission Become a recognized leader in selling and delivering

profitable outsourcing solutions.

Major Investments

The booming domestic telecom market has been attracting huge amounts of

investments which are likely to accelerate with the entry of new players and launch of

new services. According to the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion

(DIPP), the telecommunications sector which includes radio paging, mobile services

78

and basic telephone services attracted foreign direct investment (FDI) worth US$ 1.33

billion during April-January 2010-11. The cumulative flow of FDI in the sector

during April 2000 and January 2011 is US$ 10.26 billion.

2.16. Rural Telephony

Rural base in terms of telecom subscription reached 267.74 million as at the

end of January 2011. Tele-density being 32.11, rural India holds 33.21 per cent share

in the total telecom subscriber base. The wireless connections have contributed

substantially to total rural telephone connections; it stands at 258.93 million in

January 2011, increasing 3.2 per cent from 250.89 million in December 2010.

The number of internet users in rural India is estimated to have risen by 30 per

cent to 5.4 million in 2010, according to a joint study conducted by the Internet &

Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) and market research firm IMRB.

The private sector has contributed crucially to the growth of rural telephony by

providing 84.5 per cent of the connections as of November 2010. Further, the

Government, under Bharat Nirman II Programme, has envisaged providing broadband

coverage to all 250,000 Gram Panchayats by 2012.

Telecom and network connectivity are widely seen as key enablers of a

nation’s socio-economic growth. In today’s context, it is as critical an infrastructure

as roads, power and electricity are to a nation’s progress. A McKinsey study states

that a 10 per cent increase in tele-density contributes 0.6 per cent of GDP growth. As

the next phase of growth in the telecom sector will mostly come from rural markets,

Reliance Communications has been making significant contributions in connecting

79

rural India to the outside world through its own and USO (universal service

obligation) initiatives. The company’s slogan is: Go rural and win laurels.

2.17. Mobile money transfer

Even as services like music downloads and videos transform mobile phones

into virtual entertainment gadgets, new initiatives like mobile commerce, mobile

money transfer, mobile banking and mobile payments are set to redefine the limits of

mobile telephony in future. Take for instance the facility of money transfer. Imagine

over $25 billion of foreign remittances and over $10 billion of domestic money

transfers happening in real time over the mobile phone. When fully activated, a

migrant laborer from Bihar will be able to send a few hundred rupees from a remote

village in Punjab at the cost of an SMS in a most secure manner.

As one moves into the future, new technologies like 3G are going to open up

new possibilities before people. 3G is going to be the next big transformation in

Indian telephony as it is going to mark a quantum jump in wireless communication in

the country. Services like high speed internet on the mobile phone will be a reality.

These networks are going to play a critical role across the rural-urban divide. Rural

development initiatives like e-governance, e-health and e-education will receive a big

boost once operators roll out their 3G networks. Here too it is the end use of the

technology and its impact on human lives that is going to hold the key. Indian

telecom has benefited immensely from such a perspective in the past. It will continue

to do so in future as well.

80

Today over 65 Indians in a 100 have access to telecom services compared to

less than three in 1999, the country has truly come a long way in just one decade

thanks to the mobile phone. No other sector in post liberalization India has seen such

growth and had such a positive impact on the economy. The government and the

telecom regulator must be commended for this success story, which would not have

been possible without their visionary policies. The other key factor has been the

ability of Indian telecom operators to develop a low-cost model that has made the

mobile phone ubiquitous. Bharti Airtel pioneered this approach in India by

developing a unique business model based on outsourcing of IT and networks. This

model is today being replicated not just in India but in other parts of the world as well.

The second phase of growth empowered Indians to connect and gave them an

opportunity to ‘talk’. Barriers and distances got dissolved as affordability had a new

meaning. This growth on 2G technology was largely led by voice. The third phase,

which is the coming decade, of telecom growth in India will mirror the growth of its

economy. Rural India is the new growth engine of the Indian economy and with a

rural telecom penetration of about 15 per cent there is huge scope for extending

mobile services to customers in these areas.

