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INTRODUCTION

Telecommunication is the transmission of information.

The word telecommunication was adapted from the French word telecommunication. It is a

compound of the Greek prefix tele, meaning "far off", and the Latin communicare, meaning

"to share". The French word telecommunication was first invented in the French Grande

Ecole "Telecom ParisTech" formerly known as "Ecole nationale superieure des

telecommunications" in 1904 by the French engineer

In earlier times, telecommunications involved the use of visual signals, such

as beacons,smoke signals, semaphore telegraphs, signal flags, and optical heliographs, or

audio messages such as coded drumbeats, lung-blown horns, and loud whistles.

In modern times, telecommunications involves the use of electrical devices such as the

telegraph, telephone, and tele printer, as well as the use of radio and microwave

communications, as well as fiber optics and their associated electronics, plus the use of the

orbiting satellites and the Internet.

A revolution in wireless telecommunications began in the 1900s (decade) with pioneering

developments in wireless radio communications by Nikola Tesla and Guglielmo Marconi.

Marconi won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1909 for his efforts. Other highly notable

pioneering inventors and developers in the field of electrical and electronic

telecommunications include Charles Wheatstone and Samuel Morse (telegraph), Alexander

Graham Bell (telephone), Edwin Armstrong, and Lee de Forest (radio), as well as John Logie

Baird and Philo Farnsworth (television).

The world's effective capacity to exchange information through two-way telecommunication

networks grew from 281 petabytes of (optimally compressed) information in 1986, to

471petabytes in 1993, to 2.2 (optimally compressed) exabytes in 2000, and to 65 (optimally

compressed) exabytes in 2007.[1] This is the informational equivalent of 2 newspaper pages

per person per day in 1986, and 6 entire newspapers per person per day by 2007. Given this

growth, telecommunications play an increasingly important role in the world economy and

the worldwide telecommunication industry's revenue was estimated to be $3.85 trillion in

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2008. The service revenue of the global telecommunications industry was estimated to be

$1.7 trillion in 2008, and is expected to touch $2.7 trillion by 2013.

INTRODUCTION IN INDIA

India's telecommunication network is the second largest in the world on the basis of its

customer base and it has one of the lowest tariffs in the world enabled by the hyper-

competition in its market. Major sectors of the Indian telecommunication industry are

telephony, internet and broadcasting.

Telephonic network in the country, which is in an ongoing process of converging to next

generation network, employs an extensive system of network elements such as digital

telephone exchanges, mobile switching centers, media gateways and signalling gateways at

the core, interconnected by a wide variety of transmission systems using media, such

as optical fiber or Microwave radio relay. The access network, which connects the subscriber

to the core, is highly diversified with different copper-pair, optic-fibre and wireless

technologies. DTH, a relatively new broadcasting technology has attained significant

popularity in the Television segment. The introduction of private FM has given a fillip to

the radio broadcasting in India. Telecommunication in India has greatly been supported by

the INSAT system of the country, one of the largest domestic satellite systems in the world.

India possesses a diversified communications system, which links all parts of the country by

telephone, Internet, radio, television and satellite.

Indian telecom industry underwent a high pace of market liberalization and growth since

1990s and now has become the world’s most competitive and one of the fastest growing

telecom markets India has the world's second-largest mobile phone user base with over

929.37 million users as of May 2012. It has the world's third-largest Internet user-base with

over 121 million as of December 2011.

The industry is expected to reach a size of 344,921 crore (US$62.43 billion) by 2012 at a

growth rate of over 26 per cent, and generate employment opportunities for about 10 million

people during the same period. According to analysts, the sector would create direct

employment for 2.8 million people and for 7 million indirectly. The total revenue of the

Indian telecom sector grew by 7% to 283,207 crore (US$51.26 billion) for 2010–11

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financial year, while revenues from telecom equipment segment stood at

117,039 crore (US$21.18 billion).

Telecommunication has supported the socioeconomic development of India and has played a

significant role to narrow down the rural-urban digital divide to some extent. It also has

helped to increase the transparency of governance with the introduction of e-governance in

India. The government has pragmatically used modern telecommunication facilities to deliver

mass education programmes for the rural folk of India.

HISTORY

The history of telecommunication began with the use of smoke signals and drums in Africa,

the Americas and parts of Asia. In the 1790s, the first fixed semaphore systems emerged

in Europe; however it was not until the 1830s that electrical telecommunication systems

started to appear. This article details the history of telecommunication and the individuals

who helped make telecommunication systems what they are today. The history of

telecommunication is an important part of the larger history of communication.

