18590980 telecom-sector-in-india

Telecom Industry

Business Environment Domain Study By

Anjana (36), Prachi (16), Puneet (51), Sandeep (50)

PGPM 508

Under the guidance of Dr. Pallavi Mody

S. P. Jain Institute of Management & Research

Telecom Industry

Anjana, Prachi, Puneet, Sandeep 2

Executive Summary The rapid growth in Indian telecom industry has been contributing to India’s GDP at large. Telecom

industry in India started to set up in a phased approach. Privatisation was gradually introduced, first in

value-added services, followed by cellular and basic services. Telecom Regulatory Authority of India

(TRAI), was established to regulate and deal with competition (the service providers). This gradual and

thoughtful reform process in India has favoured industry growth. Upcoming services such as 3G and

WiMax will help to further augment the growth rate. The Indian telecommunications industry is one of

the fastest growing in the world and India is projected to become the second largest telecom market

globally by 2010.

This is evident from the facts of Telecom Industry for example, India added 113.26 million new

customers in 2008, the largest globally. The country’s cellular base witnessed close to 50 per cent

growth in 2008, with an average 9.5 million customers added every month. This would translate into

612 million mobile subscribers, accounting for a tele-density of around 51 per cent by 2012. It is

projected that the industry will generate revenues worth US$ 43 billion in 2009-10.

In this report we have tried to capture most of the areas of Telecom Industry. Major highlights of the

report are History of Telecom Industry, Current Industry Analysis, Role of TRAI, Spectrum allocation, FDI

Regulation, Competitive advantages, Outsourcing in Telecom, Emerging Technologies, Latest Innovation,

and Growth Trends, Mergers and Acquisitions.

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Table of Contents Executive Summary ....................................................................................................................................... 2

1 Indian Telecom Industry ....................................................................................................................... 6

1.1 History ........................................................................................................................................... 6

1.2 Quick Facts .................................................................................................................................... 6

1.3 Telecom services ........................................................................................................................... 6

1.4 Industry Sectors ............................................................................................................................ 7

1.5 Growth Avenues ........................................................................................................................... 8

1.6 Industry Revenue (2002-2010) ................................................................................................... 10

1.7 Subscriber Growth ...................................................................................................................... 11

1.8 Major Players .............................................................................................................................. 11

1.8.1 Wireless Service Providers (Market share) ......................................................................... 12

1.8.2 Handset Manufacturers (Market share) ............................................................................. 12

1.9 Major Investments ...................................................................................................................... 13

1.10 Rural Telephony .......................................................................................................................... 13

1.11 Exploring the rural telecom opportunity .................................................................................... 13

1.12 Policy Initiatives .......................................................................................................................... 14

2 Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) .................................................................................... 15

2.1 Mission ........................................................................................................................................ 15

2.2 Role of TRAI ................................................................................................................................. 15

2.3 Recommendatory Functions ....................................................................................................... 15

2.4 Mandatory Functions .................................................................................................................. 15

2.5 Other functions ........................................................................................................................... 16

3 Spectrum Auctions in India Vis-à-vis Worldwide ................................................................................ 17

3.1 Spectrum Auction Scenario in India ............................................................................................ 17

3.2 Gaps in Indian Spectrum Auction Licensing Scenario ................................................................. 18

3.3 3G Spectrum allocation policy in India in 2009........................................................................... 19

3.4 Comparison-Spectrum Allocation Policy in UK ........................................................................... 20

4 India’s Competitive Advantage ........................................................................................................... 21

4.1 Stable Economic Outlook ............................................................................................................ 21

4.2 Large Market Potential ............................................................................................................... 22

4.3 Large Talent Pool ........................................................................................................................ 22

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4.4 Low Labour Cost .......................................................................................................................... 23

5 The Road Ahead .................................................................................................................................. 25

5.1 Gradual Progression in Telecom Sector ...................................................................................... 25

5.2 Acquiring New Subscribers through expansion in Rural India .................................................... 26

5.3 Selling More to Existing Subscribers ........................................................................................... 26

5.4 Government Initiatives ............................................................................................................... 26

5.5 The reasons for the increasing importance of MVAS can be classified as:................................. 26

5.6 Defining VAS ................................................................................................................................ 27

5.6.1 Basic definition of a VAS ..................................................................................................... 27

5.6.2 Definition as per TRAI ......................................................................................................... 28

5.7 Mobile VAS in rural market ......................................................................................................... 28

5.8 Access devices for MVAS ............................................................................................................ 29

5.8.1 GPRS Handsets .................................................................................................................... 29

5.8.2 3G Handsets ........................................................................................................................ 30

6 Key trends in telecom industry ........................................................................................................... 31

6.1 Mobile Number portability (MNP) .............................................................................................. 31

6.1.1 The Inhibitors ...................................................................................................................... 31

6.1.2 MNP Implementation globally ............................................................................................ 32

6.2 Wimax v/s 3G .............................................................................................................................. 33

6.3 Mobile Virtual Network Operator (MVNO) ................................................................................ 34

6.4 IPTV ............................................................................................................................................. 35

7 Industry Updates ................................................................................................................................. 37

7.1 Consolidation in Industry. ........................................................................................................... 37

7.1.1 Idea Cellular’s Acquisition of Spice Telecom ....................................................................... 37

7.1.2 Vodafone’s entry into India ................................................................................................ 37

7.1.3 Telenor-Unitech Deal .......................................................................................................... 38

7.1.4 TTSL – DoCoMo Deal. .......................................................................................................... 38

7.1.5 Bharti-MTN deal (in talks). .................................................................................................. 38

7.2 FDI Investments in the Telecom Sector in India: ........................................................................ 40

7.3 Outsourcing by Telecom Service Providers in India .................................................................... 41

7.3.1 Hutchitson Essar (now Vodafone) and Nokia Deal: ............................................................ 41

7.3.2 Bharti Airtel’s IT Outsourcing to IBM: ................................................................................. 41

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7.3.3 Bharti’s Outsourcing to Alcatel-Lucent: .............................................................................. 42

7.3.4 Bharti Outsourcing Deal with Nokia & Ericsson .................................................................. 42

8 Future Technology Trends .................................................................................................................. 43

8.1 IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) .................................................................................................. 43

8.2 High Speed Downlink Packet Access (HSDPA) ............................................................................ 44

8.3 4G or Fourth Generation Networks ............................................................................................ 44

9 Conclusion ........................................................................................................................................... 46

10 References ...................................................................................................................................... 47

Appendix A .................................................................................................................................................. 48

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1 Indian Telecom Industry

1.1 History

1851 Introduction of Telegraph services 1947 Foreign Telecom Companies nationalized to form PTT 1980’s: The Beginning

Tele-density in 1980-81: 0.3%

Introduction of public pay phones

Private Sector allowed

DoT, MTNL and VSNL formed Early to Mid 90’s: A Messy Affair

Telecom policy 1994 - Basic telephony service to private operators - 49% FDI - 8 licensees began operations in Aug 1995

Late 90’s

Birth of a regulator: TRAI

NTP 1999

(New Telecom Policy)

2000+ CAGR of around 85% since 1999

FDI: 74% (2005) 2007-2009 having the world's lowest call rates the fastest growth in

the number of subscribers (45 million in 4 months),

the fastest sale of million mobile phones (in a week),

the world's cheapest mobile handset

the world's most affordable colour phone

1.2 Quick Facts

Total telecom subscribers : 429.72 million (March 2009)

Wireless subscribers : 391.76 million Wire line subscribers : 37.94 million Tele density : 36.98 per cent India’s service providers revenue in Q1 (2009): $8.2 billion

India’s Rural Mobile Phone Users : 100 Million

1.3 Telecom services Telecommunication sector in India is primarily subdivided into two segments, which are Fixed Service

Provider (FSPs) and Cellular Services. Telecom industry in India constitutes some essential telecom

services like telephone, radio, television and Internet. Telecom industry in India is specifically

emphasizing on latest technologies like GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications), CDMA (Code

Division Multiple Access), PMRTS (Public Mobile Radio Trunking Services), Fixed Line and WLL(Wireless

http://indiatelecomnews.com/?p=284

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Local Loop ). India has a prospering market specifically in GSM mobile service and the number of

subscribers is growing very fast.

Internet

PMRTS

VSATs

Radio Paging

GMPCS

Basic Services

Mobile Services

1.4 Industry Sectors

From holistic point of view telecom industry can be divided to four sub-sets. The major forces in Indian

telecom industry are Service providers. All major telecom equipment suppliers have their R&D centers in

India. In last 5 years, global giants in mobile devices have set up their manufacturing facitilities in India.

The discussions in this document is mainly restricted to only Telecom Service Providers.

Network Infrastructure Companies: Alcatel-Lucent, Cisco, Ericsson

Telecom Service Providers: Bharati-Airtel, Vodafone, Idea, Reliance.

Telecom Equipment Manufacturers: Nokia, Motorola, Samsung

Telecom Solutions Providers: Tech-Mahindra, Aricent, IBM Indi

Wipro, Sasken

Telecom

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1.5 Growth Avenues

Managed services is another segment that is attracting telecom companies. On account of the

rapidly growing subscriber base, service providers find it difficult to manage their infrastructure and

network management operations. In such cases, they completely or partially outsource their

infrastructure or network management operations.

To reduce their network deployment costs, many service providers are considering infrastructure

sharing offers the following advantages:

Improved service quality

Increased affordability for customers

Faster roll out of services in rural and remote areas

Significant reduction in initial set up costs

Increased environmental aesthetics

Lower operating costs for service providers

Enterprise Telecom Services includes key services, such as voice over Internet protocol (VoIP),

dedicated telecom communication systems; IT infrastructure enabled unified communication

services, etc. Telecom service providers are increasingly targeting enterprises by providing dedicated

services and is expected to witness major developments in near future.

