Will 2010 be the Year of Telenor in India?

Telenor is a mobile phone operator company and it is highly successful in Bangladesh and Pakistan. In India, it is recently entered and has seen some modest success. It is now operating in 8 telecom zones out of 22 in the country. In the first month of operation, it managed to get 1.2 million subscribers in the country. In India, it is known as Uninor.

Right now, in Indian market a price war is going on among the mobile phone companies. In 2009, two foreign companies could attract many customers with successful advertising campaigns. One is Vodafone and the other is DOCOMO.

So, it was perhaps surprising that Uninor did not join the tariff war. Perhaps, they want consolidate their position in the Indian market first and then challenge the established local and foreign players.

An interesting thing is that Airtel of India is now enterting the Bangladeshi market by acquiring 70% stake of Warid in Bangladesh. Telenor in Bangladesh is known as Grameen Phone and for many years, Grameen Phone is the market leader in the mobile phone sector in Bangladesh. So, Telenor may find itself into a tough competition with Airtel in Bangladesh market. 

India to Join Half Billion Mobile Phone User Club

The only country that 500 million mobile phone users is China. India is going to join the club within 2009. Earlier, it was expected that it would happen 2010 but now there is a strong possibility that we wont have to wait for next year. This year has still almost 3 solid months left. A lot of credit goes to the Indian government. They have maintained liberal policy for the last 5 years at least and this attitude has helped to increase tele-density at an astonishing pace. I think that the country reached 100 million mark in 2006. So, in just 3 years, another 400 million new connection came.

A lot of credit must go to the mobile phone companies too. They have come up without very attractive and affordable offers. Well, one thing that does not satisfy me is the fact that the mobile phone companies are mainly focusing on increasing the number of connections. They are not giving that much attention to value added services. This is one area they must focus because after 2011, I don’t think the market will grow that much. Then the main battle will be on getting more revenue per user. 

Top Indian Mobile Phone Operators: Tata Tele Services Limited (TTSL) aka Tata Indicom

Mobile Phone has become one of the most common gadgets we now use in our daily lives. In South Asia, India is the largest mobile phone market. Already there are several domestic and foreign mobile operators. In this article series, I am going to cover some of the top mobile phone operators in India.

Tata Teleservices:

Tata Group is one of the leading business conglomerates in India and telecommunication is one of the heavily invested areas of the group. Tata’s telecommunication business is covered by four companies: Tata Teleservices Limited (TTSL) aka Tata Indicom and its associate, Tata Teleservices (Maharashtra) Limited (TTML), Tata Communication, formerly known as Videsh Sanchar Nigam Limited, and Tata Sky. TTSL is the leader in fixed wireless telephony market with a total subscriber base of 3.8 million. According to the data of fiscal year 2006, TTSL has an investment capital of $7.5 billion.

Tata started its foray into the telecom sector in 1996. In December 2002, Tata Teleservices acquired Hughes Telecom (India) Limited and renamed it to Tata Teleservices (Maharashtra) Limited (TTML). The company aggressively expanded its network around India. Initially, it invested Rs. 199.24 billion. Tata Indicom operates in more than 5000 towns divided in twenty circles all over India. These circles are: Andhra Pradesh, Chennai, Gujarat, J & K, Karnataka, Delhi, Maharashtra, Mumbai, North East, Tamil Nadu, Orissa, Bihar, Rajasthan, Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh (E), Uttar Pradesh (W), Kerala, Kolkata, Madhya Pradesh and West Bengal. In these areas, TTSL and TTML jointly have a customer base of 28 million and it is still expanding its areas inside the country.

Network:

Tata Teleservices was the first Indian company to introduce CDMA 3G1x technology mobile network in India. It built this state-of-the-art CDMA network in partnership with Motorola, Ericsson and Lucent. Tata Indicom received license from the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) to launch GSM services in early 2009. Tata has 12,500 towers around the country. Out of them, 10,000 belongs to TTSL and the rest to TTML.

TTSL offers a wide range of high quality user friendly services. They are:

• Mobile services
• Wireless Desktop Phones
• Public Booth Telephony and Wireline services
• Voice portal
• Roaming
• Post-paid Internet services
• 3-way conferencing
• Group calling
• Wi-Fi Internet
• USB Modem
• Data cards
• Calling card services
• Enterprise services

Retail Business:

At present, TTSL has the largest retail presence in India operating through more than 3000 retail outlets all over the country. Out of these, 600 outlets are owned by TTSL and the rest are in franchise format. With its Tata Indicom Exclusive Stores, Tata covers the top 700 towns in India.

