History

In 1880, two telephone companies Oriental Telephone Ltd. & Anglo Indian Telephone were not allowed to start telephone services On the grounds that the establishment of telephones was a Government monopoly Who thought that Indian telecom industry would become one of the most competitive telecom industries in the world Indian telecom industry is the second largest in the world on the basis of its customer base Lowest tariffs in the world enabled by huge competition in its market

Reforms & Budget Telecom Network Model

In 1990s, government of India opened cellular sector for private companies Established the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) & the Department of Telecom (DOT) to oversee telecom companies In the late 90s, Government pushed FDI limit from 49% to 74% & introduced New Telecom Policy with the vision of providing telecom services to rural areas Mobile tariffs in India are the second lowest after Bangladesh; low tariff is due to budget telecom network model that companies follow Low-value recharge cards, give the greatest payment flexibility hence pushing Indian Telecom sector to new limits

BSNL
BSNL is India's oldest and largest communication service provider (CSP) It had a customer base of 95 million as of June 2011 It has footprints throughout India except for the metropolitan cities of Mumbai and New Delhi, which are managed by Mahanagar Telephone Nigam (MTNL)

Services Of BSNL
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. Fixed wireline services Cellular Mobile Telephone Services Internet 3G IPTV WiMax

BSNL - MTNL Merger Plans

On February 23, 2011, The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) said it wanted to revive a proposal for the merger of state-owned operators BSNL and MTNL due to deteriorating performance BSNL and MTNL should be merged as they have complimentary operations and can combine their strengths for synergies BSNL's staff unions are opposing this merger tooth and nail realising that MTNL is in dire state and need help of its big brother, BSNL, to alleviate itself MTNL in spite of having its operations in two big metro cities viz. New Delhi & Mumbai is realising cascading fall in revenue and profits for the past 10 successive years The telecommunication operators should focus on enterprise business, services to government and the public sector, value-added services and technologies like 3G and 4G

Bharti Airtel Ltd. (Telephony, Digital Television, Broadband Internet, Airtel money)
Bharti Airtel has been the star performer shining among the Indian players as the third largest wireless service provider in the world (200 mn) Airtel is the largest telecom company in India & third largest in the world with presence in over 20 countries Besides, a cellular services provider it is also into broadband & Direct to Home (DTH) services In fixed line telephony, it has the largest share (10%) among the private companies Recently, it launched Airtel money to enable customers to carry out financial transactions via mobile Also Recently, it acquired 49% stake in the US telecom major Qualcomms Broadband Wireless Access & launched 4G in Kolkata Founded: 1995 Founder: Sunil Mittal Revenues: 416 bn

Indian Telecom Industry

According to a TRAI report, titled Telecom Sector in India: A Decadal Profile, the subscriber base in India was 943.49 million in February 2012 as against 28.53 million in April 2000 From 2001 to 2011, the total number of telephone subscribers has grown at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 35 per cent India is divided into multiple zones also called as circles There are 22 circles allotted to telecom companies through auction, dominant players are Airtel, Reliance Infocomm, Vodafone, Idea cellular & BSNL Indian Telecom industry can be classified into 3 categories namely Mobile, Fixed line & Internet India is the second largest country on the basis of the number of its mobile subscribers In the wire line market, BSNL has the largest market share of 70% followed by MTNL & BHARTI. India ranks third in the number of internet users, BSNL & MTNL dominates the market with a share of 64.8 and 7.6 percent respectively while from the private sector Bharti leads with a share of 10 per cent Recently, Mobile number Portability was introduced & now the government is planning to remove roaming charges

Wireless Market Share

2G, 3G & Now 4G

The Government raised more than $12 billion from a 3G auction in 2010 Bharti paid $2.2 billion for 3G bandwidth in 13 service areas, while Vodafone India spent $2.1 billion for permits in nine and Idea gained access to 11 areas for about $1 billion However, 3G growth was disappointing due to high prices; only 15 million out of 900 million subscribed to 3G services. Recently, 4G was launched by Bharti Airtel in Kolkata The network for rolling out Airtel's 4G LTE (Long term evolution) services in the city had been built by Chinese telecom equipment maker ZTE Analysts believe that young population & increasing income will fuel the growth of 3G & 4G services In Aug 2012, 2G spectrum will be auctioned again Earlier this year the Supreme Court cancelled 122 telecom licenses issued in 2008 by then Telecom Minister A Raja for showing undue favours to companies