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Virtual Private Network is a private data network that provides connectivity within closed user

groups via public telecommunication infrastructure. Competition is likely to heat up in the VPN

segment as DoT has relaxed the norms for private players.

3G The Indian government plans to auction the spectrum for 3G services by inviting bids from

domestic as well as foreign players, and creating a competitive environment that offers better

services to consumers. Therefore, the 3G spectrum is among the major investment opportunities

and growth drivers of the telecom industry.

The immense potential for 3G is reflected by the 30–40 percent annual growth in Value-

Added Services.

Cell phone manufacturers are striving to develop USD 100 priced 3G handsets for the

Indian market.

India expects to replicate its 2G growth in 3G services.

WiMAX has been one of the most significant developments in wireless communication in the recent

past. Since this mode of communication provides network access in inaccessible locations at a speed

of more than 4 Mbps, it is expected to be a major factor in driving telecom services in India,

especially wireless services. Thus, it will lead to the increased use of telecom services, Internet,

value-added services and enterprise services. WiMAX is expected to accelerate economic growth

and assist in providing better education, healthcare and entertainment services.

It is estimated that India will have 13 million WiMAX subscribers by 2012.

Aircel is the pioneer in WiMAX technology in India.

The state-owned player, BSNL, aims to connect 74,000 villages through WiMAX.

Bharti, Reliance and VSNL have acquired licenses in the 3.3GHz range to utilise the

opportunities offered by this domain.

Value Added Services:The VAS industry was worth USD 632 million in 2006–07. The industry is

estimated to grow by 60 percent in 2007–08 and become an USD 1,011 million opportunity.

The VAS industry is currently focussing on the entertainment sector, such as the Indian film industry and

cricket; however, there is scope for growth in other avenues as utility-based services, such as location

information and mobile transactions.

Rural Telephony: As the government targets to increase rural teledensity from the current 2 percent

to 25 percent by 2012, rural telephony will require major investments. This segment will boost the

demand for telecom services, equipment, Internet services and other value-added services; thereby,

offering great market opportunities for telecom players.

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1.6 Industry Revenue (2002-2010)

According to a Frost & Sullivan industry analyst, by 2012, fixed line revenues are expected to touch US$

12.2 billion while mobile revenues will reach US$ 39.8 billion in India. India has become the second

country in the world to have more than 100 million CDMA-based (code division multiple access) mobile

phone subscribers after the US, which has 157 million CDMA users. The Indian telecommunications

industry is on a growth trajectory with the GSM operators adding nearly 9 million new subscribers in

April 2009, taking the total user base to 297 million, a growth of 3.11 per cent over the additions made

the previous month. The figures, however, do not include the GSM subscriber additions made by

Reliance Telecom.

Year Revenue(US$ billion)

2002-03 9

2003-04 10

2004-05 11

2005-06 15

2006-07 20

2008-09 32

2009-10(forecasted) 43

9 10 1115

20

32

43

Revenue(US$ billion)

Revenue(US$ billion)

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1.7 Subscriber Growth

India added 130 million new customers in 2008-09, the largest globally. The country’s cellular base witnessed close to 50 per cent growth in 2008, with an average 9.5 million customers added every month.

By April 2009, the total number of telephone connections reached 441.47 million. With this growth, the overall tele-density reached 37.94 at the end of April 2009. According to Business Monitor International, India is currently adding 8-10 million mobile subscribers every month. It is estimated that by mid 2012, around half the country's population will own a mobile phone. This would translate into 612 million mobile subscribers, accounting for a tele-density of around 51 per cent by 2012.

Source: www.trai.gov.in

1.8 Major Players

Bharti-Airtel leads the wirless market with 24% market share. The company recently achieved the magic

figure of 100 million subscribers. However, Bharti-Airtel expects a bloodbath in the Indian telecom

market in the near future, and is looking to spread its risks by entering new geographies (Bharti-MTN

deal is discussed in Industry Update Section). With 12-13 players present in the market there would be a

severe pressure on margins. Be it an Aircel or Etisalat, the new operators would not remain fringe

players in the Indian market, but would try and rock the applecart of existing operators. The growth in

Indian market could start tapering off very soon. According to an industry expert the subscriber base will

not expand beyond 800 million in coming years from current number 400 million. Also, ARPUs in India

have steadily falling($5-$6). There have been talks about 3G and IPTV pushing growth, but it all seems

far-fetched. The third generation of mobile services (3G) will be used by telcos to gain more spectrum.

Besides, the services will be used only in urban areas.

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1.8.1 Wireless Service Providers (Market share)

Source: www.coai.com

1.8.2 Handset Manufacturers (Market share)

India's telecom equipment manufacturing sector is set to become one of the largest globally by 2010.

Mobile phone production is estimated to grow at a CAGR of 28.3%, totaling 107 million handsets by

2010. Nokia Leads the market with whopping 60% share. Korean giant Samsung currently at number

there is looking forward increase its market share to 20% through aggressive marketing.

24%

18%

11%11%

5%

3%1%

1%

8%

18%

As on June 30th 2009

Bharti Airtel

Vodafone Essar

BSNL

IDEA

Aircel

Reliance GSM

MTNL

Loop Mobile

Tata Teleservices

60%

8%

7%

6%

5% 15%

Handset Market

Nokia

Sony

Samsung

Motorola

LG

Others

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1.9 Major Investments

The booming domestic telecom market has been attracting huge amounts of investment which is likely

to accelerate with the entry of new players and launch of new services. Buoyed by the rapid surge in the

subscriber base, huge investments are being made into this industry.

The Russian government is likely to pick up equity amounting to US$ 670 million-US$ 700 million

in Sistema Shyam TeleServices Ltd (SSTL), a joint venture between Russia-based telecom major

Sistema and Shyam Group in India, by the end of this financial year. SSTL is also planning to

invest US$ 5.5 billion over the next 5 years in India.

Norway-based telecom operator Telenor has bought a 60 per cent stake in Unitech Wireless for

US$ 1.23 billion.

Japanese telecom major NTT DoCoMo acquired a 27.31 per cent equity capital of Tata

Teleservices for about US$ 2.6 billion in November 2008.

Bahrain's Batelco has signed a deal to buy 49 per cent in Chennai-based S-Tel, a GSM service

provider, for US$ 225 million.

BSNL, India's leading telecom company in revenue terms, will put in about US$ 1.16 billion in its

WiMax project.

Vodafone Essar will invest US$ 6 billion over the next three years in a bid to increase its mobile

subscriber base from 40 million at present to over 100 million.

Telecom operator Aircel, which launched GSM mobile services in Bangalore in February 2009,

plans to invest US$ 220.58 million over the next year to set up base stations across the state.

Some deals are discussed in detail in industry consolidation section.

1.10 Rural Telephony

Rural India had 76.65 million fixed and Wireless in Local Loop (WLL) connections and 551,064 Village

Public Telephones (VPT) as on September 2008. Therefore, 92 per cent of the villages in India have been

covered by the VPTs. Universal Service Obligation (USO) subsidy support scheme is also being used for

sharing wireless infrastructure in rural areas with around 18,000 towers by 2010.

1.11 Exploring the rural telecom opportunity It is believed that of the next 250 million people expected to go mobile; at least 100 million will come

from rural areas. Though the rural mobile penetration is highest in Punjab (20.69 per cent), followed by

Himachal Pradesh (17.09 per cent), Kerala (10.63 per cent) and Haryana (10.20 per cent), most

companies are now sweating it out by hard selling their products and services in the rural areas of the

region. As a result, the geographical coverage of mobile telephony in India has gone up from 13 percent,

a couple of years ago, to 39 percent now.

Telecom Industry


1.12 Policy Initiatives

The government has taken many proactive initiatives to facilitate the rapid growth of the Indian telecom

industry.

100% foreign direct investment (FDI) is permitted through the automatic route in telecom

equipment manufacturing

FDI ceiling in telecom services has been raised to 74%

Introduction of a unified access licensing regime for telecom services on a pan-India basis

Plan to introduce mobile number portability in a phased manner

The government is implementing a program of connecting 66,822 uncovered villages under the

Bharat Nirman programme. The government will invest US$ 2 billion to set up 112,000

community service centres in rural India to provide broadband connectivity in 2008-09.

The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has stated that foreign telecom companies can

bid for 3G spectrum without partnering with Indian companies. Only after winning a bid, would

they need to apply for unified access service licence (UASL) and partner with an Indian company

in accordance with the FDI regulations.

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2 Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI)

2.1 Mission To ensure that the interests of consumers are protected and at the same time to nurture conditions for

growth of telecommunications, broadcasting and cable services in a manner and at a pace which will

enable India to play a leading role in the emerging global information society.

2.2 Role of TRAI 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 Authority. The functions of TRAI can be divided as : Recommendatory function and Mandatory

Function.