Early telecommunications included smoke signals and drums. Talking drums were used by

natives in Africa, New Guinea and South America, and smoke signals in North

America and China. Contrary to what one might think, these systems were often used to do

more than merely announce the presence of a camp.

In 1792, a French engineer, Claude Chappe built the first visual telegraphy (or semaphore)

system between Lille and Paris. This was followed by a line from Strasbourg to Paris. In

1794, a Swedish engineer, Abraham Edelcrantz built a quite different system from

Stockholm to Drottningholm. As opposed to Chappe's system which involved pulleys

rotating beams of wood, Edelcrantz's system relied only upon shutters and was therefore

faster. However semaphore as a communication system suffered from the need for skilled

operators and expensive towers often at intervals of only ten to thirty kilometres (six to

nineteen miles). As a result, the last commercial line was abandoned in 1880. A very early

experiment in electrical telegraphy was an 'electrochemical' telegraph created by

the German physician, anatomist and inventor Samuel Thomas von Sömmering in 1809,

based on an earlier, less robust design of 1804 by Catalan polymath and scientist Francisco

Salva Campillo. Both their designs employed multiple wires (up to 35) in order to visually

represent almost all Latin letters and numerals. Thus, messages could be conveyed

electrically up to a few kilometers (in von Sömmering's design), with each of the telegraph

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receiver's wires immersed in a separate glass tube of acid. An electrical current was

sequentially applied by the sender through the various wires representing each digit of a

message; at the recipient's end the currents electrolysed the acid in the tubes in sequence,

releasing streams of hydrogen bubbles next to each associated letter or numeral. The

telegraph receiver's operator would visually observe the bubbles and could then record the

transmitted message, albeit at a very low baud rate. The principal disadvantage to the system

was its prohibitive cost, due to having to manufacture and string-up the multiple wire circuits

it employed, as opposed to the single wire (with ground return) used by later telegraphs.

The first commercial electrical telegraph was constructed in England by Sir Charles

Wheatstone and Sir William Fothergill Cooke. It used the deflection of needles to represent

messages and started operating over twenty-one kilometres (thirteen miles) of the Great

Western Railway on 9 April 1839. Both Wheatstone and Cooke viewed their device as "an

improvement to the [existing] electromagnetic telegraph" not as a new device.

On the other side of the Atlantic Ocean, Samuel Morse independently developed a version of

the electrical telegraph that he unsuccessfully demonstrated on 2 September 1837. Soon after

he was joined by Alfred Vail who developed the register — a telegraph terminal that

integrated a logging device for recording messages to paper tape. This was demonstrated

successfully over three miles (five kilometres) on 6 January 1838 and eventually over forty

miles (sixty-four kilometres) between Washington, DC and Baltimore on 24 May 1844. The

patented invention proved lucrative and by 1851 telegraph lines in the United States spanned

over 20,000 miles (32,000 kilometres).

The first successful transatlantic telegraph cable was completed on 27 July 1866, allowing

transatlantic telecommunication for the first time. Earlier transatlantic cables installed in 1857

and 1858 only operated for a few days or weeks before they failed. The international use of

the telegraph has sometimes been dubbed the "Victorian Internet".

The electric telephone was invented in the 1870s, based on earlier work with harmonic

(multi-signal) telegraphs. The first commercial telephone services were set up in 1878 and

1879 on both sides of the Atlantic in the cities of New Haven and London. Alexander

Graham Bell held the master patent for the telephone that was needed for such services in

both countries. The technology grew quickly from this point, with inter-city lines being built

and telephone exchanges in every major city of the United States by the mid-1880s. Despite

this, transatlantic voice communication remained impossible for customers until January 7,

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1927 when a connection was established using radio. However no cable connection existed

until TAT-1 was inaugurated on September 25, 1956 providing 36 telephone circuits.

In 1880, Bell and co-inventor Charles Sumner Tainter conducted the world's first wireless

telephone call via modulated light beams projected by photo phones. The scientific principles

of their invention would not be utilized for several decades, when they were first deployed in

military and fiber-optic communications.

The history of Indian telecom can be started with the introduction of telegraph. The Indian

postal and telecom sectors are one of the world’s oldest. In 1850, the first experimental

electric telegraph line was started between Kolkata and Diamond Harbour. In 1851, it was

opened for the use of the British East India Company. The Posts and Telegraphs department

occupied a small corner of the Public Works Department, at that time.

