SlideShare a Scribd company logo
1
CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION
2
CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION
A competitive analysis is a critical part of your company marketing plan. With this evaluation,
you can establish what makes your product or service unique--and therefore what attributes you
play up in order to attract your target market.
Competitor analysis includes :
Strategic Management
Strategic Management is all about identification and description of the strategies that
managers can carry so as to achieve better performance and a competitive advantage for their
organization. An organization is said to have competitive advantage if its profitability is higher
than the average profitability for all companies in its industry.
3
Strategic management can also be defined as a bundle of decisions and acts which a manager
undertakes and which decides the result of the firm’s performance.
They should conduct a SWOT Analysis (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats),
i.e., they should make best possible utilization of strengths, minimize the organizational
weaknesses, make use of arising opportunities from the business environment and shouldn’t
ignore the threats.
Strategic management is nothing but planning for both predictable as well as unfeasible
contingencies. It is applicable to both small as well as large organizations as even the smallest
organization face competition and, by formulating and implementing appropriate strategies, they
can attain sustainable competitive advantage.
Strategic management is a continuous process that evaluates and controls the business and the
industries in which an organization is involved; evaluates its competitors and sets goals and
strategies to meet all existing and potential competitors; and then reevaluates strategies on a
4
regular basis to determine how it has been implemented and whether it was successful or does it
needs replacement.
Strategic Management gives a broader perspective to the employees of an organization and they
can better understand how their job fits into the entire organizational plan and how it is co-
related to other organizational members. It is nothing but the art of managing employees in a
manner which maximizes the ability of achieving business objectives. The employees become
more trustworthy, more committed and more satisfied as they can co-relate themselves very well
with each organizational task. They can understand the reaction of environmental changes on the
organization and the probable response of the organization with the help of strategic
management. Thus the employees can judge the impact of such changes on their own job and can
effectively face the changes. The managers and employees must do appropriate things in
appropriate manner. They need to be both effective as well as efficient.
1.1 NEED OF THE STUDY:
1. There are several important elements of competitive analysis, each of which need to be carefully
studied if one hopes to transform competitive analysis activities into business profitability. Major
aspects of competitive analysis include the following:
2. Defining Competitors
3. Analysis of competitor strengths and weakness
4. Analysis of internal strength and weakness
5. Analysis of customer needs and wants. In the present day dynamic busuness
environment, it is essential that every organisation has to observe his competitors and
their strategies on a continuous basis in order to be competitive and to understand the
needs and wants of he customers.
1.2 SCOPE OF THE STUDY:
Scope defines the products offered to the market and the customers that purchase them. It needs
to incorporate both “static” and “dynamic” analysis. A static analysis defines where the
competitor is and what it is doing at the present time. Dynamic analysis refers to move
competitor and how they are making over time in its choice of products or customers and both.
Customer segments may be identified by needs or the demographics tied to those need states
5
1.3 OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY:
1. To awareness about the BSNL mobiles and broadband services.
2 .To understand the level of the satisfaction with BSNL services.
3 .To ascertain the customer preference of service provider while availing the service.
1.4RESEARCH METHODOLOGY :
Every business works on an explicit or implicit “business plan”, which
comprises of both the corporate and the competitive strategies of the firm.
To implement the above two strategies there are functional areas, which have their own
strategies and plan. The major functional areas of business are marketing, production, finance,
human resource management.
Marketing research plays an important role in deciding on the market strategy by providing
information necessary for choosing an appropriate strategy. This could be termed as marketing
research at strategic level of marketing.
1.4.1 PRIMARY DATA
The primary data is collected by conducting the field survey with the help of the
structure questionnaire and by administering this questionnaire on the sample of
respondents.
1.4.2 SECONDARY DATA:
The secondary data are usually of two types internal and external.
 Internal records of the company are used as the point of the marketing research. This
includes information about the product being researched, its history, company’s
background, market share and Competitors. These types of information were
collected from the marketing department, sales department and corporate cell for
marketing intelligence in the company.
 External secondary data contains information available from public sources such
as business newspapers, business magazines. A prominent source of data is the
6
CMIE (Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy). which publishes monthly reports on
various aspects of Indian economy and Industry.
1.4.3 STATISTICAL TOOLS:
The data thus obtained through the survey was analysed with the help of statistical
tools such as bar diagrams and sample percentages.
1.4.4 SAMPLING:
1. The sample size taken for the above study is 60.
2. Convenient sampling method has been adopted for the study.
3. Samples are taken from the BSNL customer service centres in hyderbad and also from
the employees of BSNL.
4. 60 samples has been chosen from Hyderabad ,Gachibowli, madeenaguda, kukatpally
and balnagar.
1.5 LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY:
1.The research had to be conducted with in some of the places of Hyderabad, and
the report had to be made on basis of the findings which could be in minor differences from the
facts and figures from all over India.