2.3 Recommendatory Functions Need and timing for introduction of new service provider

Terms and conditions of licence to a service provider

Revocation of license for non-compliance of terms and conditions of license

Measures to facilitate competition and promote efficiency in the operation to facilitate growth in industry

Technological improvement in services by service providers

Inspection of type of equipment used by service provider

Measures for Technological development

Efficient Management of available spectrum

2.4 Mandatory Functions Ensure compliance of terms and conditions of license

Fix the terms and conditions of their inter connectivity between service providers

Ensure Technical compatibility and effective inter-connection between different service

providers

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Regulate arrangements for sharing of revenues amongst service providers

Lay-down the standards of QoS to be provided by service provider,ensure this by periodical

survey

Lay-down and ensure time period for providing local and long-distance circuits of

telecommunication between different service providers

Maintain inter-connect agreement register

Ensure compliance of USO(universal service obligation)

2.5 Other functions Levy fees and other charges as determined by regulations

Perform administrative functions as entrusted to it by Central government or as per TRAI act

Notify in Official Gazette the service rates and message rates within and outside India

Snapshot of TRAI functions

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3 Spectrum Auctions in India Vis-à-vis Worldwide Spectrum auctions have been used with significant success in many developed countries. From a

regulatory and policy perspective, spectrum auctions ensure the efficient use of spectrum by allocating

it to those entities that value it most, while also generating revenues for governments. But auctions may

lead to unexpected outcomes due to unanticipated problems with their design leading to unexpected

bidder behavior such as collusion and over-bidding. The key challenge before regulatory agencies is to

design auctions in such a way as to meet the objective of fostering competition while at the same time

ensuring that bidders can effectively use the spectrum for their business. With private initiatives

increasing in telecom and broadcast service provision, demand for spectrum has increased. Digital

technology has increased the scope of applications and created new areas of service provision. Cellular

telephony and wireless Internet are examples of such services. Despite technological changes that

reduce the demand for spectrum, availability of spectrum continues to be a constraint. In order to

allocate spectrum amongst competing service providers, regulatory agencies often use auctions. From

the regulatory and policy perspective, spectrum auctions ensure efficient usage by allocating it to those

entities that value it most, while also generating revenues for governments. But auctions may lead to

unexpected outcomes as, for example, when regulatory agencies have inadequate market information,

there may be a mismatch between expected and actual bidder behavior, or auctions may be poorly

designed. The key challenge before regulatory agencies is to design auctions in such a way as to meet

the objective of fostering competition while at the same time ensuring that bidders can effectively use

the spectrum for their business.

3.1 Spectrum Auction Scenario in India While India was one of the early adopters of spectrum

auctions, its success in service provision has been low.

Despite this early start, services have been slow to roll

out.

In India, telecom licences were auctioned for basic and

cellular services from 1991 by the Department of

Telecom (DoT), the incumbent government policy

maker, regulator and service provider. For service

provision, the entire country was divided into roughly 20

circles, categorized as A, B, or C depending upon their

revenue potential. The circles were mostly co-terminus

with the DoT’s administrative boundaries and the states.

Potential service providers were required to seek

foreign partners, as it was felt that no Indian company

had the requisite financial strength and technical know

how. For all licenses, bidding was a two-stage process,

the first being a pre-qualification based on the evaluation of financial net worth (linked to the category

of circle and service bid for) and experience in service provision and the second stage involved

Source: www.telenor.com

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evaluation of bids. The bids were single stage, with the award going to the highest bidder drawn from

those that satisfied the pre-qualification conditions. For cellular licences, Global System for Mobile

Communications (GSM) was the chosen technology and for basic services, a combination of fiber optic

and wireless in the local loop (WLL) was selected.

For cellular services, there were separate licenses for the four major metros of Kolkata (Calcutta),

Chennai (Madras), Mumbai (Bombay) and New Delhi. The licenses for the circles containing the metros

excluded these cities. For metro licenses, the financial bids were to be evaluated on the rental to be

charged to the customer for the first 3 years.(The airtime tariffs were fixed by DoT.) The licensee fee was

a flat amount for the first 3 years and then was linked to the number of subscribers, subject to a

minimum amount. Subsequent to the bid opening, the rentals were fixed at Rs. 1561 based on the

amounts specified by the winners, even though some winning bids had zero out in metros, and bidders

were evaluated on an annual license fee for the duration of the license, converted to its net present

value at a specified discount rate. The second highest bidder had to match the highest bid in order to

obtain the license.

Despite these initiatives, service roll out continued to be slow. The government then set up a group on

telecom (GOT), that consisted of top-level bureaucrats, industrialists and professionals to evolve a

future policy framework for the sector. This was presumably effected outside the DoT as the

government felt that the DoT might not be able to conceive a radically different roadmap or might

thwart the involvement of the private sector or produce a regulatory framework crafted in the DoT’s

vested interest. The GOT drafted the National Telecom Policy in 1999,2 (NTP 99) which presented a

roadmap for resolving the impasse. All existing license holders could ‘‘migrate’’ to a new regime that

involved a one time payment as entry fee and an annual revenue share with the government, provided

that all operators withdrew their court cases against the government on a variety of issues such as

delays in clearances. The entry fee was based on a percentage of the total amount of the original bid.

This change greatly facilitated private sector participation and several operators subsequently

commenced services. As a part of the package,the operators also agreed to allow the government to

increase the number of players in their service areas.

3.2 Gaps in Indian Spectrum Auction Licensing Scenario The absence of clear separations in DoT’s responsibilities for policy, regulation and operations led to

several delays and lowered the credibility of the government. Like all incumbents, it saw its position

threatened by impending private participation and set impediments in the service roll out, whereas in its

role as a policy maker, it was required to design the auctions to facilitate service provision. Confusion in

DoT was also evident from the manner in which it handled the interconnect issues. Managing the caps

on the number of circles or delays in clearances after the bids were opened showed a lack of adequate

preparation in the auction design process. The establishment of TRAI and NTP 99 brought about major

changes to the licensing process and converting the licence fee to a revenue sharing regime signaling the

governments changing perspective and willingness to bear a part of the market risk. Subsequently, an

interconnect framework has been put in place (although problems persist) and service provision has

accelerated.

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3.3 3G Spectrum allocation policy in India in 2009 In the conducive business environment, India Inc. awaits the rollout of 3G services. The Indian

government plans to auction the spectrum for 3G services by inviting bids from domestic, as well as

foreign players and creating a competitive environment that offers better services to consumers.

Therefore, the 3G spectrum is among the major investment opportunities and growth drivers of the

telecom industry.

The immense potential for 3G is reflected by the 30-40 per cent annual growth in value added

services

The global revenue for 3G is 60 per cent higher than that of other services

Cellphone manufacturers are striving to develop US$ 100-priced 3G handsets for the Indian

market

India expects to replicate its 2G growth in 3G services. The Indian market is well poised to

leverage the 3G service offerings in content categories such as sports, games and music. In the

present context, 3G technology is extremely relevant for India.

It offers voice capacity that is four to five times higher than that of 2G services. Therefore, it is

an ideal platform for low-cost cellular services

It can fulfil the need of fast developing mobile penetration in rural areas

It can meet the demand for high-speed data and content rich services in the urban landscape

It can play a vital role in augmenting the competitiveness of the country’s large BPO segment

It can be a way forward to achieve the Government’s broadband objectives.

In addition, it will be a good solution for education, telemedicine, etc. Even if 2 per cent of the 180

million cellular subscribers adopt 3G technology as soon as it is launched, it is likely to create an initial

subscriber base of 3.6 million. The market is slated to capture more than 11.3 per cent of all mobile

subscribers by 2010, i.e., 21.3 million people. Therefore, it would not be incorrect to assume that 3G is

poised to create the next mobile revolution in India.

In the race towards lowering the entry barrier for 3G services, companies plan to offer bundled service

packages with subsidised handsets.With regard to its business potential, many national players have

already completed 3G trials. BSNL has charted out a plan for launching 3G services in 250 cities. Private

players, such as Bharti, Reliance and Idea, are also ready to offer this service in 10-20 major Indian cities.

However,

Airtel and MTNL are very keen on leveraging their first mover advantage in this field.

In June 2009 the DoT (Department of Telecom) in India has announced the radio spectrum that will be

made available when 3G licenses are eventually auctioned off.It could be the case that just 4 Operators

are given radio spectrum around Delhi - given that two incumbents (BSNL and MTNL) already have some

licenses in each zone, then that would be just the possibility of two new Operators coming to play. In

other areas, there is apparently going to be more provision for private players - meaning up to 11

‘Operators’ could enter business. The greater availability of spectrum in these other zones is due to the

Defence Ministry giving up some of its Spectrum.

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There is still much to-ing and fro-ing to be done though over the 3G licenses themselves - currently there are disputes over how many Operators can exist per zone, and whether the relevant spectrum is sold in tranches, or in one go. Hopefully something will be resolved soon, as India is beginning to really lag behind in 3G technologies, particularly as many other countries are already at HSPA (3.5G) level, and going to HSPA+ (3.75G) soon.

3.4 Comparison-Spectrum Allocation Policy in UK The UK 3G auction took the necessary steps to design the auction appropriately,keeping in mind the

past discrepencies. In the UK, there were already four established mobile players that had 2G licenses

covering nearly 97 percent of the area and 90 percent of the population. Incumbents who won a 3G

license, could provide roaming services over the existing 2G network to new 3G customers. In contrast, a

new entrant needed to establish a roaming arrangement with the incumbent 2G providers. The

incumbents could thwart competition by denying or delaying roaming facilities to the new entrants. The

government felt that new entrants needed certainty regarding their ability to be able to provide

roaming over the existing networks and, therefore, mandated that incumbents would have to provide

roaming to the new entrants. Such a mandate necessitated a change in the existing licenses that was

undertaken for the dominant providers. The incumbents sought several changes to the originally

proposed roaming conditions which would be to their advantage. The FCC, the Radio Communications

Agency that conducted the 3G auctions in UK and Oftel (the UK regulator) went through a detailed

public discussion involving industry, academia and other interested parties in designing the auctions.

This allowed regulatory agencies in these countries to auction spectrum for all services rather than

having to choose allocation mechanisms separately for various services.

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4 India’s Competitive Advantage An analysis of the Indian telecom industry under the Porter’s Diamond Model reveals that India offers a

competitive advantage for firms operating in the country.