Well Postal means of communication was the only mean communication until the year 1850.

In 1850 experimental electric telegraph started for first time in India between Calcutta

(Kolkata) and Diamond Harbor (southern suburbs of Kolkata, on the banks of the Hooghly

River).

In 1851, it was opened for the use of the British East India Company. Subsequently

construction of telegraph started throughout India. A separate department was opened to the

public in 1854. Dr.William O’Shaughnessy, who pioneered the telegraph and telephone in

India, belonged to the Public Works Department, and worked towards the development of

telecom. Calcutta or the-then Kolkata was chosen as it was the capital of British India.

In early1881, Oriental Telephone Company Limited of England opened telephone exchanges

at Calcutta (Kolkata), Bombay (Mumbai), Madras (Chennai) and Ahmedabad. On the 28th

January 1882 the first formal telephone service was established with a total of 93 subscribers.

From the year 1902 India drastically changes from cable telegraph to wireless telegraph,

radio telegraph, radio telephone, trunk dialling. Trunk dialling used in India for more than a

decade, were system allowed subscribers to dial calls with operator assistance. Later moved

to digital microwave, optical fiber, satellite earth station. During British period all major

cities and towns in India were linked with telephones.

In the year 1975 Department of Telecom (DoT) was responsible for telecom services in entire

country after separation from Indian Post & Telecommunication. Decade later Mahanagar

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Telephone Nigam Limited (MTNL) was chipped 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. In1995

TRAI (Telecom Regulatory Authority of India) was setup. This reduced the interference of

Government in deciding tariffs and policy making. The Government of India corporatized the

operations wing of DoT in 2000 and renamed Department of Telecom as Bharat Sanchar

Nigam Limited (BSNL).

In last 10 years many private operator’s especially foreign investors successfully entered the

high potential Indian telecom market. Globally acclaimed operators like Telenor, NTT

Docomo, Vodafone, Sistema, SingTel, Maxis, Etisalat invested in India mobile operators.

Further developments and milestones

Pre-1902 – Cable telegraph

1902 – First wireless telegraph station established between Sagar Island and Sandhead.

1907 – First Central Battery of telephones introduced in Kanpur.

1913–1914 – First Automatic Exchange installed in Shimla.

1927 – Radio-telegraph system between the UK and India, with Imperial Wireless

Chain beam stations at Khadki and Daund. Inaugurated by Lord Irwin on 23 July by

exchanging greetings with King George V.

1933 – Radiotelephone system inaugurated between the UK and India.

1953 – 12 channel carrier system introduced.

1960 – First subscriber trunk dialling route commissioned between Lucknow and Kanpur.

1975 – First PCM system commissioned between Mumbai City and Andheri telephone

exchanges.

1976 – First digital microwave junction.

1979 – First optical fibre system for local junction commissioned at Pune.

1980 – First satellite earth station for domestic communications established

at Sikandarabad, U.P...

1983 – First analogue Stored Program Control exchange for trunk lines commissioned at

Mumbai.

1984 – C-DOT established for indigenous development and production

of digital exchanges.

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1995 – First mobile telephone service started on non-commercial basis on 15 August

1995 in Delhi.

1995 – Internet Introduced in India starting with Mumbai, Delhi, Calcutta, Chennai and

Pune on 15 August 1995

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Key player in telecommunication sector in India

Public sector

After the privatisation of VSNL in 2002, only two premier PSUs, MTNL and BSNL operate

in India and provide various telecom services. As noted earlier, MTNL operates in Delhi and

Mumbai and BSNL provides services to the remaining country. In the post-liberalisation era,

these PSUs not only have made significant progress but also have provided stiff competition

to their private counterparts.

Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited

Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) was formed on 1st October 2000 by corporatisation

of the erstwhile Department of Telecom Operations and Department of Telecom Services.

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The company has taken over the erstwhile functions of the Department of Telecom in respect

of provision of telecom services across the length and breadth of the country excluding Delhi

and Mumbai. BSNL has a large base of skilled work force of around 2.71 lakh as on

31/12/2011 and is a 100% Govt. of India owned Public Sector Undertaking.

BSNL is a technology-oriented company and provides all types of telecom services namely

telephone services on landline, WLL and GSM mobile, Broadband, Internet, leased circuits

and long distance telecom Service. The company has also been in the forefront of technology

with 100% digital new technology switching network. BSNL's nation-wide telecom network

covers all District headquarters, Sub-Divisional headquarters, Tehsil headquarters and almost

all the Block Headquarters.

Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited

Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited (MTNL) was incorporated on Feb.28, 1986 under the

Company's Act 1956, as a wholly owned Govt. Company and on April, 01 1986, assumed

responsibility for the control, management, operation of the telecommunications Networks in

Delhi & Mumbai. MTNL is the principal provider of fixed-line telecommunication service in

the two Metropolitan Cities of Delhi and Mumbai and for GSM Mobile services (four

peripheral towns Noida, Gurgaon, Faridabad & Ghaziabad along with Delhi city) and the

areas falling under the Mumbai Municipal Corporation, New Mumbai Corporation and Thane

Municipal Corporation along with Mumbai city, also come under the jurisdiction of the

company. The authorized capital of the Company is Rs. 800 crore. The Paid up Share Capital

is Rs. 630 crore divided into 63 crore share of Rs. 10 each. At present, 56.25% equity shares

are held by President of

India & his nominees and remaining 43.75% shares are held by FIIs, Financial Institutions,

Banks, Mutual Funds and others including individual investors.

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MTNL was given Navratna status in 1997 and was listed in New York Stock Exchange in

2001. Further, MTNL is providing dial up internet services in Delhi and Mumbai under

separate non-exclusive license agreement. MTNL launched Broadband service based on the

state of the art ADSL2+ technology in the year 2005. MTNL is providing Triple play services

i.e. voice (including VOIP), high speed internet and IPTV on this broadband network. In June

2008, MTNL was granted the ILD license for providing international long distance services.

In August 2008 MTNL was granted spectrum for 3G and BWA services.

Private Sector:

Private operators have played a very crucial role in the growth of the telecommunication

industry, primarily in the mobile services. With the liberalisation of the telecom industry, the

private sector has been increasing its foothold in the telecom services space. After the

introduction of NTP-99, the contribution of private players towards telecom services has

witnessed rapid strides. While the private sector is instrumental in providing both fixed line

as well as wireless services, it is mainly active in the wireless segment. The fixed lines

account for only about 2% of private sector's total subscriber base. While some private

players have a pan-India presence, there are many regional players that cater to only certain

service areas.

Reliance Communications

Reliance Communications Ltd. (commonly called RCOM) is an Indian broadband and

telecommunications company headquartered in Navi Mumbai, India. RCOM is the

world's15th largest mobile phone operator with over 150 million subscribers and India's 2nd

largest telecom operator in India, only after Bharti Airtel. Established on 2004, a subsidiary

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of the Reliance Group. The company has five segments: Wireless segment includes wireless

operations of the company; broadband segment includes broadband operations of the

company; Global segment include national long distance and international long distance

operations of the company and the wholesale operations of its subsidiaries; Investment

segment includes investment activities of the Group companies, and Other segment consists

of the customer care activities and direct-to-home (DTH) activities.

Tata Teleservices

Tata Teleservices Limited (TTSL) is an Indian broadband and telecommunications service

provider based in Mumbai, Maharashtra, India. It is a subsidiary of the Tata Group, an Indian

conglomerate. It operates under the brand name Tata DoCoMo in various telecom circles of

India.

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

Tata Teleservices for about Rs 13,070 crore ($2.7 billion) or an enterprise value of Rs 50,269

crore ($10.38 billion).[2]

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

the youth, in association with the Virgin Group on a Franchisee model basis.

Tata Teleservices provides mobile services under the following brand names:

Tata DoCoMo (CDMA & GSM mobile operator, wireless broadband)

Virgin Mobile (CDMA & GSM mobile operator)

T24 Mobile (GSM mobile operator)

Tata docomo

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TATA DoCoMo is an Indian cellular service provider on the GSM and platform-arising out

of the strategic joint venture between Tata Teleservices (subsidiary of Indian conglomerate

Tata Group) and Japanese telecom giant NTT Docomo (subsidiary of Nippon Telegraph and

Telephone) in November 2008. It is the country's sixth largest operator in terms of

subscribers (including both GSM and CDMA).

