Telecommunications in India

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This article is about communications in India. For a more general coverage of media in India, see Media of

India.

More than half of the mobile phones sold in India in 2012 were smart phones

Communications in India

Revenue (Total) USD 33,350 million[1]

Telephony

Telephone Subscribers (Total) (2012) 960.9 million (May 2012)

Fixed lines (May 2012) 31.53 million

Mobile phones (2012) 929.37 million

Monthly telephone additions (Net)

(May 2012)

8.35 million

Teledensity (2012) 79.28 %

Rural Teledensity 33 %[1]

Projected teledensity by 2012 84 %

Internet access

Percent household access (total),

2012

10.2% of households (137

million)

Percent broadband household access 1.18% of households (14.31

million)

Broadband internet users 14.31 million (May 2012)[2]

Internet Service Providers (2012) 155

country code top-level domain .in

Broadcasting

Television broadcast stations (2009) 1,400

Radio broadcast stations (1997) 800

India's telecommunication network is the second largest in the world based on the total number of

telephone users (both fixed and mobile phone).[3] It has one of the lowest call tariffs in the world enabled

by the mega telephone networks and hyper-competition among them. It has the world's third-largest

Internet user-base with over 137 million as of June 2012.[4][5] Major sectors of the Indian telecommunication

industry are telephony, internet and television broadcasting.

Telephone Industry in the country which is in an ongoing process of transforming into next generation

network, employs an extensive system of modern network elements such as digital telephone exchanges,

mobile switching centres, media gateways and signalling gateways at the core, interconnected by a wide

variety of transmission systems using fibre-optics or Microwave radio relaynetworks. 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.[6]

Indian telecom industry underwent a high pace of market liberalisation and growth since 1990s and now

has become the world's most competitive and one of the fastest growing telecom markets.[7][8] The Industry

has grown over twenty times in just ten years, from under 37 million subscribers in the year 2001 to over

846 million subscribers in the year 2011.[1] India has the world's second-largest mobile phone user base

with over 929.37 million users as of May 2012.[6] It has the world's third-largest Internet user-base with

over 137 million as of June 2012.[4][5]

The total revenue of the Indian telecom sector grew by 7% to 283207 crore (US$45 billion) for 2010–11

financial year, while revenues from telecom equipment segment stood at 117039 crore (US$19 billion).[9]

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.[10]

Contents

[hide]

1 History

1.1 The Beginning

1.2 Further developments and milestones

1.3 Liberalisation and privatisation

2 Sectors

2.1 Telephony

2.1.1 Fixed Telephony

2.1.2 Mobile Telephony

2.2 Internet

2.2.1 Wireless Internet

2.3 Data centres

2.4 Broadcasting

3 Next-generation networks (NGN)

4 Recent government policies and growth targets

5 Regulatory environment

6 Revenue and growth

7 International

7.1 Submarine cables

8 See also

9 References

10 External links

History[edit]

The Beginning[edit]

A microwave tower for short distance (~50 km) communication

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

telecom sectors are one of the worlds oldest. In 1850, the first experimental electric telegraph line was

started between Calcutta and Diamond Harbour. In 1851, it was opened for the use of theBritish East India

Company. The Posts and Telegraphs department occupied a small corner of the Public Works Department,

[11] at that time.

Subsequently, the construction of 4,000 miles (6,400 km) of telegraph lines connecting Kolkata (then

Calcutta) and Peshawar in the north along withAgra, Mumbai (then Bombay) through Sindwa Ghats, and

Chennai (then Madras) in the south, as well as Ootacamund and Bangalore was started in November 1853.

William O'Shaughnessy, who pioneered the telegraph and telephone in India, belonged to the Public Works

Department, and worked towards the development of telecom throughout this period. A separate

department was opened in 1854 when telegraph facilities were opened to the public.

In 1880, two telephone companies namely The Oriental Telephone Company Ltd. and The Anglo-Indian

Telephone Company Ltd. approached theGovernment 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. In 1881, the Government later

reversed its earlier decision and a licence was granted to the Oriental Telephone Company Limited of

England for opening telephone exchanges at Calcutta, Bombay, Madras andAhmedabad and the first

formal telephone service was established in the country.[12] On 28 January 1882, Major E. Baring, Member

of the Governor General of India's Council declared open the Telephone Exchanges in Calcutta, Bombay

and Madras. The exchange in Calcutta named the "Central Exchange" had a total of 93 subscribers in its

early stage. Later that year, Bombay also witnessed the opening of a telephone exchange.[13]

Further developments and milestones[edit]

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.[citation needed]

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 Programme Control exchange for trunk lines commissioned at

Mumbai.

1984 – C-DOT established for indigenous development and production of digital exchanges.

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[14]

Development of Broadcasting: Radio broadcasting was initiated in 1927 but became state responsibility

only in 1930. In 1937 it was given the name All India Radio and since 1957 it has been called Akashvani.[15]

Limited duration of television programming began in 1959, and complete broadcasting followed in 1965.

The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting owned and maintained the audio-visual apparatus—including

the television channel Doordarshan—in the country prior to the economic reforms of 1991. In 1997, an

autonomous body was established in the name ofPrasar Bharti to take care of the public service

broadcasting under the Prasar Bharti Act. All India Radio and Doordarshan, which earlier were working as

media units under the Ministry of I&B became constituents of the body.[10]

Pre-liberalisation statistics: While all the major cities and towns in the country were linked with

telephones during the British period, the total number of telephones in 1948 numbered only around

80,000. Post independence, growth remained slow because the telephone was seen more as a status

symbol rather than being an instrument of utility. The number of telephones grew leisurely to 980,000 in

1971, 2.15 million in 1981 and 5.07 million in 1991, the year economic reforms were initiated in the

country.

Liberalisation and privatisation[edit]

Liberalisation of Indian telecommunication industry 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.

[16] Attempts to liberalise the telecommunication industry were continued by the following government

under the prime-minister-ship of Rajiv Gandhi. He invited Sam Pitroda, a US-based Non-resident Indian NRI

and a former Rockwell International executive to set up a Centre for Development of Telematics(C-DOT)

which manufactured electronic telephone exchanges in India for the first time.[17] Sam Pitroda had a

significant role as a consultant and adviser in the development of telecommunication in India.[18]

In 1985, the Department of Telecom(DoT) was separated from Indian Post & Telecommunication

Department. DoT was responsible for telecom services in entire country until 1986 whenMahanagar

Telephone Nigam Limited (MTNL) and Videsh Sanchar Nigam Limited (VSNL) were carved out of DoT to run

the telecom services of metro cities(Delhi and Mumbai) and international long distance operations

respectively.[17]

The demand for telephones was ever increasing and in 1990s Indian government was under increasing

pressure to open up the telecom sector for private investment as a part of Liberalisation-Privatisation-

Globalisation policies that the government had to accept to overcome the severe fiscal crisis and resultant

balance of payments issue in 1991. Consequently, private investment in the sector of Value Added

Services (VAS) was allowed and cellular telecom sector were opened up for competition from private

investments. It was during this period that the Narsimha 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. The policy introduced the concept of

telecommunication for all and its vision was to expand the telecommunication facilities to all the villages in

India.[19] Liberalisation in the basic telecom sector was also envisaged in this policy.[20] They were also

successful in establishing joint ventures between state owned telecom companies and international

players. Foreign firms were eligible to 49% of the total stake. The multi-nationals were just involved in

technology transfer, and not policy making.[16]

During this period, the World Bank and ITU had advised the Indian Government to liberalise long distance

services 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 liberalised 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 licence was given to each

provider. During all these improvements, the government did face oppositions from ITI, DoT, MTNL, VSNL

and other labour unions, but they managed to keep away from all the hurdles.[16]

In 1997, the government set up TRAI (Telecom Regulatory Authority of India) which reduced the

interference of Government in deciding tariffs and policy making. The political powers changed in 1999 and

the new government under the leadership of Atal Bihari Vajpayee was more pro-reforms and introduced

better liberalisation policies. In 2000, the Vajpayee government constituted theTelecom Disputes

Settlement and Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT) through an amendment of the TRAI Act, 1997.[21][22] The primary

objective of TDSAT's establishment was to release TRAI from adjudicatory and dispute settlement functions

in order to strengthen the regulatory framework. Any dispute involving parties like licensor, licensee,

service provider and consumers are resolved by TDSAT. Moreover, any direction, order or decision of TRAI

can be challenged by appealing in TDSAT.[23] The government corporatised the operations wing of DoT on 1

October 2000 and named it as Department of Telecommunication Services (DTS) which was later named as

Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL). The proposal of raising the stake of foreign investors from 49% to

74% was rejected by the opposite political parties and leftist thinkers. Domestic business groups wanted

the government to privatise 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.[16]

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 licences to private operators.