2. There were some questions which the BSNL officials were not ready to answer
Like for example, the exact reason behind losing market share and exact reason for
customer dissatisfaction.
3. Time constraint was also a one of the major factors which prevented me from
conducting a research in depth
7
CHAPTER 2
REVIEW OF LITERATURE
8
CHAPTER 2
REVIEW OF LITERATURE
2.1 REVIEWS BY EXPERTS:
The foundation of telecom network in India was laid by the British
sometimes in 19th century. The history of BSNL is linked with the beginning of telecom in
India. In 19th century and for almost entire 20th century, the telecom in India was operated as a
government of India wing. Earlier it was part of erstwhile post & telegraph department (P&T). In
1975 the department of telecom (Dot) was separated from p & t. Dot was responsible for running
of telecom services in entire country until 1985 when Mahan Nagar Telecom Telephone Nigam
limited (MTNL) was carved out of dot to run the telecom services of Delhi and Mumbai. It is a
well known fact that BSNL was carved out of department of telecom to provide level playing
field to provide telecoms. Subsequently in 1990s the telecom sector was opened up by the
government for private investment therefore it became necessary to separate the government
policy wing from operations wing. The government of India corporatized the operations wing of
dot on October 01, 2000 and named it is Bharat Sanchar Nigam limited (BSNL). BSNL operates
as a public sector.
Customer satisfaction is defined as “the number of customers or percentage of total customers,
whose reported experience with a firm, its products, or its services (ratings) exceeds specified
satisfaction goals.”
Stephan A.Butscher
In a competitive marketplace where businesses compete for customers, customer satisfaction is
seen as a key differentiator and increasingly has become a key element of business strategy.
A.T.Kearney
Organizations need to retain existing customers while targeting non-customers.
Steven Wheeler
9
It is essential for firms to effectively manage customer satisfaction. To be able do this, we need
accurate measurement of satisfaction.
Parasuraman, Zeithaml and berry
Hedonic benefits are associated with the sensory and experiential attributes of the product.
Utilitarian benefits of a product are associated with the more instrumental and functional
attributes of the product.
Batra and Athol,a 1990.
Six-item 7-point bipolar scale by Wirtz& Lee (2003), that consistently performed best across
both hedonic and utilitarian services loaded most highly on satisfaction, had the highest item
reliability, and had by far the lowest error variance across both studies. In the study, the six items
asked respondents evaluation of their most recent experience with ATM services and ice cream
restaurant, along seven points within these six items: “please me to displeased me”, “contented
with to disgusted with”, “very satisfied with to very dissatisfied with”, “did a good job for me to
did a poor job for me”, “wise choice to poor choice” and “happy with to unhappy with”.
A semantic differential (4 items) scale by Eroglu and Machleit (1990), which is a four item 7-
point bipolar scale, was the second best performing measure, which was again consistent across
both contexts. In the study, respondents were asked to evaluate their experience with both
products, along seven points within these four items: “satisfied to dissatisfied”, “favourable to
unfavourable”, “pleasant to unpleasant”, and “I like it very much to I didn’t like it at all”.
The third best scale was single-item percentage measure, a one-item 7-point bipolar scale by
Westbrook (1980). Again, the respondents were asked to evaluate their experience on both
ATM services and ice cream restaurants, along seven points within “delighted to terrible”.
10
2.2 INTRODUCTION:
Competitor analysis in marketing and strategic management is an assessment of the
strengths and weaknesses of current and potential competitors. This analysis provides both an
offensive and defensive strategic context to identify opportunities and threats. Profiling coalesces
all of the relevant sources of competitor analysis into one framework in the support of efficient
and effective strategy formulation, implementation, monitoring and adjustment.
2.3 COMPETIVE ANALYSIS:
One common and useful technique is constructing a competitor array. The steps include:
 Define your industry – scope and nature of the industry.
 Determine who your competitors are.
 Determine who your customers are and what benefits they expect.
 Determine what the key success factors are in your industry.
 Rank the key success factors by giving each one a weighting – The sum of all the weightings
must add up to one.
 Rate each competitor on each of the key success factors.
 Multiply each cell in the matrix by the factor weighting.
This can best be displayed on a two dimensional matrix – competitors along the top and key
success factors down the side.
11
An example of a competitor array follows.
Key Industry
Success Factors
Weighting
Competitor
#1 rating
Competitor
#1 weighted
Competitor
#2 rating
Competitor
#2 weighted
1 - Extensive distribution .4 6 2.4 3 1.2
2 - Customer focus .3 4 1.2 5 1.5
3 - Economies of scale .2 3 .6 3 .6
4 - Product innovation .1 7 .7 4 .4
12
Totals 1.0 20 4.9 15 3.7
13
2.4 COMPETITOR’S PROFILE:
The strategic rationale of competitor profiling is powerfully simple. Superior knowledge of rivals
offers a legitimate source of competitive advantage. The raw material of competitive advantage
consists of offering superior customer value in the firm’s chosen market. The definitive
characteristic of customer value is the adjective, superior. Customer value is defined relative to
rival offerings making competitor knowledge an intrinsic component of corporate strategy.