Tata DoCoMo is part of the Indian conglomerate Tata Group. The company received licenses

to operate GSM services in nineteen telecom circles and was allotted spectrum in eighteen of

these circles and launched GSM services on 24 June 2009. It began operations first in South

India and currently operates GSM services in eighteen of twenty two telecom circles. It has

licences to operate in Delhi but has not been allocated spectrum from the

Government. Docomo provides services throughout India. Tata DOCOMO offers

both prepaid and post-paid cellular phone services. It has become very popular with its one

second pulse especially in semi-urban and rural areas. On 5 November 2010, Tata DOCOMO

became the first private sector telecom company to launch 3G services in India. Tata

DOCOMO had about 42.34 million users at the end of December 2010On 20 October 2011,

Tata DoCoMo brought its brands - CDMA, GSM, Walky (Fixed Wireless Phone), Photon,

INTERNET - under the Tata Docomo name. All subscribers to these services were migrated

to the Docomo brand on 20 October 2011. The company’s other brands - Virgin Mobile and

T24 - are not part of the rebranding and will retain their names.

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Foreign invested companies

Bharti Airtel

Bharti Airtel Limited, commonly known as Airtel, is an Indian telecommunications

services company headquartered at New Delhi, India. It operates in 20 countries across South

Asia, Africa and the Channel Islands. Airtel has GSM network in all countries,

providing 2G, 3G and 4G services depending upon the country of operation. Airtel is the

world's third largest mobile telecommunications company with over 261 million subscribers

across 20 countries as of August 2012. It is the largest cellular service provider in India, with

186.41 million subscribers as of October 2012. Airtel is the third largest in-country mobile

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

Airtel is the largest provider of mobile telephony and second largest provider of

Airtel is credited with pioneering the business strategy of outsourcing all of its business

operations except marketing, sales and finance and building the 'minutes factory' model of

low cost and high volumes. The strategy has since been copied by several operators. Its

network—base stations, microwave links, etc.—is maintained by Ericsson, Nokia Siemens

Network and Huawei, and business support is provided by IBM, and transmission towers are

maintained by another company (Bharti Infratel Ltd. in India). Ericsson agreed for the first

time to be paid by the minute for installation and maintenance of their equipment rather than

being paid up front, which allowed Airtel to provide low call rates of 1/minute

(US$0.02/minute). During the last financial year (2009–10), Bharti negotiated for its strategic

partner Alcatel-Lucent to manage the network infrastructure for the tele-media business. On

31 May 2012, Bharti Airtel awarded the three-year contract to Alcatel-Lucent for setting up

an Internet Protocol access network (mobile backhaul) across the country. This would help

consumers access internet at faster speed and high quality internet browsing on mobile

handsets.

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Vodafone India

Vodafone India, formerly Vodafone Essar and Hutchison Essar, is the second largest

mobile network operator in India after Airtel. It is based in Mumbai, Maharashtra and which

operates nationally. It has approximately 146.84 million customers as of November 2011.

On July 2011, Vodafone Group agreed terms for the buy-out of its partner Essar from its

Indian mobile phone business. The UK firm paid $5.46 billion to its Indian counterpart to

take Essar out of its 33% stake in the Indian subsidiary. It will leave Vodafone owning 74%

of the Indian business, while the other 26% will be owned by Indian investors, in compliance

with Indian law. On 11 February, 2007, Vodafone agreed to acquire the controlling interest of

67% held by Li Ka Shing Holdings in Hutch-Essar for US$11.1 billion, pipping Reliance

Communications, Hinduja Group, and Essar Group, which is the owner of the remaining

33%. The whole company was valued at USD 18.8 billion. The transaction closed on 8 May,

2007. It offers both prepaid and post-paid GSM cellular phone coverage throughout India

with good presence in the metros.

Vodafone India provides 2.75G services based on 900 MHz and 1800 MHz digital GSM

technology. Vodafone India launched 3G services in the country in the January-March

quarter of 2011 and plans to spend up to $500 million within two years on its 3G networks.

In 1992, Hutchison Whampoa and its Indian business partner – Max Group, established a

company that in 1994 was awarded a licence to provide mobile telecommunications services

in Mumbai and launched commercial services as Hutchison Max in November 1995. In

Delhi, Uttar Pradesh (East), Rajasthan and Haryana, Essar Group was the major partner. But

later Hutch took the majority stake.

Hutch was often praised for its award winning advertisements which all follow a clean,

minimalist look. A recurrent theme is that its message "Hi" stands out visibly though it uses

only white letters on red background. Another successful ad campaign in 2003 featured a pug

named Cheeka following a boy around in unlikely places, with the tagline, "Wherever you

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go, our network follows." The simple yet powerful advertisement campaigns won it many

admirers. Ads featuring the pug were continued by Vodafone even after rebranding. The

brand subsequently introduced ZooZoos which gained even higher popularity than was

created by the Pug. Vodafone's creative agency is O&M while Harit Nagpal was the

Marketing Director during the various phases of its brand evolution.

