Modern growth

A large population, low telephony penetration levels, and a rise in consumers' income and
spending owing to strong economic growth have helped make India the fastest-growing telecom
market in the world. The first and largest operator is the state-owned incumbent BSNL, which is
also the 7th largest telecom company in the world in terms of its number of subscribers. BSNL
was created by corporatization of the erstwhile DTS (Department of Telecommunication
Services), a government unit responsible for provision of telephony services. Subsequently, after
the telecommunication policies were revised to allow private operators, companies such as
Vodafone, Bharti Airtel, Tata Indicom, Idea Cellular, Aircel and Loop Mobile have entered the
space. see major operators in India. In 2008-09, rural India outpaced urban India in mobile
growth rate.

India's mobile phone market is the fastest growing in the world, with companies adding some
19.1 million new customers added in December 2009.

The total number of telephones in the country crossed the 543 million mark on Oct [Link]
overall tele-density has increased to 44.85% in Oct [Link] Regulatory Authority of India,
Information note to the Press (Press Release No. 61 / 2007), 20 Jun 2007 In the wireless
segment, 19 million subscribers have been added in Dec 2009. The total wireless subscribers
(GSM, CDMA & WLL (F)) base is more than 543.20 million now. The wireline segment
subscriber base stood at 37.06 million with a decline of 0.12 million in Dec 2009.

Telecom in the real sense means transfer of information between two distant points in space. The
popular meaning of telecom always involves electrical signals and nowadays people exclude
postal or any other raw telecommunication methods from its meaning. Therefore, the history of
Indian telecom can be started with the introduction of telegraph.

Introduction of telegraph
The postal and telecom sectors had a slow and uneasy start in India. In 1850, the first
experimental electric telegraph Line was started between Kolkata and Diamond Harbor. In 1851,
it was opened for the British East India Company. The Posts and Telegraphs department
occupied a small corner of the Public Works Department,[at that time. Construction of 4,000
miles (6,400 km) of telegraph lines connecting Kolkata (Calcutta) and Peshawar in the north
along with Agra, Mumbai (Bombay) through Sindwa Ghats, and Chennai in the south, as well as
Ootacamund and Bangalore was started in November 1853. Dr. William O'Shaughnessy, who
pioneered telegraph and telephone in India, belonged to the Public Works Department. He tried
his level best for the development of telecom through out this period. A separate department was
opened in 1854 when telegraph facilities were opened to the public.

Introduction of the telephone

In 1880, two telephone companies namely The Oriental Telephone Company Ltd. and The
Anglo-Indian Telephone Company Ltd. approached the Government of India to establish
telephone exchanges in India. The permission was refused on the grounds that the establishment
of telephones was a Government monopoly and that the Government itself would undertake the
work. By 1881, the Government changed its earlier decision and a licence was granted to the
Oriental Telephone Company Limited of England for opening telephone exchanges at Kolkata,
Mumbai, Chennai (Madras) and Ahmedabad. 28 January 1882, is a Red Letter Day in the history
of telephone in India. On this day Major E. Baring, Member of the Governor General of India's
Council declared open the Telephone Exchange in Kolkata, Chennai and Mumbai. The exchange
at Kolkata named "Central Exchange" was opened at third floor of the building at 7, Council
House Street. The Central Telephone Exchange had 93 number of subscribers. Bombay also
witnessed the opening of Telephone Exchange in 1882.

Emergence as a major player

In 1975, the Department of Telecom (DoT) was separated from P&T. DoT was responsible for
telecom services in entire country until 1985 when Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited
(MTNL) was carved out of DoT to run the telecom services of Delhi and Mumbai. In 1990s the
telecom sector was opened up by the Government for private investment as a part of
Liberalisation-Privatization-Globalization policy. Therefore, it became necessary to separate the
Government's policy wing from its operations wing. The Government of India corporatised the
operations wing of DoT on 1 October 2000 and named it as Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited
(BSNL). Many private operators, such as Reliance Communications, Tata Indicom, Vodafone,
Loop Mobile, Airtel, Idea etc., successfully entered the high potential Indian telecom market.