India is the fastest growing free market

democracy in the world. It has a mature and

dynamic private sector, which accounts for 75

per cent of India’s GDP, and a market with

enormous potential due to its large size and

diversity. It is also expected to achieve the

highest growth rate among the BRIC countries

(Brazil, Russia, India and China). India offers

significant business opportunities to the

services, as well as the manufacturing sectors.

This is because India offers benefits such as

cost advantage in product development and

back-office processing and the large-scale

availability of skilled English-speaking

professionals. The middle class population is

also a significant market for any business

entity. AT Kearney ranked India as the second-most attractive democracy in its FDI confidence index.

The success of MNCs is a proof that India is an attractive investment destination. India’s huge domestic

market and buoyant economic growth have always attracted foreign investors.

Some of the key advantages of investing in India are outlined below.

4.1 Stable Economic Outlook A decade of reforms has opened the country to greater competition and spurred industries to become

more efficient. India is currently the fourth-largest economy on PPP basis and is well positioned on a

continuously increasing growth curve. India’s emergence as a leading destination for foreign investment

is a result of positive indicators such as a stable 6 per cent annual growth, rising foreign exchange

reserves of over US$ 266.18 billion(July 24th 2009) and Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) of US$ 15 billion.

Goldman Sachs had earlier predicted that India will become the third-largest economy in the world.

However, it has now revised its previous estimates and claims that by 2050, India will even surpass the

US and become the second-largest economy after China. The country’s economic growth has become

more attractive due to the rising share of the services sector in the GDP.

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4.2 Large Market Potential Around 30-40 million people in India join the middle class every year. The country’s upper middle class

spends 6 percent of its earnings on telecom services. India is one of the largest consumer markets in the

world. Due to rapid economic growth and rise in disposable income, the spending power of consumers

is increasing rapidly. It has been forecasted that 15 years down the line, Indians will be approximately

four times richer than they are today. As per this forecast, Indians will purchase five times more cars and

consume three times more crude oil than they do today.

According to the 2001 census, about 54 per cent of the country’s total population was below 25 years of

age. By 2013, another 200 million people will be joining the league, representing an exponential growth

in the ‘consuming class’. India will become a large consumer of world resources - be it natural or man-

made, thereby offering numerous opportunities to marketers around the globe. Approximately 33 per

cent of India’s population will be residing in urban areas by 2026, as against 28 per cent in 2001.

4.3 Large Talent Pool The working age population is expected to rise by 83 per cent by 2026. India has over 380 universities

and about 1,500 research institutes, which churn out approximately 200,000 engineers, 300,000 post

graduates, 2,100,000 other graduates and around 9,000 PhDs. This large base of skilled manpower

offers unparalleled advantages to the companies operating in India. As a result, many multinational

companies have either established operation hubs in India to leverage this sizeable talent pool, or they

have outsourced their work to a third party in India. The numerous BPOs and KPOs flourishing in India

are a direct consequence of companies choosing the latter option.

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4.4 Low Labour Cost CII estimates that manufactured product outsourcing accounted for US$ 10 billion in 2007. The value

will escalate to US$ 50 billion by 2015. India has one of the lowest labour costs among the developing

countries, which is the foremost factor for attracting multinational giants in every sector. The Ministry of

Commerce, Government of India, has estimated that off shoring operations to India can provide a cost

benefit of up to 40 to 60 per cent, as compared to developed countries. The country has also emerged

as a major R&D hub with more than hundred Fortune 500 companies based in India. An apt example is

Nokia, which has set up its manufacturing operations in India considering the long term sustainable

demand for mobile telephony. The company believes that this initiative will help the company in

reducing time to market and respond better to customer requirements. It has pumped in US$ 150

million into its Chennai facility.

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Factor Conditions

Related and

supporting

industries

Demand

conditions

Firm strategy

structure and

rivalry. Chance

Government - Presence of skilled labour pool.

- Rapidly developing robust telecom infrastructure.

- Increasing disposable income of consumers.

- Increasing demand due to changing lifestyles and growing attraction for mobiles with new features.

-The government extends full support

to industry through reform processes.

- Policies are in place to safeguard the

interests of service providers, as well

as those of consumers.

- Intensive competition in the country has made it possible for service providers to offer the services with lowers fare in the world, profitability,

- Many new handset have been launched.

- India has a large middle class of 300 million,

- Growing affordability and lifetime free schemes have care a market at the bottom of the pyramid.

- Low teledensity (~18%) offers huge future potential.

- Competent handset manufacturers have produced the lowest priced handsets for the Indian market.

- Handset players are setting up manufacturing bases in India for better operation management.

- Many telecom and equipment and software companies are based in India.

Porter’s Diamond Model – Indian Telecom Industry

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5 The Road Ahead

The target for the 11th Plan period (2007-12) is 600 million phone connections with an investment of US$ 73 billion. Apart from the basic telephone service, there is an enormous potential for various value-added services. In fact, the real potential for telecom service growth is still lying untapped.

According to the CII Ernst & Young report titled 'India 2012: Telecom growth continues', revenue from India's telecom services industry is projected to reach US$ 54 billion in 2012, as against US$ 31 billion in 2008.

India is the world’s largest untapped mobile market

5.1 Gradual Progression in Telecom Sector The progression chart below depicts the major regulations and events driving the extra ordinary growth

of Telecom sector from year 1999 to 2008. In order to capitalize this opportunity of meeting the

consumer needs in highly competitive market the operators have reduced the tariffs to attract

consumers with low purchasing power primarily in semi urban and rural India. In fact lucrative offers like

being paid for incoming calls have transformed the scenario completely. Through these changing

regulations and events, the Industry players are aiming to achieve the following

Acquiring new subscribers by expanding in Semi Urban and Rural India

Selling more services to existing subscribers

The recent TRAI recommendation permitting PC-to-phone calls where ISPs can offer cheaper STD calls

and even free local calls. This would result in further reduction of voice tariffs. This would lead to

increased focus on MVAS by mobile operators.

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5.2 Acquiring New Subscribers through expansion in Rural India Acquiring customers have always been a great challenge for companies. Given the current level of

saturation in Metros and Urban Market and cut throat competition among operators , increasing

subscriber base in urban market would be all the more challenging. Therefore a lot of operators with

adequate support from Government are eyeing the rural market for future growth. Big operators like

Airtel have claimed that soon mobile connections and recharge vouchers etc will be available at all such

places from where people buy match boxes. This certainly explains the future penetration of these

services in remotest of villages.

5.3 Selling More to Existing Subscribers This is relatively easier as compared to acquiring new customers. Also since now the new subscriptions

will largely happen at the bottom of the pyramid therefore the new subscriptions will further lower the

average revenue per user. In such a scenario mobile VAS sector is a potential long-term revenue stream

as it will be easier to sell more to the existing customers.

5.4 Government Initiatives Government also has supported the growth of this sector by coming out with a number of initiatives for

the low end subscribers of rural India, and Universal Service Obligation (USO) fund was one such

initiatives. The USO fund was an initiative taken up by the government to increase rural teledensity. In

recent developments, BSNL and two private operators will erect 427 towers in remote areas offering

over four lakh mobile connections. All the towers are expected to be erected and commissioned by

December 2008. Under the second phase, DoT aims at erecting 11,000 towers throughout the country

to offer over 11 million mobile connections ADC was levied by Telecom Regulatory Authority of India

(TRAI) in 2003 to provide support for BSNL's rural telephone obligation. Telecom Regulatory Authority of

India (TRAI) has recently given orders for the withdrawal of the ADC (Access Deficit Charge) and the

subsequent passing of the benefit to the consumers by the telecom operators.

5.5 The reasons for the increasing importance of MVAS can be classified as: Decrease in ARPU despite increase in MOU: Though the subscriber base is growing at a rapid pace and

has positively impacted industry revenues, operator margins also have shrunk owing to competition and

lower “Average Revenue per User” (ARPU) as the major growth is coming from bottom of the pyramid.

As ARPU declines and voice gets commoditized, the challenge is to develop alternative revenue streams

and retain customers by creating a basis for differentiation in high-churn markets.

Need for differentiation: There is a greater need among the telecom operators to differentiate

themselves from each other.

Number of Licensees: With increasing number of licensees (98 UASL, and 37 cellular licenses) in

the telecom space the average numbers of operators in many circles have increased to 5-6

operators offering more choices to the consumer. Thus the competition among the operators

has increased tremendously. Therefore it is very important for them to differentiate themselves

from the others. Now that voice has got commoditized these operators are using MVAS for their

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differentiation and marketing these services heavily for creating awareness among the

consumers.

Decreasing Call Rates: In order to attract consumers with relatively low purchasing powers

primarily from Semi Urban and Rural India the operators have drastically reduced the call rates

making it affordable to even the lower segment of society. The tariff in India is one of the lowest

at Rs.1 per minute as compared to the tariff in developed nations like USA and UK where the call

rates are Rs.13 and Rs7-8 respectively.

3G bidders who are non operators: The arrival of new technologies will give rise to greater

competition as many non operators are also bidding for the 3G licenses. Department of Telecom

has planned to allow five 3G operators in each circle depending on the availability of

spectrum.Therefore there would be a greater need to differentiate one self in order to attract

new customers and retain the existing ones.

Saturation in Metro and Urban Market: The metro/urban areas offer high level of penetration

and have significant mobile subscribers. In such a highly saturated market with the entry of

MVNO’s the competition will get fierce. Therefore capitalizing on value added services will give

operators opportunity to increase ARPU by providing premium services.

Increasing need and demand from consumers: In addition to the above supply side reasons the ‘pull

effect’ from consumers asking for more than just basic telephony is also a key driver for MVAS services.