Idea Cellular

Idea Cellular, usually referred to as Idea, is an Indian mobile network operators based

in Mumbai, India.

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

Birla-AT&T brought Maharashtra and Gujarat to the table, the merger of these two entities

was a reality. Thus Birla-Tata-AT&T, popularly known as Batata, was born and was later

rebranded as IDEA.

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

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

in Delhi was clinched.

In 2004, Idea (the company had by then been rechristened) bought over the Escorts group’s

Escotel gaining Haryana, Uttar Pradesh (West) and Kerala — and licences for three more —

UP (East), Rajasthan and Himachal Pradesh. By the end of that year, four million Indians

were on the company’s network. In 2005, AT&T sold its investment in Idea, and the year

after Tata’s also bid good bye to pursue an independent telecom business. And Idea was left

only with one promoter, the AV Birla group. Rs 2,700 crore adding Punjab and Karnataka

circles. Modi’s joint venture partner, Telekom Malaysia, invested Rs 7,000 crore for a

14.99% stake in Idea. Just around then, Idea’s subsidiary, Aditya Birla Telecom sold a 20%

stake to US-based Providence Equity Partners for over Rs 2,0000 crore....

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Aircel group

Aircel group is an Indian mobile network operator headquartered in Chennai, that provides

wireless voice, messaging and data services in India. It is a joint venture between Maxis

Communications Berhad of Malaysia and Sindya Securities & Investments Private Limited,

whose current shareholders are the Reddy family of Apollo Hospitals Group of India, with

Maxis Communications holding a majority stake of 74%. Aircel commenced operations in

1999 and today the leading mobile operator in Tamil Nadu, Assam, North- East and Chennai.

It is India’s fifth largest GSM mobile service provider & seventh largest mobile service

provider (both GSM and CDMA) with a subscriber base of over 66.79 million, as of

November, 2012. It has a market share of 7.13% among the GSM operators in the country.

Additionally, Aircel has also obtained permission from Department of

Telecommunications(DoT) to provide International Long Distance (ILD) and National Long

Distance (NLD) telephony services. It also has the largest service in Tamil Nadu.

Aircel started as a regional player in Tamil Nadu in 1999. Soon, it became the leading

operator in Tamil Nadu. At one time, Aircel was the fastest growing operator in

India. Because of this, it attracted foreign investments and a 76 percent stake in the company

was bought by the Malaysian operator Maxis Communications in 2005 from its Indian

owner Chinnakannan Sivasankaran.

In 2010, the company bought 3G and BWA spectrum in 13 and 8 circles respectively in

the 2010 Spectrum Auction. It paid US$ 1.44 billion (INR 79.1 billion) for the 3G spectrum

and US$ 0.76 billion (INR 49.76 billion) for BWA. Of this, the company raised $0.88 billion

(INR 48.3 billion) from Deutsche Bank, Standard Chartered Bank, HSBC and Barclays. It

also took a $0.44 billion (INR 24.2 billion) one-year bridge-loan from HSBC, Punjab

National Bank and Axis Bank. The company, as of November 2012 has around 1 million 3G

customers. It is yet to launch its LTE network, although it is conducting trials at its center

in Hyderabad. Aircel expects to launch it in the first quarter of 2013.

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As of November 2012, Aircel is the leading operator in Tamil Nadu, Assam and the North-

East.

According to the latest TRAI report, telecom operator Airtel continues to lead the Indian

wireless market with 22.53 percent market share till February 2014.

The market share of other mobile operators in India is the following: Vodafone 18.19 percent,

Idea Cellular 14.78 percent, Reliance Communications 13.05 percent, BSNL 10.5 percent,

Aircel 7.65 percent, TTSL 6.99 percent, Telewings 3.86 percent, MTS India 0.97 percent,

Videocon 0.52 percent, MTNL 0.39 percent, Loop Mobile 0.33 percent and Quadrant 0.24

percent.

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RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

Research Objectives:-

To understand the improvement and customer preferences in Telecom Sector.

To study the service providers and their service quality in the Telecom Sector.

To study the customer satisfaction and understand the current market scenario

in Telecom Sector.