Liberalization of telecommunications in India

The Indian government was composed of many factions (parties) which had different ideologies.
Some of them were willing to throw open the market to foreign players (the centrists) and others
wanted the government to regulate infrastructure and restrict the involvement of foreign players.
Due to this political background it was very difficult to bring about liberalization in
telecommunications. When a bill was in parliament a majority vote had to be passed, and such a
majority was difficult to obtain, given to the number of parties having different ideologies.

Liberalization started in 1981 when Prime Minister Indira Gandhi signed contracts with Alcatel
CIT of France to merge with the state owned Telecom Company (ITI), in an effort to set up
5,000,000 lines per year. But soon the policy was let down because of political opposition. She
invited Sam Pitroda a US based NRI to set up a Center for Development of Telematics(C-DOT),
however the plan failed due to political reasons. During this period, after the assassination of
Indira Gandhi, under the leadership of Rajiv Gandhi, many public sector organizations were set
up like the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) , VSNL and MTNL. Many technological
developments took place in this regime but still foreign players were not allowed to participate in
the telecommunications business.

The demand for telephones was ever increasing. It was during this period that the P.N Rao led
government introduced the national telecommunications policy [NTP] in 1994 which brought
changes in the following areas: ownership, service and regulation of telecommunications
infrastructure. They were also successful in establishing joint ventures between state owned
telecom companies and international players. But still complete ownership of facilities was
restricted only to the government owned organizations. Foreign firms were eligible to 49% of the
total stake. The multi-nationals were just involved in technology transfer, and not policy making.

During this period, the World Bank and ITU had advised the Indian Government to liberalize
long distance services in order to release the monopoly of the state owned DoT and VSNL; and
to enable competition in the long distance carrier business which would help reduce tariff's and
better the economy of the country. The Rao run government instead liberalized the local services,
taking the opposite political parties into confidence and assuring foreign involvement in the long
distance business after 5 years. The country was divided into 20 telecommunication circles for
basic telephony and 18 circles for mobile services. These circles were divided into category A, B
and C depending on the value of the revenue in each circle. The government threw open the bids
to one private company per circle along with government owned DoT per circle. For cellular
service two service providers were allowed per circle and a 15 years license was given to each
provider. During all these improvements, the government did face oppositions from ITI, DoT,
MTNL, VSNL and other labor unions, but they managed to keep away from all the hurdles.[9]

After 1995 the government set up TRAI (Telecom Regulatory Authority of India) which reduced
the interference of Government in deciding tariffs and policy making. The DoT opposed this.
The political powers changed in 1999 and the new government under the leadership of Atal
Bihari Vajpayee was more pro-reforms and introduced better liberalization policies. They split
DoT in two- one policy maker and the other service provider (DTS) which was later renamed as
BSNL. The proposal of raising the stake of foreign investors from 49% to 74% was rejected by
the opposite political party and leftist thinkers. Domestic business groups wanted the government
to privatize VSNL. Finally in April 2002, the government decided to cut its stake of 53% to 26%
in VSNL and to throw it open for sale to private enterprises. TATA finally took 25% stake in
VSNL.

This was a gateway to many foreign investors to get entry into the Indian Telecom Markets.
After March 2000, the government became more liberal in making policies and issuing licenses
to private operators. The government further reduced license fees for cellular service providers
and increased the allowable stake to 74% for foreign companies. Because of all these factors, the
service fees finally reduced and the call costs were cut greatly enabling every common middle
class family in India to afford a cell phone.

32million handsets were sold in India. The data reveals the real potential for
growth of the Indian mobile market.