2.18. Falling tariffs

As tariffs dropped progressively from a peak of twenty cents a minute to less

than two cents a minute, the lowest ever witnessed anywhere in the world, the sector

witnessed rapid customer additions. Some of the innovative strategies that opened the

floodgates came in the shape of tariff plans like Life Time Prepaid, which managed to

rope in hordes of lower middle class consumers into the network. Complementing

these tariff plans, prices of handsets too fell significantly bringing down the entry cost

81

for new customers. Today, one can see a maid servant or a daily wage laborer talking

on his mobile phone and experiencing the benefits of telephony.

Low tariffs had, however, created a challenge of survival for the operators.

They had to bring in all their innovative skills to stay afloat. It is a tribute to the

industry that the operators have managed to remain profitable despite this low a tariff

regime.

2.19. Diversified role

Alongside low tariffs and low handset prices what is fuelling today’s mobile

growth however is the innovative use of the device. It has assumed a much-

diversified role in Indian lives. Selling at village pan shops like pouches of chewing

tobacco, mobile connections constitute modern India’s most powerful movement that

touches the lives of the ordinary and the powerful in the same vein. A service like

SMS has clearly added a new dimension to communication. Value Added Services

like ring back tones and music downloads have transformed the phone into a potent

entertainment and lifestyle device. A mobile phone today obviously is a much more

versatile gadget than the fixed line voice only phone or even the mobile phones of the

early days.

There is going to be a significant shift in the level of customer focus and new

product offerings in the sector in the coming years. Money transfer over the mobile

and m-commerce are tipped to be the next best thing to happen after SMS and Hello

Tunes. Airtel in partnership with the global money transfer major Western Union will

soon launch this service. This will enable millions of Indians working abroad to

easily transfer money to their families backing India via their mobile phones. They

can actually transfer amounts as low as $100.

82

The expansion of the sector will be driven by new service introductions in the

space of educational content, gaming, music and movies. The urban consumer’s

desire for music, entertainment, sports and games will be fulfilled through new

service introductions.

The industry will not only be able to maintain this rapid pace of penetration but

will also make telephony a more wholesome experience its customers, the Indian

telecom market will also be teaching new ways of working to global operators. The

new business models and the innovative services will create new benchmarks for

others.

2.20. Phenomenal subscriber addition

The new regime of per-second billing, recently launched by Tata DoCoMo

(GSM arm of Tata Teleservices), had sounded the war cry in the telecom space. In

the few months since this plan was introduced, Tata DoCoMo became the largest

incremental market-share gainer in the telecom space with four million subscribers

added in September 2009. RCom joined the battle soon, offering Rs.50 paise a

minute for all calls, local and STD. Uninor (a joint venture between Telenor and

Unitech Wireless), a more recent entrant, has offered calls at 29 paisa per minute. In

October, almost all the operators started offering one paisa per second tariffs. This

led to fears of slowing subscriber growth for the leading players.

Mobile service companies have managed to add subscribers at the rate of 8

million subscribers a month in 2008. This makes India the second fastest growth

market for mobile services in the world. But an analysis of the top four private

83

telecom players (Bharti Airtel, Vodafone Essar, Reliance Communications and Idea

Cellular), which account for nearly 80 per cent of the mobile market.

• Internet / Broadband: With supportive policies, broadband subscribers grew

from 0.2 million in 2005 to 6.2 million by end-April 2009 and about to 7.98

million by end-December 2009. India faces technological and commercial

challenges in broadband penetration, the most important of which are low PC

penetration and affordability issues due to high cost. The government has issued

guidelines for Broadband Wireless Access (BWA) Services; the introduction of

which will enhance broadband penetration. Wi-Max has been making headway in

wireless broadband connectivity.

With supportive policies, broadband subscribers grew from 8.77 million as in

March 2010 to about 10.71 million up to November 2010. A target of 20 million by

2010 has been set in broadband policy. The auction of BWA spectrum has been

successfully conducted. Newer Access technologies like Broad Band Wireless Access

(BWA) can significantly transform the character of Internet/broadband scenario in

India, this will encourage further expansion of wireless service with a vision of

providing 'Broadband for all'.