Samples:-

Sample size : 25

Sample frame : Mumbai city

Sampling Method: Simple random sampling

Constraints : Time, number of respondents

Survey : Questionnaire

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Observations and Findings:-

Awareness about Telecommunication service

Types of phone

YES

No

90%

10%

53%

26%

21%

wireless Wireline both

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Operating service use

Airtel is leading with 23%. In both the regions, there is a huge competition among private

players as per the conducted survey. It clearly shows the tough competition between

Vodafone and Reliance

23%

17%

8%10%

9%

5%

8%

6%

14%

Airtel Vodafone Idea Aircel Tata docomo Loop BSNL uninor Reliance

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Which technology prefer

As per the data, it can be analyzed that in spite of tough competitions between GSM and

CDMA service providers, the GSM has earned a huge market share with 70%. There are only

10% people who are willing to use both the technologies. Only 30 % people prefer CDMA

which is very less compared to the level of competition and GSM’s market share.

60%

30%

10%

GSM CDMA Both

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What kind of expectations from service provider

Rate the following attributes of your service provider

.

0

0.5

1

1.5

2

2.5

3

3.5

4

4.5

5

Price Voice quality Network Good services

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

Airtel Vodafone Idea Tata Aircel Reliance

Network

poor

average

good

very good

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SMS RATES

New schemes and offers

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

Airtel Vodafone Idea Tata Aircel Reliance

poor

average

good

very good

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

Airtel Vodafone Idea Tata Aircel Reliance

poor

average

good

very good

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Customer Care

Recharge outlets

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

Airtel Vodafone Idea Tata Aircel Reliance

poor

average

good

very good

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

Airtel Vodafone Idea Tata Aircel Reliance

poor

average

good

very good

25

Call Rates

Value Added Services

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

Airtel Vodafone Idea Tata Aircel Reliance

poor

average

good

very good

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

Airtel Vodafone Idea Tata Aircel Reliance

poor

average

good

very good

26

SWOT ANALYSIS OF INDIAN TELECOM

Strengths:

Huge wireless subscriber potential.

One of the fastest growing sectors.

Consumers are ready to pay for cutting edge services.

FDI limits are 74%.

Unified license regime.

Weaknesses:

Lowest call tariffs

Market is regulated by Government bodies

Too many authorities are ruling this sector

Wide scales of consumer churn in this sector. Now the number portability is

coming up so it will increase the consumer churn rate

27

Opportunities:

To offer more VAS on GSM, CDMA and Internet Service Providers (ISP)

Language independent services. E.g. sending the message in local language,

information available in local language etc.

New innovations in service providers.

Huge content providing to local culture as well as globally.

Foreign investments in form of equity or technology.

Unified messaging platforms.

Threats:

Weak Intellectual Property Rights (IPR)

Threat of low cost service providers

Political instability

Regulator interference

The service providers have to incur a huge initial fixed cost to make a mark in rural

markets. Achieving break-even under these circumstances may prove to be difficult.

28

FUTURE OF INDIAN TELECOM

Indian Telecom is advancing day by day in every aspect. Everyday new technology emerges

which helps to solve lot of problems and makes the process smoother for the telecom service

providers as well as customers. The competition is increasing and many players are ready to

grasp the hands of customers by using CRM techniques. Different VAS (Value Added

Services) will play a crucial role in future development. Indian telecom’s total mobile

subscriber base is around 160 millions but still there are lots of opportunities in rural areas as

well. Government is also supporting the service providers. Apart from that, many telecom

operators like Reliance, Bharti and MTNL have decided to enter into different countries like

Bharti is planning to launch in Sri Lanka. Reliance is planning to move into Uganda and Sri

Lanka also. MTNL is planning to start its proceedings in Mauritius. Apart from that, it is also

planning to grow in other markets like Kenya, whereas MTNL is already into the joint

venture in wireless market in Nepal. Launch of new 3G i-phone will change the telecom

scenario completely. Government has also taken some steps for the 3G telecom companies

for the improvement of rural market. Future technology projections in broadband indicate

that microprocessors will run one thousand times as many computations as are being done

today, which mean enormous gain in productivity and efficiency, giving people unimaginable

power to access, organize, and transform information.

The road for India achieving the top most position in telecommunication is no longer a dream

as India is moving towards its milestone and in few years India will over power all countries

and achieve its target of top most position in telecom industry. Number portability is another

technology which will enhance the competition as well as it will benefit the consumers more.

In this technology, a consumer can change the service provider without changing the number.

This technology is likely to come by 2009. The proposed merger of BSNL and MTNL is

consuming a lot of ink. There have been various suggestions floated in the media about the

ways and means the “synergies” could be obtained. BSNL should concentrate more on rural

spread and better Internet connectivity. MTNL should be divested totally. In case of

Broadband, there is a late non-starter here. In terms of pricing and download limits, this is

pathetic for users who wish to consume bandwidth for file sharing or extensive web surfing

for any reason.