The government further reduced licence 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.

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

mobile market.[24] Many private operators, such as Reliance Communications, Tata Indicom, Vodafone, Loop

Mobile, Airtel, Idea etc., successfully entered the high potential Indian telecom 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.[25] As the unbranded Chinese cell

phones which do not have International Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI) numbers pose a serious security

risk to the country, Mobile network operators therefore suspended the usage of around 30 million mobile

phones (about 8% of all mobiles in the country) by 30 April. Phones without valid IMEI cannot be connected

to cellular operators.[26] 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

a number of proactive initiatives taken by regulators and licensors, the total number of mobile subscribers

has increased rapidly to over 929 million subscribers as of May 2012.

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 2003–04 and 2004–05.[citation needed]

Sectors[edit]

Major sectors of telecommunication industry in India are telephony, internet, Data centers and

broadcasting.

Telephony[edit]

Market share of major operators in India as on 29 February 2012

Market share of major operators in India as on 29 February 2012

The telephony segment is dominated by private-sector and two state-run businesses. Most companies

were formed by a recent revolution and restructuring launched within a decade, directed by Ministry of

Communications and IT, Department of Telecommunications and Minister of Finance. Since then, most

companies gained 2G, 3G and 4G licences and engaged fixed-line, mobile and internet business in India.

On landlines, intra-circle calls are considered local calls while inter-circle are considered long distance calls.

Foreign Direct Investment policy which increased the foreign ownership cap from 49% to 74%.Now it is

100%. Currently Government is working to integrate the whole country in one telecom circle. For long

distance calls, the area code prefixed with a zero is dialled first which is then followed by the number (i.e.

To call Delhi, 011 would be dialled first followed by the phone number). For international calls, "00" must

be dialled first followed by the country code, area code and local phone number. The country code for India

is 91. Several international fibre-optic links include those to Japan, South Korea, Hong Kong, Russia, and

Germany. Some major telecom operators in India include Airtel, Vodafone, Idea, Aircel, BSNL, MTNL,

Reliance Communications, TATA Teleservices, Infotel, MTS, Uninor, TATA DoCoMo, Videocon, Augere, Tikona

Digital.

Fixed Telephony[edit]

Until the New Telecom Policy was announced in 1999, only the Government-owned BSNL and MTNL were

allowed to provide land-line phone services through copper wire in India with MTNL operating in Delhi and

Mumbai and BSNL servicing all other areas of the country. Due to the rapid growth of the cellular phone

industry in India, landlines are facing stiff competition from cellular operators. This has forced land-line

service providers to become more efficient and improve their quality of service. Land-line connexions are

now also available on demand, even in high density urban areas. India has over 31 million main line

customers.

Mobile Telephony[edit]

See also: List of mobile network operators of India, List of countries by number of mobile phones in use,

and List of mobile network operators

Cellular phone tower atop the roof of a building

Typical signboards of STD booths (kiosks from where STD calls can be made) and internet kiosks in

India

AIR Radio Tower

In August 1995, Chief Minister of West Bengal, Shri Jyoti Basu ushered in the cellphone revolution in India

by making the first call to Union Telecom Minister Sukhram.[27] Sixteen years later 4th generation services

were launched in Kolkata.[28]

With a subscriber base of more than 929 million, the Mobile telecommunications system in India is the

second largest in the world and it was thrown open to private players in the 1990s. GSM was comfortably

maintaining its position as the dominant mobile technology with 80% of the mobile subscriber market, but

CDMA seemed to have stabilised its market share at 20% for the time being. By May 2012 the country had

929 million mobile subscribers, up from 350 million just 40 months earlier. The mobile market was

continuing to expand at an annual rate in excess of 40% coming into 2010.

According to data provided by Minister of State for Communications and IT Milind Deora, as of 30

November 2012, India has 736,654 base transceiver stations (2G GSM & CDMA, and 3G). Of those, 96,212

base transceiver stations provide 3G mobile and data services. Out of India's 640 districts, 610 districts are

covered by 3G services as of 30 November 2012.[29]

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.[30] The rates are supposed to go down

further with new measures to be taken by the Information Ministry.[31] In September 2004, the number of

mobile phone connexions crossed the number of fixed-line connexions and presently dwarfs the wireline

segment by a ratio of around 20:1. The mobile subscriber base has grown by a factor of over a hundred

and thirty, from 5 million subscribers in 2001 to over 929 million subscribers as of May 2012. 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. Internationalroaming agreements

exist between most operators and many foreign carriers. The government allowed Mobile number

portability (MNP) which enables mobile telephone users to retain their mobile telephone numbers when

changing from one mobile network operator to another.[32] India is divided into 22 telecom circles:[33]

Telecom circle Wireline subscriber base in million(May 2012) Wireless subscriber base in million(May 2012)

Andhra Pradesh 2.33 66.6

Assam 0.20 14.6

Bihar & Jharkhand 0.56 62.97

Delhi 2.9 42.95

Gujarat & Daman & Diu 1.82 54.32

Haryana 0.59 23.00

Himachal Pradesh 0.30 7.41

Jammu and Kashmir 0.20 6.57

Karnataka 2.48 56.63

Kerala & Lakshadweep 3.18 34.51

Kolkata 1.18 25.25

Madhya Pradesh & Chhattisgarh 1.13 53.30

Maharashtra & Goa (excluding Mumbai ) 2.64 71.00

Mumbai* 3.0 35.93

North East ^** 0.25 8.76

Orissa 0.40 26.27

Punjab 1.44 31.17

Rajasthan 1.14 49.52

Tamil Nadu(including Chennai since 2005)[34]

3.16 78.96

Uttar Pradesh(East) 1.20 77.74

Uttar Pradesh(West) & Uttarakhand 0.79 55.12

West Bengal(excluding Kolkata)*** 0.62 46.79

^* Population statistics are available state-wise only. ^** North east circle includes Arunachal Pradesh,

Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, & Tripura ^***West Bengal circle includes Andaman-Nicobar and

Sikkim

Internet[edit]

See also: Internet censorship in India , List of Internet users by country, and List of countries by number of

broadband Internet subscriptions

Internet cafe in Varanasi, 2001

The history of the Internet in India started with launch of services by VSNL on 15 August 1995. They were

able to add about 10,000 Internet users within 6 months.[35] However, for the next 10 years the Internet

experience in the country remained less attractive with narrow-band connections having speeds less than

56 kbit/s (dial-up). In 2004, the government formulated its broadband policy which defined broadband as

"an always-on Internet connection with download speed of 256 kbit/s or above."[36] From 2005 onward the

growth of the broadband sector in the country accelerated, but remained below the growth estimates of

the government and related agencies due to resource issues in last-mile access which were predominantly

wired-line technologies. This bottleneck was removed in 2010 when the government auctioned 3G

spectrum followed by an equally high profile auction of4G spectrum that set the scene for a competitive

and invigorated wireless broadband market. Now Internet access in India is provided by both public and

private companies using a variety of technologies and media including dial-up (PSTN), xDSL, coaxial cable,

Ethernet, FTTH, ISDN, HSDPA (3G), WiFi, WiMAX, etc. at a wide range of speeds and costs. The country has

the world's third largest number of Internet users with over 121 million users (59% of whom only access

the Internet via mobile devices) in December 2011.[37]

As of December 2011, total Internet connections stood at 22.39 million,[2] with estimated users exceeding

121 million. The number of broadband subscribers at the end of May 2013 was 15.13 million.[38] Cumulative

Annual Growth rate (CAGR) of broadband during the five-year period between 2005 and 2010 was about

117 per cent.[36] DSL, while holding slightly more than 75% of the local broadband market, was steadily

losing market share to other non-DSL broadband platforms, especially to wireless broadband.

There were 161 Internet Service Providers (ISPs) offering broadband services in India as of 31 May 2013.