Profiling facilitates this strategic objective in three important ways.
First, profiling can reveal strategic weaknesses in rivals that the firm may exploit.
Second, the proactive stance of competitor profiling will allow the firm to anticipate the strategic
response of their rivals to the firm’s planned strategies, the strategies of other competing firms,
and changes in the environment. Third, this proactive knowledge will give the firms strategic
agility. Offensive strategy can be implemented more quickly in order to exploit opportunities and
capitalize on strengths. Similarly, defensive strategy can be employed more deftly in order to
counter the threat of rival firms from exploiting the firm’s own weaknesses.
Clearly, those firms practicing systematic and advanced competitor profiling have a significant
advantage. As such, a comprehensive profiling capability is rapidly becoming a core competence
required for successful competition. An appropriate analogy is to consider this advantage as akin
to having a good idea of the next move that your opponent in a chess match will make. By
staying one move ahead, checkmate is one step closer. Indeed, as in chess, a good offense is the
best defense in the game of business as well.
A common technique is to create detailed profiles on each of your major competitors. These
profiles give an in-depth description of the competitor's background, finances, products, markets,
facilities, personnel, and strategies. This involves:
14
2.5 NEW COMPETITORS:
In addition to analysing current competitors, it is necessary to estimate future competitive
threats. The most common sources of new competitors are:
 Companies competing in a related product/market
 Companies using related technologies
 Companies already targeting your prime market segment but with unrelated products
 Companies from other geographical areas and with similar products
 New start-up companies organized by former employees and/or managers of existing
companies
The entrance of new competitors is likely when:
 There are high profit margins in the industry
 There is unmet demand (insufficient supply) in the industry
 There are no major barriers to entry
 There is future growth potential
 Competitive rivalry is not intense
 Gaining a competitive advantage over existing firms is feasible.
2.6 MARKETING :
Marketing is a widely used term to describe the communication between a company and
the consumer audience that aims to increase the value of the company or its merchandise or, at
its simplest, raises the profile of the company and its products in the public mind. The purpose of
marketing is to induce behavioral change in the receptive audience.The American Marketing
Association most recently defined marketing as "the activity, set of institutions, and processes for
15
creating, communicating, delivering, and exchanging offerings that have value for customers,
clients, partners, and society at large."
The techniques used in marketing include choosing target markets through market analysis
and market segmentation, as well as understanding methods of influence on the consumer
behavior.
From a societal point of view, marketing provides the link between a society's material
requirements and its economic patterns of response. This way marketing satisfies these needs
and wants through the development of exchange processes and the building of long-term
relationships.
In the case of nonprofit organization marketing, the aim is to deliver a message about the
organization's services to the applicable audience. Governments often employ marketing to
communicate messages with a social purpose, such as a public health or safety message, to
citizens
2.7 FACTORS OF INFLUENCE ON MARKETING STRATEGIES :
In addition to the controllable marketing mix factors, there are uncontrollable factors called
environmental forces. The external influences are the forces that affect the characteristics of the
marketing strategies to which marketeers adapt. Amongst others they include: regulatory,
economic, social, political environmental, competitive, and technological.[15]
• Regulatory: This refers to laws and legality (governmental policies) that may affect the way
marketing can be characterized. For example, government restriction on the importation of a
particular product might hinder the marketers playing in that particular field.
• Economic. Various trends in the economic business cycle, including inflation, recessions,
deficit, or income level. Each of these factors can have a direct impact on marketing which may
have to be re-evaluated and overhauled as a result.
16
• Social: The social forces refer to the structure and dynamics of individuals and groups and their
behaviors, beliefs, thought patterns, and lifestyles, friendships, etc. When consumers change
their needs and wants, this directly affects marketing strategies.
• Political: The socio-economic conditions are closely related to the state of the governmental
institutions. Depending on the governmental impact on bureaucracy, corruption, freedom of
speech, and other limitations (or opportunities), the marketing strategies will adapt to the
political conditions.
• Competitive: Competition refers to the numbers of similar competitive product brands. A new
competitor entering the market will directly affect the marketing strategies of the incumbent
companies. Firms offering similar services or products often achieve differentiation through
marketing, positioning, and branding.
• Technological: The marketing strategies often adapt to the pace of development of the
consumer demand and exponential technological progression.
2.8 MARKETING MANAGENET:
Marketing management is the organizational discipline which focuses on the practical
application of marketing orientation, techniques and methods inside enterprises and
organizations and on the management of a firm's marketing resources and activities.