Today most of the consumers are seeking more from their communication device apart from just

mobility and desire to stay connected. As we have seen, Telecommunication has moved beyond

providing just basic voice calls. The mobile phone has evolved from a mere communication device to an

access mode with an ability to tap a plethora of information and services available in the ecosystem.

This is the reason why it is now being referred to as the ‘fourth screen’, after Cinema halls, Television

and PC.

5.6 Defining VAS But the fundamental question that remains is how VAS is defined. A clear MVAS definition is not only

required to clear the air among the MVAS providers but it will also have an impact on the dynamics of

the Value chain. A detailed definition of VAS might have an impact on the licensing issues surrounding

VAS. Let’s look at different VAS definitions floating in the market.

5.6.1 Basic definition of a VAS

Value Added Service (VAS) in telecommunication industry refers to non-core services, the core or basic

services being standard voice calls and fax transmission including bearer services. The value added

services are characterized as under:-

Not a form of core or basic service but adds value in total service offering.

Stands alone in terms of profitability and also stimulates incremental demand for core or basic

services

Can sometimes be provided as stand alone.

Do not cannibalize core or basic service.

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Can be add-on to core or basic service and as such can be sold at premium price.

May provide operational synergy with core or basic services.

A value added service may demonstrate one or more of these characteristics and not necessarily all of

them. In some cases, the value added service becomes so closely integrated with the basic offering that

neither the user nor the provider acknowledge or realize the difference. A classic example is of P2P SMS.

Some of the operators do not consider P2P SMS as part of their VAS revenue.

5.6.2 Definition as per TRAI

In the Unified Access Service License (UASL), VAS is defined as follows- “Value Added Services are enhanced services which add value to the basic teleservices and bearer services for which separate licence are issued” The Government of India issues licenses for the following Value Added Services:-

Public mobile trunking service

Voice mail service

Closed users group domestic 64 kbps data network via INSAT satellites system

Videotex service

GMPCS

Internet

Audiotex

Unified messaging service

5.7 Mobile VAS in rural market The next wave of Telecom growth will come from the bottom of the pyramid. For majority of the

population in the rural segment, the mobile phone is the first communication device. Rural should not

always be interpreted as poor and therefore some categories of MVAS might apply directly to them.

But whether the statement can be extended to MVAS depends on some key factors. One is to clearly

identify the need of the rural segment, second is to communicate the services to them i.e. generate

awareness and thirdly, to provide an easy and cheap access mode to the rural consumers. All these 3 are

quite big challenges and therefore needs to be addressed adequately for MVAS to take off in Rural India.

Apart from the identification of rural consumer needs and development of relevant content,

communication of these services to the rural population would be a bigger challenge. One way to do this

is to communicate through regional SMS for which a separate SMS gateway needs to be installed.

Literacy level of the geographical area will be another limitation. Therefore the better communication

option is Voice in regional languages. The challenge with regional voice is not only investment but also

blockage of the already scarce spectrum.

Marketing the content in rural market is going to be all the more challenging. This would require right

packaging and pricing of MVAS. Providing cheap access mode to end consumer would be another key

booster to rural MVAS. Current voice MVAS charges are expensive from a rural consumer perspective

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therefore that also would need to be addressed for e.g. the ‘sachet model’ could prove to be successful

here.

MVAS is going to address two main needs of rural consumers- connectivity and entertainment mode.

Connectivity will provide Information VAS on Agriculture necessary for the farmer’s livelihood e.g. mandi

rates, weather, etc. Health, finance, job opportunities etc are potential areas. Mobile also has the

potential to evolve as a key entertainment mode considering lack of other entertainment options in

rural areas. The industry has witnessed some type of content being downloaded more in small towns of

UP and Bihar rather than in metros like Delhi and Mumbai. Therefore by leveraging on these two

aspects MVAS can be a success in rural area.

5.8 Access devices for MVAS

5.8.1 GPRS Handsets

Currently the penetration of GPRS enabled handsets are close to 26% in India as against 99% in South

Korea and 76% in Japan. Of the total mobile subscribers in India 65 million possess GPRS-enabled

handsets. Of all those who posses GPRS enabled handsets only 20-25% of them have got the GPRS

activated and only about 15% use it. Even in case of developed nations like South Korea and Japan not

more than 50% of the subscribers owning GPRS enabled handsets use it.

This clearly indicates that the consumer today engage more in text based services than the web based

applications. Therefore for MVAS to grow to its full potential the handset manufacturers will have to

look at ways to manufacture GPRS enabled phones which are affordable and user friendly. Moreover

they would also need to increase its awareness and educate the consumers on how to use GPRS.

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5.8.2 3G Handsets

The market for 3G in the country is expected to be huge with over 65 million wireless subscribers, who

use their handsets to access data services on the Web. These subscribers are currently using mobile

handsets which are internet-enabled and are potential broadband subscribers with the deployment of

advanced wireless technologies such as 3G. According to Indian Cellular Association (ICA) about 5% of

mobile users already have handsets that can work on 3G spectrum. In addition, out of all those

possessing the 3G enabled handsets the number of people who would use 3G services would be

determined by the quality of content available. Unlike most other countries, we are looking at 3G

services not only as premium services but also as an extension of 2G. Since our broadband penetration is

abysmal, 3G would provide a much required boost to it. Given that mobile phones are much cheaper as

compared to PCs, the demand for broadband on mobile is expected to be much greater. More

importantly, 3G will solve problems more in rural India. Therefore the shift towards 3G would depend

on affordability of handsets along with the quality of content available.

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6 Key trends in telecom industry

6.1 Mobile Number portability (MNP) One of the most frequent definitions that prevail in the telecom circles for number portability is:

"Number portability is a circuit-switch telecommunications network feature that enables end users to

retain their telephone numbers when changing service providers, service types, and or locations."

Why mobile number portability (MNP)? When fully implemented nationwide by both wireline and

wireless providers, portability will remove one of the most significant deterrents to changing service,

providing unprecedented convenience for consumers and encouraging unrestrained competition in the

telecommunications industry. In short, this is the best method to increase the efficiency of the service

provider by increasing the competition, thereby ensuring better services in all respects.

From the subscribers’ perspective, this is a deceptively simple and very welcome change, because they

can change wireless service providers without worrying about notifying friends, family and business

contacts that their wireless number is changing. In addition, being able to ‘port’ a number from one

provider to another eliminates the hassle and expenses of changing business cards, stationery, invoices

and other materials for businesses.

From the wireless carrier’s perspective the change is anything, but simple. Virtually all of wireless

carriers’ systems are affected. Especially any system that relies on mobile identity numbers (MINs) or

mobile directory numbers (MDNs) will be affected. Examples of critical systems and processes that

would be affected are: billing, customer service, order activation, call delivery, roamer registration and

support, short messages service center, directory assistance, caller ID, calling name presentation,

switches, maintenance and CSC systems, home location registers (HLRs), and visiting location registers

(VLRs).

6.1.1 The Inhibitors

Huge Costs: One of the most common barriers in MNP implementation, within any country, has been

the implementation cost. Service Providers have been constantly bargaining for time, based on the cost

factor, from their respective governments. Referring to the recent example of the US, where each of the

large carriers would need to spend $50–60 million to institute the service and an equivalent sum to

maintain it. The FCC on this plea gave wireless carriers in the US another year, i.e., till November 2003,

for resolving implementation issues. The experience of developed countries exhibits that local number

portability for fixed wireline was introduced within two to three years of introduction of competition to

incumbent state telcos. The cost estimate for the implementation of WNP in developed nations like the

US can be very helpful for the other countries, who wish to think on the lines of number portability. To

add on increased marketing costs are to be realized as the carriers look to lock up their current base

before number portability is implemented, and then aggressively pursue the customers of other carriers

thereafter.

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Customer Retention/Increased Competition: Every subscriber in a race to retain its customer would like

to offer its customers best services so as to save them from porting. It’s like a blessing in disguise for the

customers, as they would get better service irrespective of the carrier, albeit with the same number.

Infrastructure Upgrade: To support WNP, a company has to upgrade both its hardware and software

capabilities, which will amount to some cost. Softwares need to be upgraded to provide proper routing

of calls. The carriers need to upgrade their networks to handle portability requests. The provider, which

has its portability compatible would be expected to attract maximum customers and will emerge the

winner.

Cost Recovery and Bill Reconciliation/Query Processing: When a customer plans to shift, the old service

provider (OSP) has to perform a query to identify if there are any billing amounts pending, which they

need to recover before the subscriber moves to the new service provider (NSP).

6.1.2 MNP Implementation globally

Globally, Singapore was the first country to implement MNP in 1997, followed by Hong Kong in 1999 and

Australia in 2001. Off late, many countries have adopted the MNP model to prevent market doldrums

and putting pressure on service providers to furnish more services at a competitive price level. However,

it has not been able to produce any significant results in these markets.

While it has worked in markets like Hong Kong and Australia, it failed to bear fruit in the UK, France,

Germany, Pakistan, Ireland, Malta, among others. MNP worked in Hong Kong due to the speedy porting

process and the availability of already implemented solution (for fixed-line services). In Australia, the

regulator effectively promoted number portability and was able to maintain the maximum porting time

of just under three hours.

Furthermore, in Finland, where initially the implementation was viewed as a success due to dearth of

minimal contract periods and high migration incentives, operators failed to sustain the momentum.

The failure in most markets where MNP was implemented is attributed to factors like half-hearted

implementation, issues related to contract, lack of consumer awareness, overboard of paperwork,

technical difficulties and poor customer service.