29

The emergence of VAS is one trend that is being followed closely and with great interest by

industry analysts and policy makers worldwide. In India, the mobile phone has emerged as

the most prevalent device to access the Internet. Most of the industry up till now has been

focused on investments in wireless infrastructure. Now that a large part of that investment is

behind us, attention is inevitably shifting to VAS. The consumer is asking for the next set of

services-beyond ring-tones, wallpaper, games, SMS.

However, few VAS providers have realized that simply taking the web experience and

miniaturizing it for mobile delivery doesn’t work. The consumer is left with a poor

experience and abandons the service quickly

.

These range from applications in social media to dynamic widgets scaled down to fit the way

people actually interact with information on the go. People want to buy train or movie tickets,

read their horoscopes and catch up on the gossip about their favourite Bollywood or

Hollywood stars.

30

CONCLUSIONS

India has one of the world’s largest telecommunication networks. The telecom story

continues to be the best evidence of the efficacy of the reforms process. In just six years, the

number of mobile subscribers has gone up from just about one million to 100 million, a

subscriber base that only four other countries China, the US, Japan and Russia can boast of.

None can doubt the correlation between this explosive growth in numbers and the steep

decline in the cost of the mobile phone and of its usage. Effective tariffs have dropped from

over Rs 14 a minute to Re 1, bringing the phone within reach of people even below the

middle-class. The Government may have, therefore, landed itself a winner in the mobile

phone service providers, but the task of taking telecom to the other 90 per cent of the

population will call for even greater innovation in policymaking, technology and marketing.

Still three-fourths of the land mass is not illuminated by a cellular signal and the price of the

instrument is beyond the reach of a substantial section of the population let alone the charges

for its use. These issues, of course, can be resolved by decisive policy action, such as a

creative use of the Universal Services Obligation fund that now has over Rs 70 billion,

releasing adequate spectrum to operators in the metros, and a proactive investment policy that

invites many more equipment manufacturers to set up base in this country. The number

portability issues will solve many problems and will help the end users, which will change

the whole scenario of competition and will make the game tougher for the service providers.

Looking at the competition trend, it seems that soon in future, rural schools will be having

broadband and internet facilities as their part of studies as well as routine lives. There is

availability of internet facility in many villages. But soon it will be taught in secondary and

higher secondary schools in all villages and various technologies like 3G and various VAS

have made the market more competitive and made easy for the users. Implementation of

number portability and 3G technologies have solved many problems and made easy and

comfortable for the customers.

31

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Reports:

1. DoT Report 2013-14

2. Indiainfoline teleline newsletter

3. Telecom Sector Annual Report 2013-14

Websites:

http://www.docstoc.com/docs/9677272/Indian-telecom

http://www.docstoc.com/docs/33510054/MBA-Final-year-project---

wwwcollegeprojectsinfo

http://www.docstoc.com/docs/125864459/telecom-sector

32

ANNEXURES

Name: ____________________________________________

Age: ____ years

Male/Female

Contact no.: ___________

Telecommunication Questionnaire

Q.1 Are you aware about Telecommunication service?

Yes

No

Q.2 what type of phone networking do you have?

Wireline

wireless

Both

33

Q.3 which operating service you use?

o Airtel

o TATA

o Loop(BPL)

o vodafone

o Idea

o Docomo

o Aircel

Any other______________________________

Q.4 From which source you came to know about the services which you are using?

Advertising

Hoarding

Through relatives

Newspaper

Q.5 which technology do you have?

GSM

CDMA

Both

34

Q.6 since how long are you using such services?

1 month

5 months

1 year

Any other_________________

Q.7 what kind of expectations do you have from your service provider?

o Price

Voice quality

Network

Good services

Any other do specify______________________

Q.8 Dou you call at customer care?

Yes

no

If yes, how often you call at customer care?

Daily

Once a week

Once a month

35

Occasionally

Q.9 for what reason you call at customer care?

Value added services

Information regarding new schemes

Other queries

Complaining

Q.10 Rate the following services on the basis of your satisfaction.

Services Excellent Very Good Fairly good Average Poor

Network

SMS rates

New schemes and offers

Customer Care

Recharge outlets

Call Rates

Value Added Services

Q.11 Would you like to recommend your service to others?

Yes

36

No

Q.12 Give your suggestions to help in serve you better.

___________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________