2.21. New Horizons for Growth

• 3G Telecom services: The explosive growth of the telecom industry has kindled

the urge to move towards better technology. One of the key frontiers is the launch

of 3G technology. The government has recently announced guidelines for

penetration of 3G telecom services. This will provide existing operators a good

84

opportunity as also foreign players to make an entry into the Indian market and

bring in new technology and innovations.

• Mobile Number Portability (MNP) : MNP allows any subscriber to change his

service provider without changing his mobile phone number. With the

announcement of guidelines for MNP, telecom service provider will be forced to

improve quality of service to avoid losing subscribers.

• Value added Services (VASs): Mobile VASs include, text or SMS, menu-based

services, downloading of music or ring tones, mobile TV, videos, streaming, and

sophisticated m-commerce applications. Prior to 2008, a majority of VAS

revenues were attributable to SMS. With greater penetration of new services,

availability of relatively inexpensive, feature-rich handsets and consumer

education, VASs other than SMS are gaining importance. It is expected that over

the next few years, non-SMS services would become a dominant contributor to

VAS revenue.

. As per a report, ‘India Telecom 2010' released by KPMG in December 2010,

currently, the VAS market is worth US$ 2.45 billion-US$ 2.67 billion, which is

around 10 per cent of the total revenue of the wireless industry. The share of VAS

in wireless revenue is likely to increase to 12-13 per cent by 2011, on the back of

increased operator focus on VAS due to continuous fall in voice tariffs, increasing

penetration of feature rich handsets, availability of vernacular content and

increased user adoption of VAS applications.

• Manufacturing: The Indian telecom industry manufactures a vast range of

telecom equipment using state-of-the-art technology. The last few years saw many

renowned telecom companies setting up manufacturing bases in India. The

85

production of telecom equipment in value terms increased from Rs 41,270 crore

(2007-08) to Rs 48,800 crore during 2008-09 and is further expected to increase to

Rs 57,584 crore during 2009-10. Favourable factors such as facilitative policies,

large talent pool in R&D and low labour cost can provide an impetus to the

telecom manufacturing industry in the country. Exports increased from Rs 402

crore in 2002-03 to Rs 1,10,00 crore in 2008-09 accounting for 21 per cent of the

equipment produced in the country.

It is proposed to achieve rural tele-density of 25 per cent by means of 200

million rural connections by the end of the Eleventh Five Year Plan. Recognizing

the potential importance of broadband services, the Eleventh Five Year Plan

targets providing broadband to all secondary and higher secondary schools, Public

Health Care Centers and Gram Panchayats.

• Third-generation (3G ) telecom services: The explosive growth of the telecom

industry in India is being followed by the urge to move towards better technology

and the next level of service delivery. While the last few years have been

transformational for Indian telecom industry, the next few years look even more

exciting

A key benefit for all service providers comes from reduced costs in operations,

as well as marketing and sales: after all, services can now be advertised, packaged and

delivered under a single brand and on one network. The convergence of multiple

networks allows operators therefore to bundle services and provide them at lower cost

while the business logic of bundling makes the cost of building new, converged

networks easier to justify.

86

The following table illustrates the gradual increase in monthly mobile subscriber

additions(in millions) in India since January 2002.

Table 2.6 Monthly Mobile Subscriber Additions

Yea

r

Janu

ary

Febr

uary

Mar

ch

Apr

il

May

June

July

Aug

ust

Sept

embe

r

Oct

ober

Nov

embe

r

Dec

embe

r

Ann

ual

Add

ition

s(in

mill

ions

)A

vera

ge M

onth

ly

Add

ition

s(in

m

illio

ns)

2002 0.28 0.35 0.41 0.28 0.29 0.35 0.36 0.49 0.37 0.53 0.72 0.8 5.23 0.44

2003 0.64 0.6 0.96 0.64 2.26 1.42 2.31 1.79 1.61 1.67 1.9 1.69 17.49 1.46

2004 1.58 1.6 1.91 1.37 1.33 1.43 1.74 1.67 1.84 1.51 1.56 1.95 19.49 1.62

2005 1.76 1.67 0.73 1.46 1.72 1.98 2.45 2.74 2.48 2.9 3.51 4.46 27.86 2.32

2006 4.69 4.28 5.03 3.88 4.25 4.78 5.28 5.9 6.07 6.71 6.79 6.48 64.14 5.35

2007 6.81 6.21 3.53 6.11 6.57 7.34 8.06 8.31 7.79 8.05 8.32 8.17 85.27 7.11

2008 8.77 8.53 10.16 8.21 8.62 8.94 9.22 9.16 10.07 10.42 10.35 10.81 113.26 9.44