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The neighboring country Pakistan, the first country in Southeast Asia to introduce MNP in March 2007,

experienced less than 1% portability. One of the reasons for such poor response is the pitiable customer

service and time consuming process during porting the number. Pakistan has over 90 mn cellular

subscribers with approximately 95% of them pre-paid.

According to experts, disaster recovery and business continuity are also critical elements for MNP

providers and hence, it is essential to have a backup center connected over secured redundant leased

lines. This center should also be located on a different seismic area.

There is no doubt that if implemented successfully, MNP can be a big boon for Indian cellular

subscribers. However, considering the overall market dynamics and past experiences, the approach of

the government and gaps in implemetation planning, its success can be strictly questioned in the long

run.

The regulators therefore need to build their fundamentals. To make MNP utilitarian for consumers, the

government needs to have a clear roadmap, strategic policies and should define strict guidelines and

timelines for the service providers.

6.2 Wimax v/s 3G The WiMAX vs. 3G cellular showdown is poised to become one of the next great market battles in the

telecom industry. Fortunes will be made and lost in this battle, and the user experience of the Internet

will be irreversibly changed in the process. 3G scores for voice; Wimax may lead to increased

broadband penetration. With the Department of Telecommunications gearing up for simultaneous

release of 3G and WiMax spectrum, analysts expect the two emerging wireless technologies to battle it

out for supremacy.

WiMax or Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access is a telecom technology that enables

wireless transmission of data. The technology is available as IEEE 802.16D (fixed) and IEEE 802.16E

(mobile). It offers downloads of up to 70 Mbps as compared to the 15 Mbps that 3G provides. Mobile

WiMax offers download speeds of around 20 Mbps. In India, companies like Tata Communications

Internet Services, Intel, Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd, Bharti Airtel and Reliance Communications are the

proponents of WiMax. Most of the companies have had beta-runs of the technology. According to a top

official with a service provider, telecom service providers are in various stages of WiMax

implementation. Some companies have commercially launched fixed WiMax services in certain cities.

While opponents of WiMax say currently it cannot be used for mobile applications, the first mobile

WiMax network was introduced in Italy this July. Another reason for the industry pinning its hopes on

WiMax is its ability to increase the broadband penetration. WiMax makes huge sense for companies as

it enables them to provide cheaper mobile internet and broadband services, in turn, increasing the

internet penetration. However, this will adversely impact services like GPRS and e-mail on mobile as

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users might move over to WiMax-enabled devices for data, even though they might stick with 3G or 2G

spectrum for voice.

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India has set a target of 20 million broadband connections by 2010

from the current 4.3 million. The industry expects WiMax to bridge the gap. According to a consultant of

Ernst & Young service providers would mainly use the technology for gaining traction with the

customers, as providing the last mile over the conventional digital subscriber lines would be time-

consuming and costly.

3G WiMax Result

Spectrum Price To be auctioned DoT has recommended 25% of reserve price of 3G spectrum

Advantage WiMax

Spectrum Allocation Simultaneous Simultaneous Neutral

For Voice services Best technology Evolving technology

Advantage 3G

Equipment/Standard Evolved over the years New technology Advantage 3G

Data download speeds (fixed)

15 Mbps 70 Mbps Advantage WiMax

Data download speeds (mobile)

15 Mbps 20 MBPS Advantage WiMax

Operators will have to use 3G spectrum to revive voice services that are being choked by a dearth of 2G

spectrum, Patel added. The WiMax customer premise equipment (CPE) is priced at Rs 5,000-10,000,

while the CPEs for 3G would be cost Rs 10,000 and above. The industry will know the winner in the next

six months, when the spectrum allocation is complete.

6.3 Mobile Virtual Network Operator (MVNO)

Mobile Virtual Network Operator (MVNO) is a GSM phenomenon where an operator or company which

does not own a licensed spectrum and generally with out own networking infrastructure. Instead

MVNOs resell wireless services under their brand name, using regular telecom operator's network with

which they have a business arrangements. Usually they they buy minutes of use from the licensed

telecom operator and then resell minutes of usage to their customers of MVNO. Currently MVNOs are

emerging in fast pace in European markets and beginning in USA also. Slowly MVNO phenomenon

catching up in Asia and other parts of the world also.

An example for MVNO is Virgin Mobile. Virgin Mobile plc is a mobile phone service provider operating in

the UK, Australia and Canada, and the US. The company was the world's first Mobile Virtual Network

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Operator, launched in the UK in 1999. It does not maintain its own network, and instead has contracts

to use the existing network(s) of other providers. In the UK, Virgin Mobile uses the T-Mobile network. In

the US, the Sprint network is the carrier. In Australia, Virgin Mobile operates on the Optus network. In

Canada, it uses the Bell Mobility network. These networks use different technology (GSM in the UK and

Australia and CDMA in the US and Canada).

Usually MVNO's do not have their own infrastructure, some providers are actually deploying their own

Mobile Switching Centers (MSC) and even Service Control Points (SCP) in some cases. Some MVNO's

deploy their own mobile Intelligent Network (IN) infrastructure in order to facilitate the means to offer

value-added services. In this way, MNVO's can treat incumbent infrastructure such as radio equipment

as a commodity, while the MVNO offers its own advanced and differentiated services based on

exploitation of their own IN infrastructure. The goal of offering value-added services is to differentiate

versus the incumbent mobile operator, allowing for customer acquisition and preventing the MVNO

from needing to compete on the basis of price alone.

MVNO's have full control over the SIM card, branding, marketing, billing, and customer care operations.

While sometimes offering operational support systems (OSS) and business support systems (BSS) to

support the MVNO, the incumbent mobile operators most keep their own OSS/BSS processes and

procedures separate and distinct from those of the MVNO.

In the future a cell phone user may be able to subscribe to a network operator plus multiple MVNOs for

specific data services over the same phone. One MVNO could provide sports news, another weather and

traffic and still another could provide instant messaging capabilities. In this way, each MVNO and the

network operator could focus on their own niche markets and form customized detailed services that

would expand their customer reach and brand.

Regulation of MVNO’s

So far MVNOs have not been regulated in any country. The ITU has received several requests to study the issue, specifically to provide input on whether government intervention is necessary to allow MVNOs to offer services and applications at a lower price to consumers. This would help to ensure a more efficient use of the spectrum but some incumbent providers argue that the market is already competitive and intervention is not necessary.

6.4 IPTV IPTV (Internet Protocol Television) delivers television programming to households via a broadband

connection using Internet protocols. It requires a subscription and IPTV set-top box, and offers key

advantages over existing TV cable and satellite technologies. IPTV is typically bundled with other

services like Video on Demand (VOD), voice over IP (VOIP) or digital phone, and Web access, collectively

referred to as Triple Play.

Because IPTV arrives over telephone lines, telephone companies are in a prime position to offer IPTV

services initially, but it is expected that other carriers will offer the technology in the future. IPTV

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promises more efficient streaming than present technologies, and therefore theoretically reduced prices

to operators and subscribers alike. However, it also adds many advantages that may play into market

pricing.

One of the advantages of IPTV is the ability for digital video recorders (DVRs) to record multiple

broadcasts at once. According to Alcatel, one leading provider, it will also be easier to find favorite

programs by using "custom view guides." IPTV even allows for picture-in-picture viewing without the

need for multiple tuners. You can watch one show, while using picture-in-picture to channel surf!

IPTV viewers will have full control over functionality such as rewind, fast-forward, pause, and so on.

Using a cell phone or PDA, a subscriber might even utilize remote programming for IPTV. For example, if

a dinner function runs longer than expected, you don't have to miss your favorite program. Just call

home and remotely set the IPTV box to record it.

However, the real advantage of IPTV is that it uses Internet protocols to provide two-way

communication for interactive television. One application might be in game shows in which the studio

audience is asked to participate by helping a contestant choose between answers. IPTV opens the door

to real-time participation from people watching at home. Another application would be the ability to

turn on multiple angles of an event, such as a touchdown, and watch it from dual angles simultaneously

using picture-in-picture viewing.

One can also receive Web service notifications while watching IPTV for things such as incoming email

and instant messages. If you IPTV is packaged with digital phone, Caller ID might pop up on screen as

your telephone rings.

IPTV is already growing in the international market, with providers in many countries including Japan,

Hong Kong, Italy, France, Spain, Ireland, and the United Kingdom. In the United States SBC, reportedly

purchased a software delivery system for IPTV services from Microsoft in 2004 for $400 million dollars.

Alcatel is working with Microsoft to develop a "global solution" for IPTV services, and Verizon has also

made a deal with Microsoft for IPTV software.

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7 Industry Updates

7.1 Consolidation in Industry. Telecom players are looking to tap into global funds to finance their aggressive growth plans. This will

result in partnerships joint ventures and equity sellout to foreign players. New license holders will

continue to look to sell their stake at a premium. New policies will seek to curb this license arbitrage.

Smaller players with operations in only a few circles will find in difficult to compete with the nationwide

players. The industry may see consolidation with these smaller operators being acquired by the larger

ones. “Unbundling of the corporation” will continue as companies will seek f or economies of scale and

lower startup cost by infrastructure sharing. 3G and WiMax license will spur M&A and partnership

activity.

7.1.1 Idea Cellular’s Acquisition of Spice Telecom

There were three transactions as part of this acquisition; acquisition of shares of Spice, a non-compete

fee and a capital infusion of about Rs 7300 crores received from TM International Bhd (TMI). With

respect to shares, Idea acquired 40.8% stake of Spice Communications at Rs 77.30 a share for Rs 2,716

crore. There was a share swap in which Spice shareholders got 49 Idea shares for every 100 Spice shares

held. An additional Rs 544 crore was paid to the promoters of Spice group as 'non-compete fee'.