Franchise with Virgin mobile:

In order to attract the young generation, in March 2008, Tata Indicom and Virgin Mobile, a UK based youth oriented mobile phone company, started Virgin mobile. Initially, Virgin Mobile wanted to act as a Mobile Virtual Network Operator but Indian Telecom authority did not give out the MVNO license. Under MVNO system, a mobile company buys up necessary space from an existing wireless company and resells under their own brand. This system is not present in India. As a result, Virgin and Tata signed a franchise deal under which Virgin Mobile will be owned by Tata Teleservices. Under the later agreement, Virgin Mobile will release its mobile phones through Tata Indicom. It will also use Tata Indicom’s telecom network to offer its services. The revenue will be split 50:50.

Virgin Mobile phone service is targeted toward young people between 14 and 25 years of age. Virgin Mobile is a UK-based mobile company founded by Richard Branson. Initially, the service was offered in fifty Indian cities. By December 2008, the officials targeted to spread the service in 1000 cities. In the initial stage, Virgin mobile targeted million base subscribers and generate revenue in the next three years. The company offered mobile handsets ranging from $50 to $125.

Trivia:

• In March 2008, Tata Indicom subscriber base reached a hopping 24.3 million in the wireless category and its over all subscriber base was more than 25 million.

• TTSL maintained a compound annual growth rate of 113% in the wireless segment.

• In Delhi NCR region, TTSL gained the second slot removing Vodafone with a subscriber base of 3 million.

• In November 2008, Tata Teleservices sold out 26% of its stake to Japanese telecom giant NTT DOCOMO for $2.7 billion.

• TTSL pioneered the VAS (Value Added Services) in India.

• Some of the major Bollywood stars endorsing Tata Indicom are: Kajol, Trisha, Irfan Pathan, Pooja Ruparel and Saurav Ganguly.

• Tata Indicom’s Freedom Call Voucher television commercial was highly appreciated. The TV commercial stars Pooja Ruparel and Kajol. Pooja Ruparel sits in the locker-room holding a stop watch on one hand and talking to her friend over the phone non stop. She was worried about talk time. Then, Kajol enters and gives her Tata Indicom’s freedom call offer which ensures free unlimited talk time.

• In 2007, Synovate, a leading market research firm, conducted a survey which revealed that Tata Indicom was voted number one by Television viewers in major Indian metropolitan areas in September.

• Tata also gives services in remote villages in India at a very low cost. There are mobile vans that go to different villages and operates as customer touch points. Trained TTSL officials visit different villages on particular days of a week selling recharge vouchers and service equipments. Each person covers 200-300 people.

• In 2007, Tata Indicom launched an online portal named ichoose. Through these web-portals, users of Tata phones and interested people can buy phones and recharge their phones online.

• In October 2007, Tata Zone, an infotainment service for Hindi speaking Indians. There are various applications such as Cricket, Faith and Prayers, Bollywood and Hollywood movies, News, Astrology, Funzone, and Games. Users can also download ringtones and wallpapers.

• In March 2008, Tata Indicom launched a free-of-cost i-Help Emergency service. Available to all the pre-paid and post-paid phone users of TTSL, i-Help enables the user to connect with his/her family anytime. Under this facility, users would have access to three local numbers. In case of emergency, s/he would dial *44 and Tata will send SMS to his close ones.

Useful Links:

Tata Indicom official website

Wikipedia-Tata Indicom

Sify Broadband

Information Madness

The Hindu Business Line

Techgadgets.in

The Times of India

Southasiabiz.com

The Economic Times

goBroadband

Indian Telecom sector: Vodafone Essar

The largest mobile telecommunications company in the world in terms of turnover, Vodafone, has headquarters in Newbury, Berkshire, England, and UK. The market value of the company is £75 billion (as of August 2008). Currently, the company operates in 25 countries and it has partner networks in 42 countries around the world. The name of the company derived from the phrase “Voice and Data Fone.” In terms of subscriber base, Vodafone is the second largest telecommunication company in the world after China Mobile. It has a subscriber base of 260 million in 25 countries (as of 2006). Vodafone also owns 45% stake of Verizon Wireless, the largest American mobile telecommunications company.

Vodafone Essar is a subsidiary of Vodafone Group Plc., which operates under the brand name Vodafone in India. Operating in 22 telecom circles in India, Vodafone Essar provides 2G services on 900MHZ and 1800MHZ digital GSM technology. It provides both prepaid and postpaid mobile phone services. The company has strong positions in major Indian cities. In India, Vodafone serves more than 63.34 million customers.

Vodafone Essar is jointly owned by Vodafone and Essar Group and other Indian business organizations. Vodafone owns 67% stake of the company. The rest 33% is jointly held by Reliance Communications, Hinduja Group, and Essar Global Limited. Essar Global Limited is one of the leading business houses in India. It business areas include steel manufacturing and service, energy, power, communications, shipping and logistics and projects. The group also has operations in Canada, USA, Africa, the Middle East, the Caribbean and South East Asia.