The top five ISPs in terms subscriber base were BSNL (9.96 million), Bharti Airtel (1.40 million), MTNL (1.09

million), Hathway (0.36 million) and You Broadband (0.31 million).[38] Cyber cafesremain the major source

of Internet access. In 2009, about 37 per cent of the users access the Internet from cyber cafes, 30 per

cent from an office, and 23 per cent from home. However, the number of mobile Internet users increased

rapidly from 2009 on and there were about 274 million mobile users at the end of September 2010, with a

majority using 2G mobile networks.[36] Mobile Internet subscriptions as reported by the Telecom Regulatory

Authority of India (TRAI) in March 2011 increased to 381 million.

One of the major issues facing the Internet segment in India is the lower average bandwidth of broadband

connections compared to that of developed countries. According to 2007 statistics, the average download

speed in India hovered at about 40 KB per second (256 kbit/s), the minimum speed set by TRAI, whereas

the international average was 5.6 Mbit/s during the same period. In order to attend this infrastructure issue

the government declared 2007 as "the year of broadband".[39][40] To compete with international standards of

defining broadband speed the Indian Government has taken the aggressive step of proposing a $13 billion

national broadband network to connect all cities, towns and villages with a population of more than 500 in

two phases targeted for completion by 2012 and 2013. The network was supposed to provide speeds up to

10 Mbit/s in 63 metropolitan areas and 4 Mbit/s in an additional 352 cities. Also, the Internet penetration

rate in India is one of the lowest in the world and only accounts for 8.4% of the population compared to the

rate in OECD counties, where the average is over 50%.[4][41][42] Another issue is the digital divide where

growth is biased in favour of urban areas; according to 2010 statistics, more than 75 per cent of the

broadband connections in the country are in the top 30 cities.[36] Regulators have tried to boost the growth

of broadband in rural areas by promoting higher investment in rural infrastructure and establishing

subsidized tariffs for rural subscribers under the Universal service obligation scheme of the Indian

government.

Wireless Internet[edit]

2nd Generation Internet is the most prevalent in India. Wireless ISPs in India use both CDMA and Edge

technologies for 2G.

India's wireless Internet Frequencies are[43]

2G : GSM 900 MHz, GSM 1800 MHz

3G : UMTS 2100 MHz

4G : TD-LTE 2300 MHz

Data centres[edit]

BSNL Internet Data Centers, in collaboration with Dimension Data[44]

Sify Technologies Limited

CtrlS Datacenters Ltd

Tata Communications Limited

Netmagic Solutions

Reliance Datacenter

Web Werks IDC

Net4 Datacenter

RackBank Datacenter

Broadcasting[edit]

Main articles: Media of India, Television in India, and List of Indian television stations

INSAT-1B satellite: Broadcasting sector in India is highly dependent on INSATsystem.

Television broadcasting began in India in 1959 by Doordarshan, a state run medium of communication, and

had slow expansion for more than two decades.[45] The policy reforms of the government in 1990s attracted

private initiatives in this sector, and since then, satellite television has increasingly shaped popular culture

and Indian society. However, still, only the government owned Doordarshan has the licence for terrestrial

television broadcast. Private companies reach the public using satellite channels; both cable television as

well as DTH has obtained a wide subscriber base in India. In 2012, India had about 148 million TV homes of

which 126 million has access to cable and satellite services.[46]

Following the economic reforms in 1990s, satellite television channels from around the world—BBC, CNN,

CNBC, and other private television channels gained a foothold in the country.[10] There are no regulations to

control the ownership of satellite dish antennas and also for operating cable television systems in India,

which in turn has helped for an impressive growth in the viewership. The growth in the number of satellite

channels was triggered by corporate business houses such as Star TV group and Zee TV. Initially restricted

to music and entertainment channels, viewership grew, giving rise to several channels in regional

languages, especially Hindi. The main news channels available were CNN and BBC World. In the late 1990s,

many current affairs and news channels sprouted, becoming immensely popular because of the alternative

viewpoint they offered compared to Doordarshan. Some of the notable ones are Aaj Tak (run by the India

Today group) and STAR News, CNN-IBN, Times Now, initially run by the NDTV group and their lead anchor,

Prannoy Roy (NDTV now has its own channels, NDTV 24x7, NDTV Profit and NDTV India). Over the years,

Doordarshan services also have grown from a single national channel to six national and eleven regional

channels. Nonetheless, it has lost the leadership in market, though it underwent many phases of

modernization in order to contain tough competition from private channels.[10]

Today, television is the most penetrative media in India with industry estimates indicating that there are

over 554 million TV consumers, 462 million with satellite connexions, compared to other forms of mass

media such as radio or internet.[47] Government of India has used the popularity of TV and radio among

rural people for the implementation of many social-programmes including that of mass-education. On 16

November 2006, the Government of India released the community radio policy which allowed agricultural

centres, educational institutions and civil society organisations to apply for community based FM

broadcasting licence. Community Radio is allowed 100 Watt Effective Radiated Power (ERP) with a

maximum tower height of 30 metres. The licence is valid for five years and one organisation can only get

one licence, which is non-transferable and to be used for community development purposes.

Next-generation networks (NGN)[edit]

Historically, the role of telecommunication has evolved from that of plain information exchange to a multi-

service field, with Value Added Services (VAS) integrated with various discrete networks like PSTN, PLMN,

Internet Backbone etc. However, with decreasing ARPU and increasing demand for VAS has become a

compelling reason for the service providers to think of the convergence of these parallel networks into a

single core network with service layers separated from network layer.[48] Next-generation networking is

such a convergence concept which according to ITU-Tis:[49]

A next-generation network (NGN) is a packet-based network which can provide services including

Telecommunication Services and able to make use of multiple broadband, quality of Service-enabled

transport technologies and in which service-related functions are independent from underlying transport-

related technologies. It offers unrestricted access by users to different service providers. It supports

generalized mobility which will allow consistent and ubiquitous provision of services to users.

Access network: The user can connect to the IP-core of NGN in various ways, most of which use the

standard Internet Protocol (IP). User terminals such as mobile phones, personal digital assistants (PDAs)

and computers can register directly on NGN-core, even when they are roaming in another network or

country. The only requirement is that they can use IP and Session Initiation Protocol (SIP). Fixed access

(e.g., Digital Subscriber Line (DSL), cable modems, Ethernet), mobile access (e.g. W-CDMA, CDMA2000,

GSM, GPRS) and wireless access (e.g.WLAN,WiMAX) are all supported. Other phone systems like plain old

telephone service and non-compatible VoIP systems, are supported through gateways. With the

deployment of the NGN, users may subscribe to many simultaneous access-providers providing telephony,

internet or entertainment services. This may provide end-users with virtually unlimited options to choose

between service providers for these services in NGN environment.[48]

The hyper-competition in telecom market, which was effectively caused by the introduction of Universal

Access Service (UAS) licence in 2003 became much tougher after 3G and 4G competitive auction. About

670,000 route-kilometer (419,000 mile) of optical fibres has been laid in India by the major operators,

including in the financially nonviable rural areas and the process continues.[citation needed] Keeping in mind the

viability of providing services in rural areas, the government of India also took a proactive role to promote

the NGN implementation in the country; an expert committee called NGN eCO was constituted in order to

deliberate on the licensing, interconnection and Quality of Service (QoS) issues related to NGN and it

submitted its report on 24 August 2007. Telecom operators found the NGN model advantageous, but huge

investment requirements have prompted them to adopt a multi-phase migration and they have already

started the migration process to NGN with the implementation of IP-based core-network.[48]

Recent government policies and growth targets[edit]

This section does not cite any references or sources. Please help improve this section by

sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (June 2013)

All villages shall receive telecom facilities by the end of 2002.[dated info]

A Communication Convergence Bill introduced in the Parliament on 31 August 2001 is presently

before the Standing Committee of Parliament on Telecom and IT.[dated info]

National Long Distance Service (NLD) is opened for unrestricted entry.[when?]

The International Long Distance Services (ILDS) have been opened to competition.[when?]

The basic services are open to competition.[when?]

In addition to the existing three, a fourth cellular operator, one each in four metros and thirteen

circles, has been permitted.[when?] Cellular operators have been permitted to provide all types of mobile

services including voice and non-voice messages, data services and PCOs utilising any type of network

equipment, including circuit and/or package switches that meet certain required standards.