In March 2008 the total GSM and CDMA mobile subscriber base in the country was 375 million,
which represented a nearly 50% growth when compared with previous year.

that do not have International Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI) numbers, because they pose a
serious security risk to the country. Mobile network operators therefore planned to suspend the
usage of around 30 million mobile phones (about 8 % of all mobiles in the country) by 30 April.
[12]
5–6 years the average monthly subscribers additions were around 0.05 to 0.1 million only and
the total mobile subscribers base in December 2002 stood at 10.5 millions. However, after the
number of proactive initiatives taken by regulator and licensor, the monthly mobile
subscriber===In April 2008 the Indian Department of Telecom (DoT) has directed all mobile
phone service users to disconnect the usage of unbranded Chinese mobile phones Growth of
mobile technology=== India has become one of the fastest-growing mobile markets in the
world. The mobile services were commercially launched in August 1995 in India. In the
initialwas 16 million, followed by 22 million in 2004, 32 million in 2005 and 65 million in
2006. As of January 2009, total mobile phone subscribers numbered 362 million, having
added 15 million that month alone India ranks second in mobile phone usage to China,
with 506 million users as of November 2009

India has opted for the use of both the GSM (global system for mobile communications) and
CDMA (code-division multiple access) technologies in the mobile sector. In addition to landline
and mobile phones, some of the companies also provide the WLL service.

The mobile tariffs in India have also become lowest in the world. A new mobile connection can
be activated with a monthly commitment of US$0.15 only. In 2005 alone additions increased to
around 2 million per month in the year 2003-04 and 2004-05.

Although mobile telephones followed the New Telecom Policy 1994, growth was tardy in the
early years because of the high price of hand sets as well as the high tariff structure of mobile
telephones. The New Telecom Policy in 1999, the industry heralded several pro consumer
initiatives. Mobile subscriber additions started picking up. The number of mobile phones added
throughout the country in 2003</ref>

Revenue and growth

The total revenue in the telecom service sector was Rs. 86,720 crore in 2005-06 as against Rs.
71, 674 crore in 2004-2005, registering a growth of 21%. The total investment in the telecom
services sector reached Rs. 200,660 crore in 2005-06, up from Rs. 178,831 crore in the previous
fiscal.

Telecommunication is the lifeline of the rapidly growing Information Technology industry.

Internet subscriber base has risen to 6.94 million in 2005- 2006. Out of this 1.35 million were
broadband connections. More than a billion people use the internet globally.

Under the Bharat Nirman Programme, the Government of India will ensure that 66,822 revenue
villages in the country, which have not yet been provided with a Village Public Telephone
(VPT), will be connected. However doubts have been raised about what it would mean for the
poor in the country.

It is difficult to ascertain fully the employment potential of the telecom sector but the enormity of
the opportunities can be gauged from the fact that there were 3.7 million Public Call Offices in
December 2005 up from 2.3 million in December 2004.

The value added services (VAS) market within the mobile industry in India has the potential to
grow from $500 million in 2006 to a whopping $10 billion by 2009.
Telephone
On landlines, intra circle calls are considered local calls while inter circle are considered long
distance calls. Currently Government is working to integrate the whole country in one telecom
circle. For long distance calls, you dial the area code prefixed with a zero (e.g. For calling Delhi,
you would dial 011-XXXX XXXX). For international calls, you would dial "00" and the country
code+area code+number. The country code for India is 91.

Until recently, only the PSU's BSNL and MTNL were allowed to provide Basic Phone Service
through copper wires in India. MTNL is operating in Delhi and Mumbai only and all other parts
are covered by BSNL. However private operators have now entered the fray, although their focus
is largely on the cellular business which is growing rapidly.

Telephony Subscribers (Wireless and Landline): 562.21 million (Dec 2009)

Cellphones: 525.15 million (Dec 2009)

Land Lines: 37.06 million (Dec 2009)

Broad Band Subscription: 7.83 million (Dec 2009)

Monthly Cellphone Addition: 19.20 million (Dec 2009)

Teledensity: 47.89% (Dec 2009)

Projected teledensity: 893 million, 64.69% of population by 2012.