2009 15.41 13.82 15.64 11.90 11.58 12.04 14.38 15.08 14.98 16.67 17.65 19.10 178.25 14.85

2010 19.90 18.76 20.59 16.9 16.31 17.98 16.92 18.18 17.1 18.98 22.88 22.62 227.12 18.93

2011 18.99 20.20 22.32 23.98 24.68 26.96

Telephone statistics

• Telephone Subscribers (Wireless and Landline): 826.25 million (Feb

2011).

• Land Lines: 34.87 million Feb 2011)

• Cell phones: 791.38 million Feb 2011)

• Annual Cell phone Addition: 227.65 million (Feb 2010 - 2011)

• Monthly Cell phone Addition: 20.20 million (Feb 2011)

• Teledensity: 69.29 % (Feb 201 1)

• Projected Teledensity: 1.159 billion, 75% of population by 2013.

Telephone System-. The country is divided into several zones, called circles (roughly

along state boundaries). Government and several private operators run local and long

distance telephone services. It was thrown open to private operators in the 1990s.

Competition has caused prices to drop and calls across India are one of the cheapest in

87

the world. The rates are supposed to go down further with new measures to be taken

by the Information Ministry.

Landlines: In India landline service is firstly run by BSNL/MTNL and after there are

several other private players too, such as Airtel, Reliance Infocomm, Tata

Teleservices and Touchtel. Landlines are facing stiff competition from mobile

telephones. The competition has forced the landline services to become more

efficient. The landline network quality has improved and landline connections are

now usually available on demand, even in high density urban areas.

Mobile Cellular: The mobile telephone network has aggrandized greatly since 2000.

The number of mobile phone connections crossed fixed-line connections in Sept 2004

and currently there are an estimated 791.38 million mobile phone users in India 111

compared to 34.87 million fixed line subscribers [l1. India primarily follows the GSM

mobile system, in the 900 MHz band. Recent operators also operate in the 1800 MHz

band. The dominant players are Aircel, Vodafone, Airtel, Tata Indicom, Tata

Teleservices, MTS, Uninor, Reliance Infocomm, Idea Cellular and BSNL/MTNL.

There are many smaller players, with operations in only a few states. International

roaming agreements exist between most operators and many foreign carriers.

Dialing System: On landlines system, intra circle calls are considered local calls

while inter circle are considered long distance calls. Government is now working to

integrate the whole country in one telecom circle. For long distance calls, you dial the

area code prefixed with a zero (e.g. for Delhi, you would dial 011-XXXX XXXX).

For international calls, you would dial "00" or “+” and the country code+area

code+number. The country code for India is 91.

88

Call Rales Cutting Blows: The rates of Communication in India were one of the

highest in the world, till a few years back. The rates could not be justified by the fact

that rupee is cheaper. In fact the Indian sub continent had shown a calm tolerance

towards the high rate in even in telecom. The rates were also justified as the

government has to feel the high cost involved in the one-time developments like

satellite and telephone tower related charges. But now owing to better technologies

the telecom rates in India are on the verge of becoming cheaper. The time may not be

far when India will have the cheapest communication. One of the enabling

technologies behind this is the brain child of an able Indian engineer Sandipan

Bhattacharjee. He co-worked with a famous MNC to redefine the way telephones

interact. A, computer engineer by profession, he extended wave-overlap theory to

reach this goal. The technology is now patented and details are not available. There is

a conversion process underway to make all numbers in India 10 digits long.

2.22. Visitor Location Register (VLR)

Out of the total 826.25 Million mobile subscribers, 562.98 Million subscribers

were active subscribers in VLR on the last working day of the month i.e, 28th Feb

2011. The total active VLR number excludes the CDMA VLR figure of BSNL, as the

service provider has not provided the VLR figures corresponding to their total CDMA

subscriber base of 5.47 million. The proportion of VLR subscribers is 71.14 % of the

total wireless subscriber base reported by the service providers.