Globalization has led some firms to market beyond the borders of their home countries,
making international marketing a part of those firms' marketing strategy. Marketing managers
are often responsible for influencing the level, timing, and composition of customer demand. In
part, this is because the role of a marketing manager (or sometimes called managing marketer in
small- and medium-sized enterprises) can vary significantly based on a business's size, corporate
culture, and industry context.
For example, in a small- and medium-sized enterprises, the managing marketer may contribute in
both managerial and marketing operations roles for the company brands. In a large consumer
products company, the marketing manager may act as the overall general manager of his or her
assigned product.To create an effective, cost-efficient marketing management strategy, firms
must possess a detailed,objective understanding of their own business and the market in which
17
they operate.[3] In analyzing these issues, the discipline of marketing management often overlaps
with the related discipline of strategic planning.
Two customer segments are often selected as targets because they score highly on two
dimensions:
1. The segment is attractive to serve because it is large, growing, makes frequent purchases,
is not price sensitive (i.e. is willing to pay high prices), or other factors; and
2. The company has the resources and capabilities to compete for the segment's business,
can meet their needs better than the competition, and can do so profitably.
A commonly cited definition of marketing is simply "meeting needs profitably"
The implication of selecting target segments is that the business will subsequently allocate more
resources to acquire and retain customers in the target segment(s) than it will for other, non-
targeted customers. In some cases, the firm may go so far as to turn away customers who are not
in its target segment.The doorman at a swanky nightclub, for example, may deny entry to
unfashionably dressed individuals because the business has made a strategic decision to target
the "high fashion" segment of nightclub patrons.
In conjunction with targeting decisions, marketing managers will identify the
desired positioning they want the company, product, or brand to occupy in the target customer's
mind. This positioning is often an encapsulation of a key benefit the company's product or
service offers that is differentiated and superior to the benefits offered by competitive products.
For example, Volvo has traditionally positioned its products in the automobile market in North
America in order to be perceived as the leader in "safety", whereasBMW has traditionally
positioned its brand to be perceived as the leader in "performance".
Ideally, a firm's positioning can be maintained over a long period of time because the company
possesses, or can develop, some form of sustainable competitive advantage. The positioning
should also be sufficiently relevant to the target segment such that it will drive the purchasing
behavior of target customers .To sum up,the marketing branch of a company is to deal with the
18
selling and popularity of its products among people and its customers,as the central and eventual
goal of a company is customer satisfaction and the return of revenue.
2.8 Implementation planning
The Marketing Metrics Continuum provides a framework for how to categorize metrics from the
tactical to strategic.
If the company has obtained an adequate understanding of the customer base and its own
competitive position in the industry, marketing managers are able to make their own key
strategic decisions and develop a marketing strategy designed to maximize
the revenues and profits of the firm. The selected strategy may aim for any of a variety of
specific objectives, including optimizing short-term unit margins, revenue growth, market share,
long-term profitability, or other goals.
After the firm's strategic objectives have been identified, the target market selected, and the
desired positioning for the company, product or brand has been determined, marketing managers
focus on how to best implement the chosen strategy. Traditionally, this has involved
implementation planning across the "4 Ps" of : product management, pricing (at what price slot
does a producer position a product, e.g. low, medium or high price), place (the place or area
19
where the products are going to be sold, which could be local, regional, countrywide or
international) (i.e. sales and distribution channels), and Promotion.
Taken together, the company's implementation choices across the 4 Ps are often described as
the marketing mix, meaning the mix of elements the business will employ to "go to market" and
execute the marketing strategy.
The overall goal for the marketing mix is to consistently deliver a compelling value
proposition that reinforces the firm's chosen positioning, buildscustomer loyalty and brand
equity among target customers, and achieves the firm's marketing and financial objectives.
In many cases, marketing management will develop a marketing plan to specify how the
company will execute the chosen strategy and achieve the business' objectives. The content of
marketing plans varies from firm to firm, but commonly includes:
 An executive summary
 Situation analysis to summarize facts and insights gained from market research and
marketing analysis
 The company's mission statement or long-term strategic vision
 A statement of the company's key objectives, often subdivided into marketing objectives and
financial objectives
 The marketing strategy the business has chosen, specifying the target segments to be pursued
and the competitive positioning to be achieved
 Implementation choices for each element of the marketing mix (the 4 Ps)
2.9 Marketing mix :
The marketing mix is a business tool used in marketing and by marketers. The marketing mix,
originally coined by Neil Borden, can be valuable when determining a product or brand's offer,
and is often associated with the four Ps.The four Ps was proposed by professor E. Jerome
McCarthy in the 1960s.The "four P's". Product is the first P representing the actual product. Price
represents the process of determining the value of a product. Place represents the variables of
20
getting the product to the consumer such as distribution channels, market coverage, and
movement organization. The last P stands for Promotion which is the process of reaching the
target market andconvincing them to buy the product. The four Ps determine how marketing
satisfies consumer needs. They are considered controllable marketing mix factors, meaning that
they can change or be altered as needed. Habits, lifestyle, and diet are all considered to be
controllable risk factors.