The deal was strategically important for Idea Cellular as it was looking forward to transfer itself into a

pan-India telecom service provider. The spectrum auctioned by GoI is a scarce resource nowadays and

cost a premium. Also there’s restriction by TRAI with respect to number of operators per telecom circle.

So it makes sense to acquire a small telecom operator. Small players like Spice Telecom operating at

only a few circles(Karnataka and Punjab) will find difficult to compete with the nationwide players in the

long run. So it was a win-win deal for both companies.

7.1.2 Vodafone’s entry into India

Vodafone paid a discounted price of $10.9 billion in cash for acquiring the 52%

stake held by Hutchison Telecom International (HTIL) in Indian mobile firm

Hutch-Essar. HTIL declared a special dividend of 6.75 HK dollars per share

following the completion of the formalities. The final price was a reduction of

$180 million from the originally agreed price of $11.08 billion.

Vodafone is the largest mobile telecommunications network company in the world. The deal gave them

access to one of the fastest growing mobile markets in the world.

Telecom Industry


7.1.3 Telenor-Unitech Deal

Norwegian Telecom major Telenor is in the process of acquiring controlling stake of

67.25% in Unitech wireless via equity infusion. The enterprise valuation of Unitech

Wirelsss is about Rs 10,900 crore. As per the deal, Telenor will infuse cash in four

stages and at each phase, by increasing its stake in Unitech Wireless. In the first

phase, they got 33.5% ownership in Unitech Wireless. In the second phase they

completed the acquisition for a 49 per cent stake in Unitech Wireless by paying Rs

1,130 crore for a further 15.5 per cent stake in the company. The acquisition is expected to be

completed by end of this quarter.

7.1.4 TTSL – DoCoMo Deal.

Japanese carrier NTT DoCoMo acquired 26 per cent stake in Tata Teleservices (TTSL). The Tata DoCoMo-branded GSM service has already started in Southern India and gradually will be expanded nationwide. DoCoMo’s international expansion plans have not always proven successful, with the firm

historically preferring to take small stakes in firms and then try to influence their strategy. It has been less prepared to take majority stakes and impose its will, as other leading carriers have chosen to do. The difficulties faced by the firm in spreading its domestically successful i-mode service internationally

typify the obstacles it has faced overseas. With Tata, DoCoMo had said “participating proactively in TTSL’s management by providing human resources and technical assistance to help realise improved network quality and the possible introduction of leading-edge, value-added services.”

7.1.5 Bharti-MTN deal (in talks).

Recently Bharti Airtel has re-started its audacious merger bid with MTN that could create a $61-billion

transnational telecom goliath with combined revenues of $20 billion and over 200 million subscribers

across Africa, Asia and Middle East, will be among the world's 10 biggest telecom companies. The deal

could be win-win for both parties. Bharti is under pressure in its home country due to severe

competition and looking forward to spread its risk across geographies. Meanwhile, the African telecom

operator is also encountering some of the problems that its counterpart in India is confronting. MTN

may have higher ARPUs (in the range of $12-20), but they are also falling fast.

7.1.5.1 Strategic benefits to both players

Synergies would be sought from a number of areas, including procurement, operational best practice,

R&D and international network sharing. The two companies will not overlap in each other’s business

operations: Bharti Airtel will be the primary vehicle for Bharti and MTN to pursue further expansion in

Africa and the Middle East.

Telecom Industry


With both Bharti and MTN operating in high-growth geographies, it

would be imperative for them to incrementally expand into untapped

areas. Collaborating with each other would seem the logical way ahead.

The most important, and visible fallout of the deal, if it materializes, will

be the advantage of economies of scale for the new entity.

In recent times, companies are more amenable to mergers and

acquisitions. Of late, companies are finding it tough to obtain easy funds

for expansion, which calls for more collaboration if corporate intend to

expand. Bharti would not be involved only in MTN’s day-to-day activities,

but it would also have a say while making bigger strategic decisions, such

as those pertaining to investments in other geographies or sourcing of

equipment.

The high subscriber base and financial muscle will give Bharti-MTN the desired edge while dealing with

vendors. Once the merger happens, the economies of scale of the complete outfit (Bharti-MTN) would

be taken into account. For instance, even if the company places an order worth just $1 million, the

vendor would not hesitate to lap it up, as there could be orders worth a billion dollars in other projects.

This would offset whatever concerns there may be with respect to the small population size in countries

where MTN operates.

7.1.5.2 Takeaways for Bharti

The biggest takeaway for Bharti is in the form of access to new geographies with high growth

potential. Without a partner, Bharti would have to embark on a Greenfield project, which would

be time-consuming and capital intensive.

Besides, without local knowledge (with respect to the market and government regulations),

Bharti could be on a sticky wicket. The Indian telco does not have the expertise in running multi-

country operations.

MTN has operations in 21 countries across Africa and the Middle East and is one of the largest

emerging market mobile operators globally. While Africa has one-third of the world’s

population, its telephonic density is just 30 per cent. This offers plenty of room for expansion.

The fact that 95 percent of Africa is prepaid, which ensures all cash operations, fits perfectly into

Bharti’s plans.

The options for Bharti were to go either the Greenfield way or with an experienced partner.

MTN’s strong foothold in some growing markets such as South Africa, Botswana, Iran and

Nigeria ensures that when the growth in India starts to slow down, Bharti would be ready to

take off in other geographies. Besides, there is a lot of potential in Africa as three-fourths of the

continent is still untapped.

Africa is quite like rural India and from that perspective; Bharti could learn how to roll out

infrastructure in rural India.

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In addition, MTN is strong in the value-added services (VAS) and mobile commerce space. So, as

and when mobile commerce picks up in India (after RBI’s approval), Bharti would be able to tap

this market through MTN’s expertise.

MTN has a vast experience in running multi-country operations and overcoming regulatory

hurdles. By working with MTN, life for Bharti will get a lot of easier.

7.1.5.3 Major Challenges for the merger

One of the major challenges would be the integration of the company on the ground. It is tough

for intercontinental companies to merge seamlessly because of cultural divide.

Alcatel-Lucent for instance is still trying to adjust to cultural divide. Although Nokia-Siemens has

bridged this divide faster, it was because both the companies were European.

The Black Empowerment Act could pose a challenge, as it is meant to safeguard the rights of the

black population. As per this Act, blacks are ensured a minimum shareholding management

seats and voting rights.

The country’s strong trade union, Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU), which has

influence over President Jacob Zuma, had almost wrecked the Vodafone-Vodacom deal.

7.2 FDI Investments in the Telecom Sector in India: The Indian telecom industry has always allured foreign investors. In fact, the cumulative FDI inflow, from

August 1991 to March 2007, in the telecommunication sector amounted to US$ 7,513.22 million. This

makes telecommunication the third-largest sector to attract FDI in India in the post liberalization era.

The investment was majorly in handset manufacturing and telecom service provider.

2003-04

2004-05

2005-06

2006-07

2007-08

2008-09

116

129

680

521

1275.65

2345.38

FDI in Telecommunication Sector (US$ million)

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With stable macroeconomic impetus and numerous other advantages, India has the potential to

become the electronics manufacturing hub of the world. Excited by the record-breaking industry

growth, investors have outlaid US$ 1.5 billion in the past two and a half years in the Indian telecom

sector. India will receive an additional US$ 2 billion investment in the next one year. With the world now

recognising India’s manufacturing potential, the Indian telecom handset manufacturing market is likely

touch US$ 7 billion by 2010.

An example is Nokia. The company has already produced 25 million handsets in its Chennai facility. It

will pump in an additional US$ 150 million to this set up. The company exports around 20 per cent of its

volume to South-east Asia, the Middle East and Africa. Local manufacturing allows companies to avoid 4

per cent countervailing duties on imported handsets, thereby further reducing the cost.

7.3 Outsourcing by Telecom Service Providers in India Managed service is another segment that is attracting telecom companies. On account of the rapidly

growing subscriber base, service providers find it difficult to manage their infrastructure and network. In

such cases, they completely or partially outsource their infrastructure or network management

operations.

7.3.1 Hutchitson Essar (now Vodafone) and Nokia Deal:

A case in point is Nokia which is managing the network for Hutchison Essar Limited in 19 circles in India.

Having successfully capitalised on the business potential of managed service, Nokia is already earning 30

per cent of its total revenue from this segment. The company has also shifted its first Global Network

Solutions Centre (GNSC) to India. The company manages 39 cellular networks in 30 countries. Its Indian

centre will act as a global hub for other Nokia operation centres.

Advantages of Managed Service

• Smooth management of technological complexity

• Opportunity to strengthen core competency

• Reduction in financial outlay

• Touching base with new processes and technologies

7.3.2 Bharti Airtel’s IT Outsourcing to IBM:

Another dimension of managed service is telecom, communication and network management solutions

for enterprises. Bharti Televentures and IBM, together offer telecom and IT solutions in India. The

solutions and services portfolio comprises of the remote monitoring of servers, security operations and

network operations,providing data centre services (including server hosting,server management and

storage management), IT help desk services and end-to-end connectivity and fulfilling all telecom and

communication requirements.This information technology outsourcing deal with infotech major IBM is

estimated to be in the range of $700-750 million for a ten-year period.

Telecom Industry


The deal involved outsourcing of BTVL's hardware, software and IT service requirements to IBM.The

agreement specifies that payments made to IBM India will be linked to the percentage of revenue

generation by BTVL and pre-defined service level agreements. The percentage-linked revenue payment

is modelled to decrease with BTVL's increase in revenue.The deal includes all customer-facing IT

applications like billing, customer relationship management and data warehousing. In addition, Internet,

e-mail and online collaborations are included in it.On the infrastructure front, IBM will consolidate

BTVL's data centre, IT helpdesk and enhance its disaster recovery centre capabilities, he said.