Internet Users: Number of Internet users in India is the 3rd largest in the world next

only to China and the United States of America. Though the number of internet users

is high, internet penetration is still much lower than most countries across the globe. It

89

must also be noted that 40% of all internet users in India are connected to the net only

via their mobile phones.

Broadband Subscribers: Broadband in India is defined as 256kbit/s and above by the

government regulator. Total subscribers were 1 1.47 million (Feb 2011).

Internet Service Providers (ISPs) <& Hosts: 86.571 (2004) Source: CIA World Fact

Book

Chart.2.1: Mobile Subscriber Market Share as of 31.10.10

Bharti consolidates its number one position and now has more than 1 /5th of total

Indian Mobile market (20.70 percent). Reliance (16.89) and Vodafone (16.70) are still

running neck to neck. Tata is a distant 4th with 11.44 percent market share followed

by Idea (10.76%).

2.23. Lucrative Market

The battle is vicious because the prize is tempting. The Indian telecom market

is the fastest growing, globally. From 65 million subscribers in 2005, it grew to 146

million by end 2006, and then to 346 million by 2008. In the past few years, an

average of 10 million subscribers was added per month. Since August 2009, 15

million new subscribers are getting added every month. TRAI projects that India will

90

have over 500 million subscribers by end December. (European Union-27 has only

600 million subscribers, says Sharifah Amirah, principal analyst for ICT, Frost &

Sullivan, Europe. Only a million are added a month. The US adds only 2-3 million

subscribers per month on a total base of 280 million. Even China adds only 7-8

million subscribers a month, though its su)5j

2.24. The battlefield

There are two fronts to the war: lo'faer

carry voice and data from mobile phones)

)^-ilj<^r |Ni|U l^lliiji^is^uUU)ij^»

Acc. NoJ.421.8Q........Call,No...............■n'iiniff nnTmnrr npinrlnim

Price War: A new front was opened when Tata DoCoMo introduced per-second

billing instead of the earlier minute-based billing. Almost all operators followed, with

lower and lower tariff plans. So much so that questions are being raised on the

viability of the business.

Table 2,7 Competitive price war

Company Launch On Net (own network) Off Net(other network)

Tata DoCoMo 29 sep. 2009 1 p/sec on local, STD, ISD

1 p / sec

Sistema 8 oct. 2009 0.5 p/sec on local, STD 0.5 p/sec

Airtel 30 Oct. Ip/sec on local, STD 1,20p/sec

Vodafone 30 Oct. 1 p/sec on local, STD 1,20p/sec

Aircel 31 Oct. 1 p/sec on local, STD lp/sec

Idea 31 Oct. 1 p/sec on local, STD 1 p/sec

Reliance Comm. 3 Nov. 1 p/sec on local, STD 1 p/sec

*Per second Airtel vouchers vary in different cities

Source: BW research

The rapid strides in the telecom sector have been facilitated by liberal policies of

the Government that provides easy market access for telecom equipment and a fair

91

regulatory framework for offering telecom services to the Indian consumers at

affordable prices. Presently, all the telecom services have been opened for private

participation.

2.25. Trend in Tele-density

Tele-density in the country increased from 5.11% in 2003 to 36.98 % in March.

In the rural area teledensity increased from 1.49% in Mar 2003 to 15.11% in March

2009 and in the urban areas it is increased from 14.32% in Mar 2003 to 88.84% in

March 2009.This indicates a rising trend of Indian telecom subscribers.

2.26. Internet Service Providers (ISPs)

Internet service was opened for private participation in 1998 with a view to

encourage growth of Internet and increase its penetration. The sector has seen

tremendous technological advancement for a period of time and has necessitated

taking steps to facilitate technological ingenuity and provision of various services.

The Government in the public interest in general, and consumer interest in particular,

and for proper conduct of telegraph and telecom services has decided to issue the new

guidelines for grant of licence of Internet services on non-exclusive basis. Any Indian

company with a maximum foreign equity of 74% is eligible for grant of licence.