In the 1990s, the concept of four C's was introduced as a more customer-driven replacement of
four P's.[9] There are two theories based on four Cs: Lauterborn's four Cs (consumer, cost,
communication, convenience)[10] and Shimizu's four Cs (commodity, cost, communication,
channel) in the 7Cs Compass Model (Co-marketing).
2.10 Marketing environment :
Staying ahead of the consumer is an important part of a marketer's job. It is important to
understand the "marketing environment" in order to comprehend the consumers concerns,
motivations and to adjust the product according to the consumers needs. Marketers use the
process of marketing environmental scans, which continually acquires information on events
occurring outside the organization to identify trends, opportunities and threats to a business. The
six key elements of a marketing scan are thedemographic forces, socio-cultural forces, economic
forces, regulatory forces, competitive forces, and technological forces. Marketers must look at
where the threats and opportunities stem from in the world around the consumer to maintain a
productive and profitable business.
The market environment is a marketing term and refers to factors and forces that affect a firm's
ability to build and maintain successful relationships with customers. Three levels of the
environment are: Micro (internal) environment - forces within the company that affect its ability
to serve its customers. Meso environment – the industry in which a company operates and the
industry's market(s).Macro (national) environment - larger societal forces that affect the
microenvironment.
21
2.11 Marketing research :
Marketing research involves conducting research to support marketing activities, and the
statistical interpretation of data into information. This information is then used by managers to
plan marketing activities, gauge the nature of a firm's marketing environment and obtain
information from suppliers. Marketing researchers use statistical methods such
as quantitativeresearch, qualitativeresearch, hypothesistests, Chi-squaredtests,
linea-
regression, correlations, frequencydistributions, poissondistributions,binomialdistributions, etc.
to interpret their findings, and convert data into information. The marketing research process
spans a number of stages, including the definition of a problem, development of a research plan,
collection and interpretation of data, and disseminating information formally in the form of a
report. The task of marketing research is to provide management with relevant, accurate, reliable,
valid, and current information.
A distinction should be made between marketingresearch and marketresearch. Market research
pertains to research in a given market. As an example, a firm may conduct research in a target
market, after selecting a suitable market segment. In contrast, marketing research relates to all
research conducted within marketing. Thus, market research is a subset of marketing research.
2.12 Marketing effectiveness :
Marketing effectiveness is the measure of how effective a given marketer's go to market strategy
is toward meeting the goal of maximizing their spending to achieve positive results in both the
short- and long-term. It is also related to Marketing ROI and Return on Marketing
Investment (ROMI).
Factors driving marketing effectiveness
 Corporate: Each company operates within different bounds. These are determined by their
size, their budget and their ability to make organizes act in similar ways leading to the need
to segment them. Based on these segments, they make choices based on how they value the
22
attributes of a product and the brand, in return for price paid for the product. Consumers
build brand value through information. Information is received through many sources, such
as, advertising, word-of-mouth and in the (distribution) channel often characterized with
the purchase funnel, a McKinsey & Company concept. Lastly, consumers consume and
make purchase decisions in certain ways.
 Exogenous Factors: External factors such as weather, interest rates, government
regulations, etc. that lie outside of marketers' immediate control and may impact marketing
effectiveness.
 Understanding the impact these factors have on consumers can help in designing programs
that take advantage or mitigate the risk of these factors and the impact they may have on a
marketing campaigns. Therefore, exogenous factors often times influence how marketers
strive to improve their results such as leveraging the factors noted above (i.e. seasonality,
interest rates, regulatory environment) in an effort to improve marketing effectiveness.
 Marketing Strategy: Improving marketing effectiveness can be achieved by employing a
superior marketing strategy. By positioning the product or brand correctly, the product/brand
will be more successful in the market than competitors’ products/brands. The match-up
between the product, the consumer lifestyle, and the endorser is important for effectiveness
of brand communication. Even with the best strategy, marketers must execute their programs
properly to achieve extraordinary results.
 Marketing Creative: Even without a change in strategy, better creatives can improve
results. Without a change in strategy, AFLAC was able to achieve stunning results with its
introduction of the Duck (AFLAC) campaign. With the introduction of this new creative
concept, the company growth rate soared from 12% prior to the campaign to 28% following
it. (See references below, Bang). Creatives are an integral part of any marketing campaign,
as it establishes the corporate identity and plays a significant role in brand recollection.
These may include designing point of purchase displays, brochures or even product
packaging. Apart from communicating the brand, consistency in design across various
mediums helps reinforce a specific offering in the minds of the audience. Using typography,
imagery and color, marketing creatives evoke emotion related to a brand.