Policies allowing private participation have been announced as per the New Telecom Policy (NTP),

1999 in several new services, which include Global Mobile Personal Communication by Satellite

(GMPCS) Service, digital Public Mobile Radio Trunked Service (PMRTS) and Voice Mail/ Audiotex/ Unified

Messaging Services.

Wireless Local Loop (WLL) has been introduced to provide telephone connexions in urban, semi-

urban and rural areas promptly.[when?]

Two telecom PSUs, VSNL and HTL have been disinvested.[when?]

Steps are being taken to fulfill Universal Service Obligation (USO), funding, and administration.

[when?]

A decision to permit Community Phone Service has been announced.[when?]

Multiple Fixed Service Providers (FSPs) licensing guidelines were announced.[when?]

Internet Service Providers (ISPs) have been allowed to set up International Internet Gateways,

both Satellite and Landing stations for submarine optical fibre cables.[when?]

Two categories of infrastructure providers have been allowed to provide end-to-end bandwidth

and dark fibre, right of way, towers, duct space etc.[when?]

Guidelines have been issued by the Government to open up Internet telephony (IP).[when?]

National Optical Fibre Network (NOFN), a project aimed to ensure broadband connectivity to over

two lakh (200,000) gram panchayats of India by 2016.

Regulatory environment[edit]

LIRNEasia's Telecommunications Regulatory Environment (TRE) index, which summarises stakeholders'

perception on certain TRE dimensions, provides insight into how conducive the environment is for further

development and progress. The most recent survey was conducted in July 2008 in eight Asian countries,

including Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Maldives, Pakistan, Thailand, and the Philippines. The

tool measured seven dimensions: i) market entry; ii) access to scarce resources; iii) interconnection; iv)

tariff regulation; v) anti-competitive practices; and vi) universal services; vii) quality of service, for the

fixed, mobile and broadband sectors.

The results for India, point out to the fact that the stakeholders perceive the TRE to be most conducive for

the mobile sector followed by fixed and then broadband. Other than for Access to Scarce Resources the

fixed sector lags behind the mobile sector. The fixed and mobile sectors have the highest scores for Tariff

Regulation. Market entry also scores well for the mobile sector as competition is well entrenched with most

of the circles with 4–5 mobile service providers. The broadband sector has the lowest score in the

aggregate. The low penetration of broadband of mere 3.87 against the policy objective of 9 million at then

end of 2007 clearly indicates that the regulatory environment is not very conducive.[50]

In 2013 the home ministry stated that legislation must ensure that law enforcement agencies are

empowered to intercept communications.[51]

Revenue and growth[edit]

The total revenue in the telecom service sector was 86720 crore (US$13.9 billion) in 2005–06 as against

71674 crore (US$11.5 billion) in 2004–2005, registering a growth of 21% with estimated revenue of

FY'2011 of 835 crore (US$130 million). The total investment in the telecom services sector reached

200660 crore (US$32.1 billion) in 2005–06, up from 178831 crore(US$28.6 billion) in the previous fiscal.[52]

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

subscriber base has risen to more than a 121 million in 2011.[53] Out of this 11.47 million were broadband

connexions. 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.[54]

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[55] up from 2.3 million in December 2004.

The Total Revenue of Indian Telecom Services company is likely to exceed 200000 crore (US$32 billion)

( US$ 44 Bn approx) for FY 11–12 based on FY 10–11 nos and latest quarterly results. These are

consolidated numbers including foreign operation of Bharti Airtel. The major contributions to this revenue

are as follows:[56]

Airtel 65060 (US$1,000)

Reliance Communications 31468 (US$500)

Idea 16936 (US$270)

Tata Communications 11931 (US$190)

MTNL 4380 (US$70)

TTML 2248 (US$36)

BSNL 32045 (US$510)

Vodafone India 18376 (US$290)

TataTeleservice 9200 (US$150)

Aircel 7968 (US$130)

SSTL 600 (US$9.60)

Uninor 660 (US$11)

Loop 560 (US$9.00)

Stel 60 (96¢ US)

HFCL 204 (US$3.30)

Videocon Telecom 254 (US$4.10)

DB Etisalat/ Allianz 47 (75¢ US)

Grand Total 201997 crore (US$32 billion)

International[edit]

Nine satellite earth stations – 8 Intelsat (Indian Ocean) and 1 Inmarsat (Indian Ocean

region).Microwave

Nine gateway exchanges operating from Mumbai, New Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai, Jalandhar, Kanpur,

Gandhinagar, Hyderabad and Ernakulam.

Submarine cables[edit]

LOCOM linking Chennai to Penang, Malaysia

India-UAEcable linking Mumbai to Al Fujayrah, UAE.

SEA-ME-WE 2 (South East Asia-Middle East-Western Europe 2)

SEA-ME-WE 3 (South East Asia-Middle East-Western Europe 3) – Landing sites at Cochin and

Mumbai. Capacity of 960 Gbit/s.

SEA-ME-WE 4 (South East Asia-Middle East-Western Europe 4) – Landing sites at Mumbai and

Chennai. Capacity of 1.28 Tbit/s.

Fibre-Optic Link Around the Globe (FLAG-FEA) with a landing site at Mumbai (2000). Initial design

capacity 10 Gbit/s, upgraded in 2002 to 80 Gbit/s, upgraded to over 1 Tbit/s (2005).

TIISCS (Tata Indicom India-Singapore Cable System), also known as TIC (Tata Indicom Cable),

Chennai to Singapore. Capacity of 5.12 Tbit/s.

i2i – Chennai to Singapore. Capacity of 8.4 Tbit/s.

SEACOM From Mumbai to the Mediterranean, via South Africa. It currently joins with SEA-ME-WE 4

off the west coast of Spain to carry traffic onward to London (2009). Capacity of 1.28 Tbit/s.

I-ME-WE (India-Middle East-Western Europe) with two landing sites at Mumbai (2009). Capacity of

3.84 Tbit/s.

EIG (Europe-India Gateway), landing at Mumbai (due Q2 2010).

MENA (Middle East North Africa).

TGN-Eurasia (Announced) Landing at Mumbai (due 2010?), Capacity of 1.28 Tbit/s

TGN-Gulf (Announced) Landing at Mumbai (due 2011?), Capacity Unknown.

See also[edit]

TRAI

Indian Telecommunication Service

List of Indian wireless communications service providers

Telecommunications Statistics in India

Mobile phone industry in India

References[edit]

1 ^ Jump up to:a b c Telecom India, ImaginMor

2 ^ Jump up to:

List of Telecom Companies in India

A

Aircel Cellular Limited

Aishwarya Telecom Ltd

Aksh Optifibre Ltd.

Anco Communications Ltd.

Astra Microwave Products Ltd.

Avaya Globalconnect Ltd

B

Bhagyanagar India Ltd.

Bharti Airtel Bharti Teletech Birla Ericsson Optical Ltd.

C

Cable Corporation of India Ltd. CMI Ltd. Cybele Industries Ltd.

D

Delton Cables Ltd. Dhanus Technologies Ltd.

E

Eider Infotech Ltd. Ericsson Esskay Telecom Ltd.

F

FCI OEN Connectors Ltd. Finolex Cables Ltd.

G

Gemini Communications Ltd. Goldstone Infratech Ltd GR Cables Ltd. GTL Infrastructure Ltd. Gujarat Optical Communication Ltd.

H

Hartron Communications Ltd. Hathway Bhawani Cabletel & Datacom Ltd HFCL Infotel Ltd Himachal Futuristic Communications Ltd. Hindustan Cables Ltd.

I

Idea Cellular Ltd. Intergrated Digital Info Services Ltd ITI Ltd ITI Ltd.

K

Kaleidoscope Films Ltd Kavveri Telecom Products Ltd. Krone Communications Ltd.

M

Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd MIC Electronics Ltd. Mobile Tele Communications Ltd Motorola MP Telelinks Ltd. Munoth Communication Ltd

N

Nelco Ltd. Nokia India Nokia Siemens Networks Nortel Nu Tek India Ltd

O

Optel Tecommunications Ltd

P

Paramount Communications Ltd. Precision Electronics Ltd. Punjab Communications Ltd.

Q

Qualcomm India

R

Reliance Communications Ltd. RPG Cables Ltd

S

Shyam Telecom Ltd Southern Online Bio Technologies Ltd Spice Communications Ltd. Spice Mobiles Ltd Sterlite Technologies Ltd. Sujana Towers Ltd Surana Telecom & Power Ltd Surana Telecom Ltd.