2.27. Future of mobility

More and more entertainment will be delivered through mobility. Indians will

click through the Net more on mobiles and less on laptops. Mobility will move from

voice and SMS to a host of value added services. All services that were delivered

92

from a physical building in the West and in urban India will now be delivered over the

air26

Future will see more m-governance. Governments, departments will

increasingly use the digitized route to superior governance. Mobility will considerably

reduce the role of the middleman in commerce and the role of unscrupulous elements

in disseminating wrong information. It will bring in a democratization and efficiency

of markets and information. This will create a huge pressure on elected representative

to be answerable. Mobility will give marketers the ability to target one consumer at a

time, while also targeting millions as a media vehicle.

Indian telecom sector has undergone a major process of transformation

through significant policy reforms. The reforms began in 1980s with telecom

equipment manufacturing being opened for private sector and were later followed by

National Telecom Policy (NTP) in 1994 and NTP’1999. Historically, the telecom

network in India was owned and managed by the Government considering it to be a

natural monopoly and strategic service, best under state's control. However, in 1990's,

examples of telecom revolution in many other countries, which resulted in better

quality of service and lower tariffs, led Indian policy makers to initiate a change

process finally resulting in opening up of telecom services sector for the private

sector.

93

References:

1. Manoj Kohli, “Making a difference through innovation”- The Hindu Survey of

Indian Industry - 2009, p.86.

2. Manoj Kohli, “Dynamic phase” - The Hindu Survey of Indian Industry - 2010,

p. 126.

3. D.Sivakumar, “A connected India” - The Hindu Survey of Indian Industry - 2008,

p.89

4. Sekhar Seshan, “Telecom ringing the right numbers” - Business India - March 21,

2010, p.78.

5. Economic survey 2009-10, p.29

6. Economic survey 2010-11, p.36

7. Fortune India - November 30, 2007, p.45

8. Venkatasubramanian, “Subscriber-driven growth” - The Hindu Survey of

Indian Industry - 2009, p.57

9. Rajat Kathuria, The economic impact of mobile telephony”-The Hindu Business

Line - April, 28, 2009, p.26.

10. M.Rajendran and Sunny Sen “Extreme Mobility” - Business world - 21st

December 2009, p.78.

11. Anurag Prasad, “Fully loaded” - Outlook Business - May 30, 2009.

12. Ravi Balakrishnan, “Will Nokia get back on track in the Indian market?”

Business Equity - The Economic Times - 14 Jul 2010.

13. Sravanthi Challapalli “Nokia’s rural odyssey” - Brand Line - November 13,

2008.

14. Sudipto Dey, “Always Thirsty” - Outlook Business - May 29, 2010.

15. Bhakti Chuganee, “An emerging Star” - Business India-9 August, 2010

16. Abhimanyu Ghosh Next Wave Of Market Leaders” - 4Ps Business & Marketing

- 16-6-2011.

17. Rashmi K Pratap, “Troubled Waters” -Outlook Business - 2-4-2011.

18. M. Rajendran, “Cutting Through the clutter”- Businessworld- 16-4-2011.

19. M. Rajendran, “Essar Group's New Dilemmas” - Businessworld - 2-4-2011.

20. Rashmi Pratap, “Catching On”- Business Today - 19-3-2011.

21. M. Rajendran, “Checking out the numbers” - Businessworld - December 20,

2010.

94

22. Arunima Mishra, “Wynn Telecom: Winning ambitions” - The Strategist - Sep. 2,

2010.

23. Akhilesh Shukla, “Nokia; Now Last in Customer Satisfaction” Business and

Economy - 25-11-2010

24. Steven Philip Warner, “Motorola - Hard to Ignore, Hard to See!”- Business and

Economy -25-11 -2010.

25. Train, Kenneth E. Daniel L. McFadden, and Moshe Ben-Akiva. "The Demand for

Local Telephone Service: A Fully Discrete Mode! of Residential Calling Patterns

and Service Choices" Rand Journal of Economics 18 (1987): 109-123.

26. Krishna Gopalan, “Knockout” - Outlook Business - June 25, 2011.

95