Wireless telephones
The Mobile telecommunications system in India is the second largest in the world and it was
thrown open to private players in the 1990s. The country is divided into multiple zones, called
circles (roughly along state boundaries). Government and several private players run local and
long distance telephone services. Competition has caused prices to drop and calls across India
are one of the cheapest in the world. The rates are supposed to go down further with new
measures to be taken by the Information Ministry. The mobile service has seen phenomenal
growth since 2000. In September 2004, the number of mobile phone connections have crossed
fixed-line connections. India primarily follows the GSM mobile system, in the 900 MHz band.
Recent operators also operate in the 1800 MHz band. The dominant players are Airtel, Reliance
Infocomm, Vodafone, Idea cellular and BSNL/MTNL. There are many smaller players, with
operations in only a few states. International roaming agreements exist between most operators
and many foreign carriers.

Main article: List of mobile network operators of India

The breakup of wireless subscriber base in India as of December 2009 is given below.
 Operator Subscriber base
Bharti Airtel 118,864,031
Reliance Communications 93,795,613
Vodafone Essar 91,401,959
BSNL 62,861,214
Idea Cellular 57,611,872
Tata Teleservices 57,329,449
Aircel 31,023,997
MTNL 4,875,913
MTS India 3,042,741
Loop Mobile India 2,649,730
Uninor 1,208,130
HFCL Infotel 341,862
Stel 141,411
All India 525,147,922

The list of ten states (including the metros Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai in their respective
states) with largest subscriber base as of September 2009 is given below.

State   Subscriber base   Wireless density'"  

Maharashtra 58,789,949 51.96
Uttar Pradesh 57,033,513 26.32
Tamil Nadu 45,449,460 63.66
Andhra Pradesh 37,126,048 42.58
West Bengal 32,540,049 34.28
Karnataka 28,867,734 46.76
Rajasthan 27,742,395 39.09
Gujarat 27,475,585 45.49
Bihar 27,434,896 25.04
Madhya Pradesh 24,923,739 33.09
All India 471,726,205 37.71

Wireless density was calculated using projected population of states from the natural growth
rates of 1991-2001 and population of 2001 census.

Landlines
Landline service in India is primarily run by BSNL/MTNL and Reliance Infocomm though there
are several other private players too, such as Touchtel and Tata Teleservices. Landlines are
facing stiff competition from mobile telephones. The competition has forced the landline
services to become more efficient. The landline network quality has improved and landline
connections are now usually available on demand, even in high density urban areas. The breakup
of wireline subscriber base in India as of September 2009 is given below.

Operator Subscriber base

BSNL 28,446,969
MTNL 3,514,454
Bharti Airtel 2,928,254
Reliance Communications 1,152,237
Tata Teleservices 1,003,261
HFCL Infotel 165,978
Teleservices Ltd 95,181
All India 37,306,334

The list of eight states (including the metros Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai in their respective
states) with largest subscriber base as of September 2009 is given below.

State   Subscriber base  

Maharashtra 5,996,912
Tamil Nadu 3,620,729
Kerala 3,534,211
Uttar Pradesh 2,803,049
Karnataka 2,751,296
Delhi 2,632,225
West Bengal 2,490,253
Andhra Pradesh 2,477,755

Internet
The total subscriber base for internet users in India is 81 million as of 2009.
The number of broadband connections in India has seen a continuous growth since the beginning
of 2006. At the end of January 2010, total broadband connections in the country have reached
8.03 million.

BSNL, Tata Teleservices, Airtel, Reliance Communications, Sify, MTNL, STPI, Netcom,
Railtel, GAILTEL, You Telecom, Spice and Hathway are some of the major ISPs in India. TRAI
has defined broadband as 256 kbit/s or higher. However, many ISPs advertise their service as
broadband but don't offer the suggested speeds. Broadband in India is more expensive as
compared to Western Europe/United Kingdom and United States.