T

Tamilnadu Telecommunications Ltd Tata Teleservices (Maharashtra) Ltd. TataCommunications Ltd Telecom Regulatory Authority of India Telecommunications Consultants India Ltd. Telephone Cables Ltd. Telephone Cables Ltd. Tulip Telecom Ltd

V

Valiant Communications Ltd. Videsh Sanchar Nigam Ltd. Vindhya Telelinks Ltd Vodafone Group Plc

X

XL Telecom & Energy Ltd.

COMPANY PROFILE:

Bharti Airtel

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Bharti Airtel Limited

Type Public

Traded as BSE: 532454 NSE : BHARTIARTL

BSE SENSEX Constituent

Industry Telecommunications

Founded 7 July 1995[1]

Founder(s) Sunil Bharti Mittal

Headquarters Bharti Crescent, 1, Nelson Mandela Road, New Delhi, India[1]

Area served South Asia, Africa, and theChannel Islands

Key people Sunil Bharti Mittal

(Chairman and MD)

Products Fixed line and mobile telephony,broadband and fixed-line internet services, digital television and IPTV

Revenue INR 419.31 billion (2012)[2]

Operating income 137.58 billion (2012)[2]

Profit 53,700 million (2012)[2]

Total assets 635.59 billion (2012)[2]

Total equity 18.98 billion (2012)[2]

Employees 21,299 (2012)[2]

Parent Bharti Enterprises (52.7%)[3][4]

SingTel (15.57%)[3][4]

Vodafone (4.4%)

Subsidiaries Airtel Africa

Airtel Digital TV

Airtel Sri Lanka

Airtel Bangladesh

Website www.airtel.com

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

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

and the Channel Islands. Airtel has a GSM network in all countries in which it operates, providing 2G, 3G

and 4G services depending upon the country of operation. Airtel is the world's third largest mobile

telecommunications company by subscribers, with over 275 million subscribers across 20 countries as of

July 2013.[5] It is the largest cellular service provider in India, with 192.22 million subscribers as of August

2013.[6] 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 fixed telephony in India,

and is also a provider of broadband andsubscription television services. It offers its telecom services under

the "airtel" brand, and is headed by Sunil Bharti Mittal. Bharti Airtel is the first Indian telecom service

provider to achieve Cisco Gold Certification.[7] It also acts as a carrier for national and international long

distance communication services. The company has a submarine cable landing station at Chennai, which

connects the submarine cable connecting Chennaiand Singapore.

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.[8] Its network—base stations, microwave links, etc.—is

maintained by Ericsson and Nokia Siemens Network[9] whereas IT support is provided by IBM,[10] and

transmission towers are maintained by another company (Bharti Infratel Ltd. in India).[11] 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).[12] 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.[13]

Contents

[hide]

1 History

2 Corporate Structure

3 Worldwide presence

4 Mobile Services

4.1 3G

4.2 4G

4.3 WiFi

4.4 airtel Money

4.5 SmartDrive

4.6 Network Experience Centre

4.7 iPhone

5 Telemedia

6 Digital Television

7 Enterprise

7.1 Mobile data service

7.2 Enterprise business solutions

7.3 Android-based tablet

8 International Operations

8.1 Africa

8.2 Bangladesh

8.3 Sri Lanka

8.4 Channel Islands: Jersey and Guernsey

9 Subscriber Base

9.1 India

10 One Network

11 Acquisitions and mergers

11.1 MTN Group merger negotiations

11.2 Zain

11.3 Telecom Seychelles

11.4 Wireless Business Services Private Limited

12 Joint Ventures

12.1 Airtel-Ericsson

13 Rebranding

14 Sponsorship

15 Signature Tune

16 Green Initiative

17 Timeline

18 See also

19 References

20 External links

History[edit]

This section does not cite any references or sources. Please help improve this section by

sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (October 2012)

Sunil Bharti Mittal founded the Bharti Group. In 1983, Mittal was in an agreement with Germany's Siemens

to manufacture push-button telephone models for the Indian market. In 1986, Mittal incorporated Bharti

Telecom Limited (BTL), and his company became the first in India to offer push-button telephones,

establishing the basis of Bharti Enterprises. By the early 1990s, Sunil Mittal had also launched the

country's first fax machines and its first cordless telephones. In 1992, Mittal won a bid to build a cellular

phone network in Delhi. In 1995, Mittal incorporated the cellular operations as Bharti Tele-Ventures and

launched service in Delhi. In 1996, cellular service was extended to Himachal Pradesh. In 1999, Bharti

Enterprises acquired control of JT Holdings, and extended cellular operations to Karnataka and Andhra

Pradesh. In 2000, Bharti acquired control of Skycell Communications, in Chennai. In 2001, the company

acquired control of Spice Cell in Calcutta. Bharti Enterprises went public in 2002, and the company was

listed on Bombay Stock Exchange and National Stock Exchange of India. In 2003, the cellular phone

operations were rebranded under the single Airtel brand. In 2004, Bharti acquired control of Hexacom and

entered Rajasthan. In 2005, Bharti extended its network to Andaman and Nicobar. This expansion allowed

it to offer voice services all across India. In 2009, Airtel launched its first international mobile network in Sri

Lanka. In 2010, Airtel acquired the African operations of the Kuwait based ZainTelecom. In March 2012,

Airtel launched a mobile operation in Rwanda. [14]

Airtel Centre, Gurgaon

Airtel launched "Hello Tunes", a Caller ring back tone service (CRBT), in July 2004 becoming to the first

operator in India to do so. The Airtel theme song, composed by A.R. Rahman, was the most popular tune

on that year.[15]

On 26 February 2013, Airtel announced that it had deployed Ericsson’s Mobile Broadband Charging (MBC)

solution and completely modernized its prepaid services for its subscribers in India. As a part of the deal,

Ericsson’s multi service MBC suite allows prepaid customers to have personalized profile based data

charging plans. Prepaid customers will be able to customize their data plans across mobility, fixed line and

broadband by cross bundling across multiple domains (2G, 3G, 4G/LTE & Wi-Fi). It will also offer flexible

multi service charging in geographical redundant mode, making Airtel the first operator to implement

geographical redundancy at such a large scale.[16] In May 2013, Bharti Infotel paid Rs 50,000 as

compensation to a customer "for unfair trade practices". The customer alleged that the company

continued to aggressively demand payment despite customer requests for disconnection of service.[17]

Corporate Structure[edit]

This section does not cite any references or sources. Please help improve this section by

sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (October 2012)

Airtel's initial corporate structure concentrated on the hierarchy of the operations inside the company as a

whole. The structure depicted the corresponding operation/region of different in-charges and it didn't hold

anyone responsible for each of its services. So, the company found it better to restructure its corporate

hierarchy. The transformed organisational structure has two distinct Customer Business Units (CBU) with

clear focus on B2C (Business to Customer) and B2B (Business to Business) segments. Bharti Airtel's B2C

business unit will comprehensively service the retail consumers, homes and small offices, by combining

the erstwhile business units - Mobile, Telemedia, Digital TV, and other emerging businesses (like M-

commerce, M-health, M-advertising etc.). The B2C organization will consist of Consumer Business and

Market Operations.

Worldwide presence[edit]

Coverage map of Bharti Airtel across 20 countries

Airtel is the one of the largest mobile operator in the world in terms of subscriber base and has a

commercial presence in 20 countries and the Channel Islands.

Its area of operations include:

The Indian Subcontinent:

Airtel Bangladesh, in Bangladesh

Airtel, in India

Airtel Sri Lanka, in Sri Lanka

Airtel Africa, which operates in 17 African countries:

Burkina Faso, Chad, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Republic of the Congo, Gabon, Ghana,

Kenya, Madagascar, Malawi, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Tanzania,

Uganda and Zambia.

The British Crown Dependency islands of Jersey and Guernsey, under the brand name Airtel-

Vodafone, through an agreement with Vodafone.

Airtel operates in the following countries:

Country Site Remarks

Bangladesh Airtel Bangladesh Airtel Bangladesh had about 8 million customers as on Sep 2013.

Burkina FasoAirtel Burkina

Faso

Airtel Burkina Faso is the dominant player with 1,433,000 customers representing 50%

market share.[19]

Chad Airtel Chad Airtel Chad is the #1 operator with 69% market share.[19]

Democratic Republic of

the CongoAirtel DRC Airtel is the market leader with almost 5 million customers at the end of 2010.