 Marketing Execution: By improving how marketers go to market, they can achieve
significantly greater results without changing their strategy or their creative execution. At the
23
marketing mix level, marketers can improve their execution by making small changes in any
or all of the 4-Ps (Product, Price, Place and Promotion) (Marketing) without making changes
to the strategic position or the creative execution marketers can improve their effectiveness
and deliver increased revenue. At the program level marketers can improve their
effectiveness by managing and executing each of their marketing campaigns better. It's
commonly known that consistency of a Marketing Creative strategy across various media
(e.g. TV, Radio, Print and Online), not just within each individual media message, can
amplify and enhance impact of the overall marketing campaign effort.
 Additional examples would be improving direct mail through a better call-to-action or
editing web site content to improve its organic search results, marketers can improve their
marketing effectiveness for each type of program. A growing area of interest within
(Marketing Strategy) and Execution are the more recent interaction dynamics of traditional
marketing (e.g. TV or Events) with online consumer activity (e.g. Social Media). (See
references below, Brand Ecosystems) Not only direct product experience, but also any
stimulus provided by traditional marketing, can become a catalyst for a consumer brand
"groundswell" online as outlined in the book Groundswell.
 Marketing Infrastructure (also known as Marketing Management): Improving the
business of marketing can lead to significant gains for the company. Management of
agencies, budgeting, motivation and coordination of marketing activities can lead to
improved competitiveness and improved results. The overall accountability for brand
leadership and business results is often reflected in an organization under a title within a
(Brand management) department.
24
CHAPTER-3
INDUSTRY PROFILE
25
CHAPTER 3
INDUSTRY PROFILE
HISTROYOF TELECOM INDUSTRY:
The beginning
26
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 world’s 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 the British East India Company. The Posts and Telegraphs department occupied a small
corner of the Public Works Department, at that time.
The construction of 4,000 miles (6,400 km) of telegraph lines was started in November 1853.
These connected Kolkata (then Calcutta) and Peshawar in the north; Agra, Mumbai (then
Bombay) through
sindhuGhats,and Chennai (thenMadras)inthesouth; Ootacamund and Bangalore. 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 the Government of India to
establish telephone exchange 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 license was
granted to the Oriental telephone Company Limited of England for opening telephone
exchanges at Calcutta, Bombay, Madras and Ahmedabad and the first formal telephone service
was established in the country. 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.
Initial developments and milestones:
 Pre-1902 – Cable telegraph
 1902 – First wireless telegraph station established between Sagar Island and Sand head.
27
 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 dialing 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 fiber 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 Laxmi Nagar, Delhi 15 August 1995
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 Radioand since 1957 it has
been called Akashvani. 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 Doordarshanin the
country prior to the economic reforms of 1991. In 1997, an autonomous body was established in
the name of PrasarBharti to take care of the public service broadcasting under the
PrasarBharti Act. All India Radio and Doordarshan, which earlier were working as media units
under the Ministry of I&B became constituents of the body.
28
PRE-LIBERALIZATION 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.
TELECOMMUNICATIONS INDUSTRY PROFILE
Telecom is one of the fastest-growing industries in India. Today India stands as the
second-largest telecommunications market in the world. The mobile phone industry in India
would contribute US$ 400 billion in terms of gross domestic product (GDP) of the country in
2014. This sector which is growing exponentially is expected to generate about 4.1 million
additional jobs by 2020, as per Group Special Mobile Association (GSMA).
In the period April 2000 to January 2014, the telecom industry has got in foreign direct
investments (FDI) of about US$ 59,796 million, which is an increase of 6 per cent to the total
FDI inflows in terms of US$, as per report published by Department of Industrial Policy and
Promotion (DIPP). India’s global system for mobile (GSM) operators had 4.14 million rural
subscribers as of January 2014, bringing the total to 285.35 million.
Data traffic powered by third generation (3G) services grew at 146 per cent in India during 2013,
higher than the global average that saw usage double, according to an MBIT Index study by
Nokia Siemens Networks (NSN). India's Smartphone market grew by 171 per cent in 2013, to 44
29
million devices from 16.2 million in 2012, as per research firm IDC India. The increasing
popularity of bring-your-own-device (BYOD) in the workplace is further adding momentum to
the Smartphone market.
Indian telecom industry has grown from a Tele-density of 3.58% in March 2001 to 74% in June
2013. This great leap in both numbers of consumers as well as revenues from telecom services
has not only provided sufficient contribution in Indian GDP growth but also provided much
needed employment to India youth.