The company started its business in India in 1994. At that time it was named Hutchinson Essar Limited and was jointly owned by Hutchinson Telecommunications Limited and Essar Group. Hutchinson Telecommunications Limited was previously owned by Li Ka Shing Holdings. The company operated under the name, Hutch. On February 11, 2007, Vodafone bought 67% stake of Hutchison Telecommunications International Limited from Li Ka Shing Holdings for $11.1 billion. The transaction completed on May 8, 2007. Currently, the market value of Vodafone Essar Limited stands at $18.8 bilion.

Services:

Tunes & Downloads: callertunes, busy callertunes, full song download, ringtones, bhakti Sagar.

Entertainment: shaadi.com, movies, music, humour and dating.

Devotional: Bible on SMS, Gurbani, Pope, Bhakti Sagar, Osho.

Sports: cricket, vodafone alerts sports.

News & Updates: sms alerts jobs, news, vodafone flash, vodafone alerts news.

Call Management Services: call conference, call filter, voicemail, enhanced voicemail, missed call alerts.

Astrology: daily forecast, live astrology, tarot, vaastu & feng shui tips, rahukal & shubhkal.

Travel: train schedules, railway bookings, flight status, flight bookings, jet wallet.

Finance: portfolio tracker, stocks, forex & bullion, mobile banking, vodafone alerts finance.

Mail, messaging: voice sms, BlackBerry, vodafone mail, yahoo! mail and messenger, MSN @ Vodafone.

Dial in Services: dil say, dial a bouquet, live counseling, live astrology,dial a pizza.

Bill Info: Ebill, Itemised billing, My Vodafone bill, Vernacular bill, Duplicate bill.

Miscalleneous: help, dictionary, STD / ISD codes.

Subscriber base:

The total subscriber base of Vodafone is 5,46,24,809 (till September, 2008). It represents 23.38% of the total number of GSM mobile connections in India till Sept 2008.

1. Mumbai………..4115671
2. Delhi……………. 3741037
3. Kolkata……….. 2481872
4. Chennai…………1472340
5. Gujarat………….7241167
6. A.P………………..3430016
7. Karnatka……….3333207
8. Punjab…………..1944733
9. Haryana………..1878339
10. U.P.(E)…………..5589567
11. Rajasthan……….4343407
12. UP (W)…………..3825035
13. West Bengal…..4000994
14. Maharashtra…..3833719
15. Tamil Nadu…….4509341
16. Kerala…………….2704412
17. Orissa…………….137445
18. Assam……………45486
19. North East…….29814
20. MP…………………30213
21. Bihar……………..76349

Trivia:

• Vodafone Essar was named the ‘Most Respected Telecom Company,’ the ‘Best Mobile Service in the country,’ and the ‘Most Creative and Most Effective Advertiser of the Year.’

• On February 11, 2009, Vodafone Essar announced for its Tamil Nadu pre-paid subscribers, an entry level tariff plan of Rs.52 with lifetime validity and a Rs.10 talk time. Local calls to all Vodafone numbers, other mobiles and landlines would cost Rs. 1 per minute and all STD calls are at Rs.1.50 per minute.

• On that same day the company also launched ‘Lifelong Prepaid’ service for Rs. 47 for all the new pre paid customers. This new prepaid package comes with Rs. 5 per minute talk time and lifetime validity. In addition, customers of Vodafone can enjoy the low tariff by paying a daily rental of Rs. 1 (Rs.50 p/m to any local Vodafone numbers and 60p/min to all other local mobiles and Re 1/min to local landlines).

• On January 20, 2009, Vodafone announced that its subscriber base in Gujarat reached 7.5 million. In January 2006, the number of Vodafone subscribers in Gujarat was only only 2 million and within such a short time it came up to 7.5 million. This is an outstanding achievement for the company.

• On January 23^rd, Vodafone launched its first Vodafone Store at Baner in Pune. The new 600 sq ft shop was built according to international style of the company. With this new store, Vodafone has seventeen stores in Pune.

• In January 2009, Vodafone announced that BlackBerry Storm, the famous smart phone produced by Research In Motion (RIM). The phone became available in India from January 15, 2009. The BlackBerry Storm was priced at Rs. 27,990 which is cheaper than the Rs. 35,000 BlackBerry Bold.

• Before Vodafone acquisition, the company was named Hutchinson Essar and the brand name was Hutch. The company kept the brand name even after the acquisition because the renaming process took some time. It required necessary government approvals. Finally, on September 20, 2007, the company name changed to Vodafone Essar and the new brand name Vodafone. For the brand name transition, Vodafone Essar spent Rs. 250 crores. It was one of the high-profile transitions till date.

• Vodafone successfully launched Apple iPhone 3G in India on August 22^nd 2008.

Related articles:

Vodafone India

Wikipedia-Vodafone

Wikipedia-Vodafone Essar