Gabon Airtel Gabon Airtel Gabon has 829,000 customers and its market share stood at 61%.

Ghana Airtel Ghana Airtel Ghana had about 1.76 million customers at the end of 2010.

India Airtel Airtel is the market leader with almost 193.4 million customers as on Sept 30, 2013.

Kenya Airtel Kenya Airtel Kenya is the second largest operator and has 4 million customers.

MadagascarAirtel

Madagascar

Airtel holds second place in the mobile telecom market in Madagascar, has a 39% market

share and over 1.4 million customers.[19]

Malawi Airtel Malawi Airtel Malawi is the market leader with a market share of 72%.

Niger Airtel Niger Airtel Niger is the market leader with a 68% market share.

Nigeria Airtel Nigeria

Republic of the Congo Airtel Congo B Airtel Congo is the market leader with a 55% market share.

Rwanda Airtel Rwanda Airtel launched services in Rwanda on 30 March 2012.[24]

Seychelles Airtel SeychellesAirtel is the leading comprehensive telecommunications services providers with over 55%

market share of mobile market in Seychelles.[25]

Sierra Leone Airtel Sierra Leone

Sri Lanka Airtel Sri LankaAirtel Sri Lanka commenced operations on 12 January 2009. It had about 1.8 million mobile

customers at the end of 2010.[21]

Tanzania Airtel Tanzania Airtel Tanzania is the market leader with a 38% market share.

Uganda Airtel Uganda Airtel Uganda stands as the #2 operator with a market share of 38%.

Zambia Airtel Zambia Airtel Zambia is the market leader with 69% market share.

Channel Islands† : Jersey

GuernseyAirtel Vodafone

Airtel operates in the Channel Islands under the brand name Airtel–Vodafone through an

agreement with Vodafone.

†Jersey and Guernsey are British Crown Dependencies. They are not independent countries. Therefore,

Airtel's countries of operation is considered to be 20.

Mobile Services[edit]

Airtel operates in all telecom circles of India. Its network is present in 5,121 census towns and 457,053

non-census towns and villages, covering approximately 86.6% of the country’s population as of September

2012.[26] Airtel is the largest operator in rural India with 83.82 million subscribers as of April 2013.[27]

Airtel is the 6th most valued brand according to an annual survey conducted by Brand Finance and The

Economic Times in 2010.[28][29]

3G[edit]

On 18 May 2010, the 3G spectrum auction was completed and Airtel paid the Indian government 122.95

billion (US$2.0 billion) for spectrum in 13 circles, the most amount spent by an operator in that auction.

Airtel won 3G licences in 13 telecom circles of India: Delhi, Mumbai, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamil

Nadu, Uttar Pradesh (West), Rajasthan, West Bengal, Himachal Pradesh,Bihar, Assam, North East, and

Jammu & Kashmir.[30] Airtel also operates 3G services in Maharastra & Goa and Kolkata circles through an

agreement with Vodafone and in Gujarat through an agreement with Idea. This gives Airtel a 3G presence

in 15 out of 22 circles in India. Airtel is fined by DoT 350 Crores for not stopping offering 3G Services

through Roaming Pacts outside its Licensed Zones in Seven Circles.

On 20 September 2010, Bharti Airtel said that it had given contracts to Ericsson India, Nokia Siemens

Networks (NSN) and Huawei Technologies to set up infrastructure for providing 3G services in the country.

These vendors would plan, design, deploy and maintain 3G–HSPA (third generation, high speed packet

access) networks in 13 telecom circles where the company had won 3G licences. While Airtel awarded

network contracts for seven 3G circles to Ericsson India, NSN would manage networks in three circles.

Chinese telecom equipment vendor Huawei Technologies was introduced as the third partner for three

circles.[31]

On 24 January 2011, Airtel launched 3G services in Bangalore, Karnataka — its largest circle by revenue.

With this launch, Airtel became the third private operator (fifth overall) to launch its 3G services in the

country following Tata Docomo and Reliance Communications.[32] On 27 January 2011, Airtel launched 3G in

Chennai and Coimbatore in Tamil Nadu. On 27 July 2011, 3G services were launched in Kerala's 3 largest

cities - Kochi, Kozhikode and Thiruvananthapuram.[33]

Airtel 3G services are available in 200 cities through its network and in 500 cities through intra-circle

roaming arrangements with other operators. Airtel had about 5.4 million 3G customers of which 4 million

are 3G data customers as of September 2012.[26]

4G[edit]

On 19 May 2010, the broadband wireless access (BWA) or 4G spectrum auction in India ended. Airtel paid

33.1436 billion (US$530 million) for spectrum in 4 circles: Maharashtra and Goa,Karnataka, Punjab and

Kolkata.[34] The company was allocated 20 MHz of BWA spectrum in 2.3 GHz frequency band. Airtel's TD-LTE

network is built and operated by ZTE in Kolkata andPunjab, Huawei in Karnataka, and Nokia Siemens

Networks in Maharashtra and Goa.[35] On 10 April 2012, Airtel launched 4G services using TD-LTE

technology in Kolkata, becoming the first company in India to offer 4G services. The Kolkata launch was

followed by launches in Bangalore (7 May 2012),[36] Pune (18 October 2012),[37] and Chandigarh, Mohali and

Panchkula (25 March 2013).[38]

Airtel plans to provide voice services for its TD-LTE subscribers through its existing GSM network, which

would make it the only operator in India to combine voice with TD-LTE services through GSM network. Airtel

selected Nokia Siemens Networks to deploy its Circuit Switched FallBack (CSFB) voice solution in Airtel’s

TD-LTE network in Pune. With CSFB, the network can transfer customers to GSM platform to make and

receive voice calls while retaining the TD-LTE network for data services.[39] In December 2013 Bharti Airtel

announced that it is ready to introduce much-awaited voice calling facility on its existing 4G LTE network in

Bangalore.[40]

Airtel had 20,000 4G subscribers as of March 2013.[41]

Airtel obtained 4G licences and spectrum in the telecom circles of Delhi, Haryana, Kerala and Mumbai after

acquiring Wireless Business Services Private Limited, a joint venture founded by Qualcomm, which had

won BWA spectrum in those circles in the 4G spectrum auction.[42]

WiFi[edit]

Airtel has plans to launch WiFi services in India. It intends to start offering WiFi services in Delhi NCR,

Mumbai and Bangalore in initial phase. All plans will be on secure wireless broadband internet with

unlimited usage and will be session or time based. Users can use the service by finding a hotspot,

selecting 'airtel WiFi Zone', activating the voucher and then login to start browsing.

Airtel intends to partner with establishments to set up hotspots which will be termed WiFi Hangout for an

establishment owner and WiFi Partner for the cafe and restaurant owners. Airtel WiFi Partners can offer

services at zero investments and can earn commission on every WiFi session sold.[43]

airtel Money[edit]

Airtel has started a new mCommerce platform called Airtel Money in collaboration with Infosys and

SmartTrust (now Giesecke & Devrient). The platform was launched on 5 April 2012, at Infosys'

headquarters in Bangalore. Using Airtel Money, users can transfer money, pay bills and perform other

financial transactions directly on the mobile phone. [44]

SmartDrive[edit]

SmartDrive is navigation app exclusive to Airtel customers. The app features voice-based turn by turn

navigation, real time information update on traffic, approximate time of the travel on the basis of the traffic

situation on the various routes and also lets users see their location on the map and plan the journey

accordingly. It also suggests the subscriber an alternate route in case of traffic congestion on the normal

route. According to Airtel, SmartDrive calculates the traffic on the basis of the number of GPS devices used

on a particular road, their average speed, as well as historical trends of traffic on that route. SmartDrive

also allows users to search for points of interest like restaurants, theatres and shopping malls. The app also

allows users to keep a record of all trips they make when using voice navigation for later reference through

the 'Trip Recorder' feature, Wikipedia information of places for which information is available and the ability

to add frequently visited locations to favorites, in addition to weather information about the place.

Airtel will offer navigation at 10 per day or 99 per month. Live traffic will be cost 3 per day or 49 per

month. Search and map viewer are available for free. The costs do not include data charges. Airtel states

in SmartDrive's FAQ that data is only used when the user performs searches or calculates routes.