Broadly telecom industry can be divided into two sectors, Equipment Sector and Services
Sector. Equipment sector players manufacture telecom products whereas the services sector
comprises of operators and other service providers
SECTORS IN TELECOM INDUSTRY:
Broadly telecom industry can be divided into two sectors, Equipment Sector and Services
Sector. Equipment sector players manufacture telecom products whereas the services sector
comprises of operators and other service providers
TELECOMMUNICATIONS EQUIPMENT SECTOR:
The telecommunications industry equipment sector is comprised of companies that
manufacture products that are used by both end users and input to other telecommunications
companies. Customers use these products to access telecommunications services. Other
telecommunications companies use these products to create and maintain infrastructure and
deliver services.
1) Telephony:
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
30
Minister of Finance. Since then, most companies gained 2G, 3G and 4G licenses 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. 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, MTS,
Telenor, TATA Docomo, and Videocon.
2) Fixed Telephony:
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 connections are now also available on
demand, even in high density urban areas.
3) Internet:
The history of the Internet in India started with launch of services by VSNL on 15 August
1995. 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),
BhartiAirtel (1.40 million), MTNL (1.09 million), Hathaway (0.36 million) and You Broadband
(0.31 million).
4) Network Neutrality:
31
As of 2015, India had no laws governing net neutrality and there have been violations of
net neutrality principles by some service providers. While the TelecomRegulatoryAuthority of
India (TRAI) guidelines for the Unified Access Service license promote net neutrality, they are
not enforced. The Information Technology Act, 2000 does not prohibit companies from
throttling their service in accordance with their business interests.
In March 2015, the TRAI released a formal consultation paper on Regulatory Framework
for Over-the-top(OTT) services, seeking comments from the public. The consultation paper was
criticized for being one sided and having confusing statements. It was condemned by various
politicians and internet users. By 18 April 2015, over 800,000 emails had been sent to TRAI
demanding net neutrality.
TELECOMMUNICATIONS SERVICES SECTOR:
This sector constitutes of players in telecommunications industry that provides various
services to end customers like telecom service providers, broadband service providers and
intermediaries.
The telecommunications services sector can be divided into following categories:
1) WIRED SERVICES:
The wired services subsector offers direct communication services, including fixed
telephone (local and long distance), broadband, and cable network services. This subsector also
builds and maintains the needed fixed-line infrastructure, including land lines, microwaves, and
satellite link-ups. This subsector also includes companies that offer non-voice communication
products, such as telegraph. The largest sector of the telecommunications industry continues to
be made up of wired telecommunications carriers. Establishments in this sector mainly provide
telecommunications services via wires and cables that connect customers’ premises to central
offices maintained by telecommunications companies. The central offices contain switching
equipment that routes content to its final destination or to another switching center that
32
determines the most efficient route for the content to take. These companies also maintain the
cable network that connects different regions of the country as well as foreign countries, and
forms the backbone of the industry. While voice used to be the main type of data transmitted
over the wires, wired telecommunications service now includes the transmission of all types of
graphic, video, and electronic data mainly over the Internet.
2) WIRELESS SERVICES
The wireless services subsector offers services such as cellular mobile phone, paging,
satellite, broadband communication, and wireless public safety services. This subsector operates
and maintains the switching and transmission facilities to provide these services. Companies in
this sector may also supply and maintain the equipment used to receive signals. Wireless
telecommunications carriers, many of which are subsidiaries of the wired carriers, transmit
voice, graphics, data, and Internet access through the transmission of signals over networks of
radio towers. The signal is transmitted through an antenna into the wire line network. Increasing
numbers of consumers are choosing to replace their home landline phones with wireless phones.
Other wireless services include beeper and paging services.
3) INTERNET SERVICES:
The Internet services subsector offers wired, wireless, and broadband Internet services,
which are provided by telecommunications companies and Internet service providers, also
known as ISPs. Some ISPs also provide extra services, like web hosting or web page designing.
Players in this subsector may build and maintain their own infrastructure and networks or they
may share the infrastructure of other providers.
4) RESELLERS:
Resellers of telecommunications services are another sector of the telecommunications
industry. These resellers lease transmission facilities, such as telephone lines or space on a
satellite, from existing telecommunications networks, and then resell the service to other
customers. Other sectors in the industry include message communications services such as e-
mail and facsimile services, satellite telecommunications, and operators of other communication
services ranging from radar stations to radio networks used by taxicab companies.
33
5) CABLE AND PROGRAM DISTRIBUTION:
Cable and other program distribution is another sector of the telecommunications
industry. Establishments in this sector provide television and other services on a subscription or
fee basis. These establishments do not include cable networks. Distributors of pay television
services transmit programming through two basic types of systems. Cable systems transmit
programs over fiber optic and coaxial cables. Direct broadcasting satellite (DBS) operators
constitute a growing segment of the pay television industry. DBS operators transmit
programming from orbiting satellites to customers’ receivers. Establishments in the cable and
other program distribution industry generate revenue through subscriptions, providing Internet
access, providing phone service, and advertising sales. They also charge fees for pay-per-view or
video-on-demand programs.