7.3.3 Bharti’s Outsourcing to Alcatel-Lucent:

Telecom major Bharti Airtel has a $500-million deal to Alcatel-Lucent for outsourcing the management

and servicing of its broadband and fixed line network for five years.The deal involves the creation of a

joint venture with Alcatel-Lucent holding 76 per cent of the equity, and Bharti having the remainder 24

percent.The joint venture will help accelerate performance as Bharti migrates to the next generation

networks for the broadband and telephone customers.

7.3.4 Bharti Outsourcing Deal with Nokia & Ericsson

Bharti Airtel awarded a $400m contract to Nokia for expanding its managed GSM networks in eight

circles. This also marks Bharti’s third major deal with Nokia in the last two years. Bharti would have

100% ownership of the networks supplied by Nokia, with the actual payment being linked to utilisation

of capacity and fulfillment of agreed quality of service parameters.

This comes close on the heels of Bharti’s recent signing of a $1bn three-year service contract with

Ericsson towards design, planning, supply, installation, commissioning and upgrading of its network in

15 telecom circles.

This emphasises Bharti’s policy towards outsourcing all operational activities, including customer

services to global majors. This has enabled Bharti to focus on its core areas: product innovation, value

added services, marketing, branding and pricing. It has enabled Bharti to concentrate on customers,

finances and regulation. As per the three-year contract, Nokia will provide managed services and expand

Airtel’s GSM/GPRS/EDGE networks in eight circles of Mumbai, Maharashtra & Goa, Gujarat, Bihar,

Orissa, Kolkata, West Bengal and Madhya Pradesh.

The network monitoring operations will be carried out from Nokia’s state-of-the-art Global Network

Services Center in Chennai. The deal also envisages Nokia to deploy its WAP solution across Bharti’s

national network to enhance its mobile packet core network capabilities. This will make usage of data

services easy, thereby increasing the consumption of content on the Bharti network.

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8 Future Technology Trends In this section we have listed down the future technologies which are in roadmap and are speculated to make an impact on current business model of telcos.

8.1 IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS)

IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) is a generic architecture for offering multimedia and voice over IP

services, defined by 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP). IMS is access independant as it supports

multiple access types including GSM, WCDMA, CDMA2000, WLAN, Wireline broadband and other packet

data applications. IMS will make Internet technologies, such as web browsing, e-mail, instant messaging

and video conferencing available to everyone from any location. It is also intended to allow operators to

introduce new services, such as web browsing, WAP and MMS, at the top level of their packet-switched

networks.

IP Multimedia Subsystem is standardized reference architecture. IMS consists of session control,

connection control and an applications services framework along with subscriber and services data. It

enables new converged voice and data services, while allowing for the interoperability of these

converged services between internet and cellular subscribers. IMS uses open standard IP protocols,

defined by the IETF. So users will be able to execute all their services when roaming as well as from their

home networks. So, a multimedia session between two IMS users, between an IMS user and a user on

the Internet, and between two users on the Internet is established using exactly the same protocol.

Moreover, the interfaces for service developers are also based on IP protocols.

Some of the possible applications where IMS can be used are:

Presence services

Full Duplex Video Telephony

Instant messaging

Unified messaging

Multimedia advertising

Multiparty gaming

Video streaming

Web/Audio/Video Conferencing

Push-to services, such as push-to-talk, push-to-view, push-to-video

Effectively, IMS provides a unified architecture that supports a wide range of IP-based services over

both packet- and circuit-switched networks, employing a range of different wireless and fixed access

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technologies. A user could, for example, pay for and download a video clip to a chosen mobile or fixed

device and subsequently use some of this material to create a multimedia message for delivery to

friends on many different networks. A single IMS presence-and-availability engine could track a user's

presence and availability across mobile, fixed, and broadband networks, or a user could maintain a

single integrated contact list for all types of communications.

A key point of IMS is that it is intended as an open-systems architecture: Services are created and

delivered by a wide range of highly distributed systems (real-time and non-real-time, possibly owned by

different parties) cooperating with each other. It is a different approach to the more traditional telco

architecture of a set of specific network elements implemented as a single telco-controlled

infrastructure.

8.2 High Speed Downlink Packet Access (HSDPA) High Speed Downlink Packet Access (HSDPA) is a packet based technology for W-CDMA downlink with

data transmission rates of 4 to 5 times that of current generation 3G networks (UMTS) and 15 times

faster than GPRS. The latest release boosts downlink speeds from the current end-user rate of 384 kbps

(up to 2 Mbps according to standards) to a maximum value according to standards of 14.4 Mbps. Real

life end-user speeds will be in the range of 2 to 3 Mbps.

HSDPA provides a smooth evolutionary path for Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS)

networks to higher data rates and higher capacities, in the same way as Enhanced Data rates for GSM

Evolution (EDGE) does in the Global System for Mobile communication (GSM) world. The introduction of

shared channels for different users will guarantee that channel resources are used efficiently in the

packet domain, and will be less expensive for users than dedicated channels.

8.3 4G or Fourth Generation Networks 4G or Fourth Generation is future technology for mobile and wireless comunications. It will be the

successor for the 3Rd Generation (3G) network technology. Currently 3G networks are under

deployement. Approximatly 4G deployments are expected to be seen around 2010 to 2015.

The basic voice was the driver for second-generation mobile and has been a considerable success.

Currently , video and TV services are driving forward third generation (3G) deployment. And in the

future, low cost, high speed data will drive forward the fourth generation (4G) as short-range

communication emerges. Service and application ubiquity, with a high degree of personalization and

synchronization between various user appliances, will be another driver. At the same time, it is probable

that the radio access network will evolve from a centralized architecture to a distributed one.

The evolution from 3G to 4G will be driven by services that offer better quality (e.g. multimedia, video

and sound) thanks to greater bandwidth, more sophistication in the association of a large quantity of

information, and improved personalization. Convergence with other network (enterprise, fixed) services

will come about through the high session data rate. It will require an always-on connection and a

revenue model based on a fixed monthly fee. The impact on network capacity is expected to be

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significant. Machine-to-machine transmission will involve two basic equipment types: sensors (which

measure parameters) and tags (which are generally read/write equipment).

It is expected that users will require high data rates, similar to those on fixed networks, for data and

streaming applications. Mobile terminal usage (laptops, Personal digital assistants, handhelds) is

expected to grow rapidly as they become more user friendly. Fluid high quality video and network

reactivity are important user requirements. Key infrastructure design requirements include: fast

response, high session rate, high capacity, low user charges, rapid return on investment for operators,

investment that is in line with the growth in demand, and simple autonomous terminals. The

infrastructure will be much more distributed than in current deployments, facilitating the introduction

of a new source of local traffic: machine-to-machine.

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9 Conclusion

The Indian Telecom Service provider industry is gearing for a revolution. The customer is driving this

revolution and will see more unique and sophisticated offerings coming his way. The 3G which will pave

the way for 3.5G, 3.75G and the next big thing-4G and the VAS services will keep the customer asking for

more. The rural areas which have remained untapped will see an insurgence of services. Also the easing

of the regulations by TRAI ,the ease of spectrum licensing, the FDI influx will make the telecom space in

India a must watch in the coming years.

Telecom Industry


10 References

[1] IBEF report 2007-08 : Telecommunication - MARKET & OPPORTUNITIES.

[2] Cellular Statistics – Cellular Operator Association of India

[3] IAMAI & eTechnology Group@IMRB: MOBILE VALUE ADDED SERVICES IN INDIA- A Report.

[4] Telenor Entering India: Investment Update

[5] Voice and Data(May 2009): Mobile Number Portability - Poaching with Portability.

[6] Business India : Telecom Takeover, Bharti-MTN deal

[7] Moneycontrol.com: Idea Spice deal

[8] Business Standard: Vodafone Hutch deal

[9] IntoMobile: India’s 3G License Plans Updated.

[10] World Bank Report: Spectrum auctions in India: lessons from experience

http://www.coai.com/index.php

http://www.moneycontrol.com/india/news/management/accounting-idea/395015

%5b1%5d%09http:/www.business-standard.com/india/news/vodafone-hutch-deal-done-price-cut-by-180mn/23119/on

http://www.intomobile.com/2009/06/20/indias-3g-license-plans-updated.html

http://rru.worldbank.org/Documents/PapersLinks/spectrum_auctions_india.pdf%20-2001

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Appendix A

SNAPSHOT

(Data As on 31st March 2009)

Telecom Subscribers (Wireless +Wireline) Total Subscribers 429.72 Million

% Growth During Quarter 11.68%

Urban Subscribers 309.43 Million (72%)

Rural Subscribers 120.29 Millions (28%)

Overall Teledensity 36.98 %

Urban Teledensity 88.66 %

Rural Teledensity 14.8 %

Wireline Subscribers Total Wireline Subscribers 37.96 Million


Urban Wireline Subscriber 27.38 Million (72.13%)

Rural Wireline Subscribers 10.58 Millions (27.87%)

Village Public Telephones (VPT) 5.61 Million

Public Call Office (PCO) 6.20 Million

Wireless Subscribers Total Wireless Subscribers 391.76 Million


Urban Wireless Subscribers 282.05 Million(72%)

Rural Wireless Subscribers 109.71 Million (28%)

GSM Subscribers 297.26 Million (75.88%)

CDMA Subscribers 94.50 Million (24.12%)

Internet & Broadband Subscribers

Total Internet Subscribers (including Broadband) 13.54 Million


Broadband Subscribers 6.22 Million

Wireless Data Subscriber 117.82 Million

Source www.trai.gov.in

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