The app is developed by Wisepilot, a mobile navigation solutions provider and uses Navteq Maps for

location and traffic info.[45] It was launched on 12 September 2012.[46] At the time of launch, it was available

only in Bangalore, Mumbai and NCR.[47] Services are currently available in Chennai.[48] Service will be

expanded to Pune and Hyderabad by December 2012.

Network Experience Centre[edit]

Airtel has a Network Experience Centre (NEC) which observes end to end customer experience, in near real

time, along with the standard network elements on Airtel's operations. The NEC is located in Manesar,

Haryana and went live on 31 October 2012. It is the first such facility in India and will be able to monitor

Airtel's network performance across mobile, fixed line, broadband,DTH, M-Commerce, enterprise services,

International Cable Systems and internet peering points from a single location. It will monitor all Airtel and

partner NOCs. In case of an emergency, the NEC will enable the operator to prioritize actions to restore

normalcy and reduce resolution time.

The NEC houses a video wall with 3600 square feet of solid state LED screen to monitor Airtel's telecom

network. This is the world's biggest video wall for a telecom operator. Each cube in this wall is 1.6mx1.2 m

and there are 175 cubes arranged in a 25x7 matrix.[49] The clear span of the roof is 49 m x 18 m and the

beams, which are fireproof and about 8 feet deep, have been specially designed to hold the structure

without columns. The NEC was designed specifically to be used as a command center in case of national

emergencies and natural catastrophes. The facility is earthquake proof and also provides for a single

control of command and a fully redundant technology layout.[50]

iPhone[edit]

The iPhone 3G was rolled out in India in 2008 by Airtel. However, high prices and contract bonds

discouraged consumers and it was not as successful as the iPhone is in other markets of the world. Airtel

introduced the iPhone 4 on 27 May 2011 and the iPhone 5 on 2 November 2012.[51]

Telemedia[edit]

Airtel Broadband Blocking TPB

Under the Telemedia segment, Airtel provides broadband internet access through DSL, internet leased lines

as well as MPLS (multiprotocol label switching) solutions, as well as IPTV and fixed line telephone services.

Until 18 September 2004, Bharti provided fixed line telephony and broadband services under the Touchtel

brand. Bharti now provides all telecom services including fixed line services under a common brand airtel.

As of September 2012, Airtel provides Telemedia services to 3.3 million customers in 87 cities.[26] As on 30

November 2012, Airtel had 1.39 million broadband subscribers.[52]

Airtel Broadband provides broadband and IPTV services. Airtel provides both capped as well as unlimited

download plans. However, Airtel's unlimited plans are subject to free usage policy (FUP), which reduces

speed after the customer crosses a certain data usage limit. In some plans, Airtel provides only 256kbit/s

beyond FUP, which is lower than the TRAI specified limit of half the subscriber's original speed.[53][54] The

maximum speed available for home users is 16Mbit/s.

In May 2012, Airtel Broadband and some other Indian ISPs temporarily blocked file sharing websites such

as vimeo.com megavideo.com,thepiratebay.se etc. with out giving any legal information to the customers.

The block was due to a Madras High Court issued ‘John Doe’ order taken by Chennai-based Copyright Lab.

[55] In response to a petition filed by Vinay B, a resident of Shimoga, Karnataka, the District Consumer

Disputes Redressal Forum ordered Airtel to pay 20,000 to the petitioner for "deficiency in internet

service" thereby causing mental agony to the complainant. "By misinterpreting the Madras High Court

order, Airtel blocked entire websites. It is needless to say that the company’s actions amount to deficiency

in service as well as unfair trade practice," said the forum.[56][57]

Digital Television[edit]

Main article: Airtel digital TV

The Digital TV business provides Direct-to-Home (DTH) TV services across India under the brand name

Airtel digital TV. It started services on 9 October 2008 and had about 7.9 million customers at the end of

December 2012.[58]

Enterprise[edit]

The Enterprise business provides end-to-end telecom solutions to corporate customers and national and

international long distance services to telcos through its nationwide fiber optic backbone, last mile

connectivity in fixed-line and mobile circles, VSATs, ISP and international bandwidth access through the

gateways and landing stations. It has two sections under it.

Mobile data service[edit]

The different services under mobile data are BlackBerry services, a web-enabled mobile email solution

working on 'Push Technology', USB modem that helps in getting instant access to Internet and corporate

applications, Airtel Data Card that gives the liberty to access the internet anytime, Easy Mail is a platform

that provides access to personal/corporate e-mails independent of handset operating system and

application services that shorten the queues at the billing section, off-load the pressure on the billing staff

and bring convenience to the user.

Enterprise business solutions[edit]

There are two kind of solutions offered by Airtel. One is GPRS Based Solutions like mobile applications tools

for enterprise, TrackMate, automatic meter reading solutions etc. and the other is SMS Based Solutions like

interactive sms, bulk sms, inbound call center solutions.

Android-based tablet[edit]

Beetel Teletech Ltd., a unit of Bharti Enterprises Ltd., on 18 August launched a 9,999 ($220) 7-inch tablet

in India based on Google Inc.'s Android operating system. The offering is intended to capitalize on the

expected demand for cheap computing devices in the world's fastest-growing and second-largest mobile

phone market.[59]

International Operations[edit]

Africa[edit]

Main article: Airtel Africa

Airtel Africa is a subsidiary of Indian telecommunications company Airtel, that operates in 17 countries

across Africa. It operates a GSM network in all countries, providing 2G or 3G depending upon the country of

operation

In March 2010, Bharti struck a deal to buy the Kuwaiti firm's mobile operations in 15 African countries, in

India's second biggest overseas acquisition after Tata Steel's $13 billion buy of Corus in 2007. Bharti Airtel

completed its $9 billion acquisition of African operations from Kuwait's Zain, making the firm the world's

No. 5 wireless carrier by subscribers.

On 11 August 2010, Bharti Airtel announced that it would acquire a 100% stake in Telecom Seychelles for

US$62 million taking its global presence to 19 countries. Telecom Seychelles began operations in 1998 and

operates 3G, Fixed Line, ship to shore services satellite telephony, among value added services like VSAT

and Gateways for International Traffic across the Seychelles under the Airtel brand. The company has over

57% share of the mobile market of Seychelles.[60] Airtel announced plans to invest US$10 million in its fixed

and mobile telecoms network in the Seychelles over three years, whilst also participating in the Seychelles

East Africa submarine cable (SEAS) project. The US$34 million SEAS project is aimed at improving the

Seychelles’ global connectivity by building a 2,000 km undersea high speed link to Dar es Salaam in

Tanzania.[61]

Bangladesh[edit]

Main article: Airtel Bangladesh

Airtel Bangladesh Ltd. is a GSM-based cellular operator in Bangladesh. Airtel is the sixth mobile phone

carrier to enter the Bangladesh market, and originally launched commercial operations under the brand

name "Warid Telecom" on May 10, 2007. Warid Telecom International LLC, an Abu Dhabi based consortium,

sold a majority 70% stake in the company to India's Bharti Airtel Limited for US$300 million.[62]

Bharti Airtel made a fresh investment of US$300 million to rapidly expand the operations of Warid Telecom

and have management and board control of the company. This is the largest investment in Bangladesh by

an Indian company. Dhabi Group continues as a strategic partner retaining 30% shareholding and has its

nominees on the Board of the Company.

Sri Lanka[edit]

Main article: Bharti Airtel Lanka

Bharti Airtel Lanka (Pvt) Ltd is a subsidiary of Bharti Airtel Limited, the third largest mobile operator in

the world, with over 240 million mobile customers as of December 2011.[63] Bharti Airtel has been featured

in Forbes Asia's Fab 50 list, rated amongst the best performing companies in the world in the

BusinessWeek IT 100 list 2007, and voted as India's most innovative company in a survey by The Wall

Street Journal

Airtel Lanka commenced commercial operations of services on 13 January 2009. Granted a licence in 2007

in accordance with the Sri Lanka Telecommunications Act No. 25 of 1991, it is also a registered company

under the Board of Investment Sri Lanka. Under the license, the company provides digital mobile services

to Sri Lanka. This is inclusive of voice telephony, voice mail, data services and GSM based services. All of

these services are provided under the airtel brand.