After economic liberalization in 1992, many private ISPs have entered the market, many with
their own local loop and gateway infrastructures. The telecom services market is regulated by
TRAI. ADSL providers include:

 Tata Communications Ltd. (VSNL)

 MTNL/BSNL
 Bharti Telecom (Airtel, Bharti Televentures)
 Reliance Infocomm

Because of the increase in ISPs and the quality of service Qos, It became cheaper to call India
from around the world. Many Indians today, studying or living all around the world, are using
calling cards to India to speak with their families back home. It used to be much more expensive
prior to 2002.

Broadband

The current definition of Broadband in India is speeds of 256 Kbit/s. TRAI on July 2009 has
recommended raising this limit to 2 Mbps.[As of November 2009, India has 8.03 million
broadband users. Although, India ranks one of the lowest provider of broadband speed as
compared to other countries like Japan, South Korea or France.[4][28] In the fixed line arena,
BSNL and MTNL are the incumbents in their respective areas of operation and continue to enjoy
the dominant service provider status in the domain of fixed line services. For example BSNL
controls 79% of fixed line share in the country.

On the other hand, in the mobile telephony space, Airtel controls 21.4% subscriber base followed
by Reliance with 20.3%, BSNL with 18.6%, Vodafone with 14.7% subscriber base (as per June
2005 data).

Airtel and BSNL have launched 8 Mbit/s & Reliance Communication offers 10 Mb/s broadband
internet services in selected areas recently . For home users , the maximum speed for unlimited
downloads is 2 Mbit/s , available for USD 60 (roughly , without taxes) per month.

Telecom Training in India

The incumbent telecom operators (BSNL & MTNL) have maintained several telecom training
centres at regional, circle and district level. BSNL has three national level intitutions, namely
Advanced Level Telecom Training Centre(ALTTC) at Ghaziabad, UP; Bharat Ratna Bhim Rao
Ambedkar Institute Of Telecom Training at Jabalpur, MP; and National Academy of Telecom
Finance and Management.

MTNL incorporated Centre for Excellence in Telecom Technology and Management (CETTM)
in 2003-04. It is the largest telecom training centre in India and one of the biggest in Asia with a
capex plan of over Rs. 100 crore . CETTM is situated at Hiranandani Gardens, Powai, Mumbai
with built area of 4,86,921 sq ft. It provides training in telecom switching, transmission, wireless
communication, telecom operations and management to corporates and students besides its own
internal employees.

MOBILE PHONES IN INDIA

An introduction: India has come in a close second in the sale of mobile phones in the year
2006. China has led the race of mobile sales being the highest in the world. In India
however the GSM phones rule over the CDMA handsets. Leading the categories are Nokia,
Samsung, Sony Erickson while Reliance takes a large size share in the corporate segment.

Subscribers in India are basking in the glory of the ever increasing number of subscriber
patronage. Around 14.95 crore new subscribers were listed up from 8.5 subscribers in
2005. A gargantuan number of around 5 million customers enrol each month giving the
network providers a huge profit margin. According to the increasing number the
subscribers list is said to hit 48 crores by 2011 that is an approximate of 50 crore. Wow,
this is some industry that is climbing the path no matter what comes in its way.

Now to analyse why the growth graph seems to be at an all time high means to
understand the buyers psyche. As the economic stability of the country is growing so is
that of an individual. Income patterns are rising and employees are moving up the
corporate ladder. They want to be seen with better handsets as there is a quaint feeling
that the mobile should match the designation or just make a status statement with a smart
and expensive phone. Hence with such attitudes ruling the market everyone wants to
stand out with the handset they own.

Mobile companies in India :» Airtel mobile | Reliance mobile | BPL mobile | Hutch
India | BSNL mobile | Tata Mobile | mobile Official sites:

[Link]/in/ - Official site of Samsung. Browse information of latest cell phones &
contact details of dealers. [Link] - site of Nokia cell phones in India. View latest news
of Nokia Mobile phones, Nokia dealers listing and contact details of Nokia centres.

[Link] - Reliance India Mobile, a leading Mobile Service Provider in India. Find
out about latest Cell phones & schemes available across India.