Channel Islands: Jersey and Guernsey[edit]

Main article: Airtel-Vodafone

On 1 May 2007, Jersey Airtel and Guernsey Airtel, both wholly owned subsidiaries of the Bharti Group,

announced they would launch mobile services in the British Crown Dependency islands ofJersey and

Guernsey[64][65] under the brand name Airtel-Vodafone after signing an agreement with Vodafone. Airtel-

Vodafone operates a 3G network in Jersey and Guernsey.

Subscriber Base[edit]

Bharti Airtel has about 243.336 million subscribers worldwide—232.95 million in India and South Asia and

50.949 million in Africa as of the end of December 2011. The numbers include mobile services subscribers

in 19 countries and Indian Telemedia services and Digital services subscribers.[5]

India[edit]

The Airtel wireless subscriber base according to Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) as of

November 2012 was:

Metros

Delhi – 9,105,718

Mumbai – 3,58,7060

Kolkata – 3,606,616

Chennai – 3,428,293

"A" Circle

Andhra Pradesh – 18,041,904

Gujarat – 6,927,459

Karnataka – 16,044,964

Maharashtra – 9,849,973

Tamil Nadu – 10,094,293

"B" Circle

Haryana – 2,267,166

Kerala – 3,393,868

Madhya Pradesh – 9,675,239

Punjab – 6,851,338

Rajasthan – 14,385,762

Uttar Pradesh (East) – 15,105,455

Uttar Pradesh (West) – 6,556,052

West Bengal – 9,084,371

"C" Circle

Assam – 3,809,218

Bihar – 18,527,460

Himachal Pradesh – 1,915,405

Jammu and Kashmir – 2,300,268

North East India (excluding Assam) – 2,551,134

Orissa – 6,696,681

Airtel is the market leader in India with about 183 million wireless subscribers in India or about 20.62%

market share at the end of November 2012. In 2013 version of the The Brand Trust Reportpublished by

Trust Research Advisory, Airtel is placed as the most trusted mobile operator brand in India.

One Network[edit]

One Network is a borderless mobile phone network across all Airtel operating countries which enables

customers to move freely between the countries in which Airtel operates, and be treated as "virtual" local

customers of the visited network in terms of pricing, while retaining their home network service

functionality. It is the world’s first free intercontinental incoming roaming service. Airtel customers in Africa

not need to register for the One Network service or buy new SIM cards as the is enabled automatically. One

Network allows customers traveling to One Network countries to make outgoing calls/SMS at the same

rates as local customers and recharge with local top-up cards or with home network top up cards while

using the same number and SIM. Receiving incoming calls is free.[66]

Airtel offers the service currently to its Africa customers traveling to any of the following 27 countries. In 8

of these countries, the One Network is operated in partnership with other mobile operators. Airtel plans to

extend the service to its South Asia customers soon.

S. No. Country Network

1 Burkina Faso Airtel

2 Bangladesh Airtel

3 Chad Airtel

4Channels Islands: Jersey and

GuernseyAirtel

5 Democratic Republic of the Congo Airtel

6 Gabon Airtel

7 Ghana Airtel

8 India Airtel

9 Kenya Airtel

10 Madagascar Airtel

11 Malawi Airtel

12 Niger Airtel

13 Nigeria Airtel

14 Republic of the Congo Airtel

15 Sierra Leone Airtel

16 Seychelles Airtel

17 Sri Lanka Airtel

18 Tanzania Airtel

19 Uganda Airtel

20 Bahrain Zain

21 Iraq Zain

22 Jordan Zain

23 Kuwait Zain

24 Saudi Arabia Zain

25 Sudan Zain

26 South Africa Cell C

27 Egypt Mobinil

Acquisitions and mergers[edit]

MTN Group merger negotiations[edit]

In May 2008, it emerged that Airtel was exploring the possibility of buying the MTN Group, a South Africa-

based telecommunications company with operations in 21 countries in Africa and theMiddle East. The

Financial Times reported that Bharti was considering offering US$45 billion for a 100% stake in MTN, which

would be the largest overseas acquisition ever by an Indian firm. However, both sides emphasized the

tentative nature of the talks. The Economist magazine noted, "If anything, Bharti would be marrying up",

as MTN had more subscribers, higher revenues and broader geographic coverage.[67] However, the talks fell

apart as MTN Group tried to reverse the negotiations by making Bharti almost a subsidiary of the new

company.[68]

In May 2009, Airtel confirmed that it was again in talks with MTN and both companies agreed to discuss

the potential transaction exclusively by 31 July 2009.[69] Airtel said in a statement "Bharti Airtel Ltd is

pleased to announce that it has renewed its effort for a significant partnership with MTN Group".[70] The

exclusivity period was extended twice up to 30 September 2009. Talks eventually ended without

agreement and on 30 September 2009, Bharti released a statement saying that it had decided to

disengage from discussions with the MTN Group when the exclusivity period ended. Informa analyst

Matthew Reed, noted that a reported factor in the failure was South Africa’s worry that control of MTN,

which is perceived as a national champion, could pass into foreign hands. The South African government is

MTN’s biggest shareholder. Bharti said in a statement regarding the failure, "We hope the South African

government will review its position in the future and allow both companies an opportunity to re-engage".[71]

A solution was proposed where the new company would be listed on 2 stock exchanges, one in South

Africa and one in India. However, dual-listing of companies is not permitted by Indian law.[72]

Zain[edit]

In March 2010, Bharti struck a deal to buy Zain's mobile operations in 15 African countries, in India's

second biggest overseas acquisition after Tata Steel's $13 billion buy of Corus in 2007. Bharti Airtel

completed its $10.7 billion acquisition of African operations from Kuwaiti firm, making the Airtel the world's

fifth largest wireless carrier by subscriber base. Airtel has reported that its revenues for the fourth quarter

of 2010 grew by 53% to US$3.2 billion compared to the previous year, newly acquired Zain Africa division

contributed US$911 million to the total. However, net profits dropped by 41% from US$470 million in 2009

to US$291 million 2010 due to a US$188 million increase in radio spectrum charges in India and an

increase of US$106 million in debt interest.[citation needed]

Telecom Seychelles[edit]

On 11 August 2010, Bharti Airtel announced that it would acquire 100% stake in Telecom Seychelles for

US$62 million taking its global presence to 19 countries. Telecom Seychelles began operations in 1998 and

operates 3G, Fixed Line, ship to shore services satellite telephony, among value added services like VSAT

and Gateways for International Traffic across the Seychelles under the Airtel brand. The company has over

57% share of the mobile market of Seychelles.[60] Airtel announced plans to invest US$10 million in its fixed

and mobile telecoms network in the Seychelles over three years, whilst also participating in the Seychelles

East Africa submarine cable (SEAS) project. The US$34 million SEAS project is aimed at improving the

Seychelles’ global connectivity by building a 2,000 km undersea high speed link to Dar es Salaam in

Tanzania.[73]

Wireless Business Services Private Limited[edit]On 24 May 2012, Airtel announced an agreement to acquire a 49% stake in Wireless Business Services Private Limited (WBSPL) at an investment of 907 crore (US$165 million). Airtel bought 26% in WBSPL from

Global Holding Corporation and Tulip Telecom and the balance 23% by subscribing to fresh equity of Qualcomm. Global Holding Corporation and Tulip Telecom had bought 13% each in the BWA entities for US$57.72 million (about 268 crore) in 2010.[74][75][76][77][78][79] WBSPL was a joint venture founded by Qualcomm, and held BWA spectrum in the telecom circles of Delhi, Haryana, Kerala and Mumbai.[80] Qualcomm had spent US$1 billion to acquire BWA spectrum in those 4 circles.[81] The deal gave Airtel a 4G presence in 8 circles.[74][76][77][78][79][82] At the time of purchasing the BWA spectrum, Global Holding Corp and Tulip Telecom had a 13% stake each in the company, while Qualcomm Asia Pacific had the remaining 74% stake. Qualcomm Asia Pacific gradually reduced its stake to 6.55%, while Airtel acquired a 93.45% stake.[83]

On 4 July 2013, Airtel announced that it had acquired an additional 2% equity share capital (making its stake 51%)[84] in all the four BWA entities of Qualcomm, thereby making them its subsidiaries.[85] On 18 October 2013, Airtel announced that it had acquired 100 percent equity shares of WBSPL for an undisclosed sum,[86][87] making it a wholly owned subsidiary.