6) OTHER BROADBAND SERVICES:
The other broadband services subsector offers other wired or wire line broadband
services and applications that are not covered by the other three subsectors. These include
services such as Internet Protocol television (IPTV), Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), and
Internet Protocol virtual private network (IP VPN or VPN). - Learn more at
www.technofunc.com.Your online source for free professional tutorials.
INDIAN TELECOMMUNICATIONS VISON & MISSION
VISION
To provide secure, reliable affordable and high quality converged telecommunication
services anytime, anywhere for an accelerated inclusive socio-economic development.
MISSION
1. To develop a robust and secure state-of-the-art telecommunication network providing
seamless coverage with special focus on rural and remote areas for bridging the digital divide
and thereby facilitate socio- economic development.
34
2. To create an inclusive knowledge society through proliferation of affordable and high quality
broadband services across the nation.
3. To reposition the mobile device as an instrument of socio-economic empowerment of citizens.
4. To make India a global hub for telecom equipment manufacturing and a centre for converged
communication services.
5. To promote Research and Development, Design in cutting edge ICTE technologies, products
and services for meeting the infrastructure needs of domestic and global markets with focus on
security and green technologies.
6. To promote development of new standards to meet national requirements, generation of IPRs
and participation in international standardization bodies to contribute in formation of global
standards, thereby making India a leading nation in the area of telecom standardization.
7. To attract investment, both domestic and foreign.
8. To promote creation of jobs through all of the above.
MAJOR PLAYERS
1) Airtel (248.6 Million subscribers) Market Share (32.35%)
Ownership (Bharti Enterprises(68%), SingTel (32%))
Business – Telecommunications & satellite TV | Website – www.airtel.in |
Bharti Airtel Ltd. is a substantial Indian Multinational Telecommunication Company in
India. Airtel has the highest number of Subscribers in India. Airtel Provide a Vast range of
Products including Digital television and Fixed Line Broadband. Airtel has many Retail Outlets
and a good quality high end network across India. Airtel has been awarded for one of the most
valuable brand in year 2015.
Founded: 1995
Type: Public Company
35
Industry: Telecommunications
Services: Mobile Telephony, Broadband, Digital Television.
Key People: Sunil Bharti Mittal, GopalVittal
Headquarter: New Delhi
Products offered by company includes mobile commerce, 2G, 3G and 4G wireless services, fixed
line services, IPTV, high speed DSL broadband, DTH and enterprise services.
2) Reliance (106.81Million subscribers) Market Share (11.21%)
Ownership (Reliance ADAG (67%) Public (26%))
Corporate office – Navy Mumbai, Maharashtra | Establishment – 2004 |
Business – Mobile, Satellite TV and telecommunication | Website – www.rcom.co.in |
Reliance Communications is managed by Reliance group which has its other subsidiary
as Reliance Big TV Ltd, Reliance Global.com Ltd, Reliance Entertainment, etc.
Founded: 2002
Type: Public Company
Industry: Telecom Services
Services: Mobile Telephony, Broadband Services.
Key People: Anil Ambani, VinodSawhny.
Headquarter: Mumbai
The Company’s product offerings include wireless, broadband, national and international long
distance services.
3) Tata DoCoMo(60.89 Million subscribers) Market Share (6.28%)
36
Ownership (Tata Teleservices(74%), NTT DoCoMo (26%))
Corporate office – New Delhi | Establishment – 2008 |
Business – Telecommunication sector | Website – www.tatadocomo.com |
A Tata Group company providing cellular service on the GSM, CDMA and platform. It is
among the top telecom companies in India and the first Indian telecom company to launch 3G
services in India.
4) Vodafone (196.7Million subscribers) Market Share (25.59%)
Ownership (VodafoneGroup(100%))
Corporate office – London, United Kingdom | Establishment – 1991 |
Business – Telecommunications | Website – www.vodafone.in |
Vodafone is a leading global telecommunications company with operations in over 30 countries.
Head quartered in London, the company ranks amongst the top 4 telecom companies globally in
terms of subscribers and revenues. Company owns 45% of Verizon Wireless, the largest mobile
telecom company in the US measured by subscribers.
Founded: 2008
Type: Joint Venture
Industry: Telecommunication
Services: Mobile Network, Wireless Broadband.
37
Key People: Cyrus PallonjiMistry
Headquarter: New Delhi
5) Idea (174.6Million subscribers) Market Share (22.72%)
Ownership (Aditya Birla Group(100%))
Corporate office – Mumbai, Maharashtra | Establishment – 1995 |
Business – Telecommunications | Website – www.ideacellular.com |
Idea Cellular which is commonly known as Idea is an Indian foremost Telecom Service
Provider in India. Idea is familiar for its reasonable Mobile Telephony Services and also offers
2G and 3G Mobile Internet services. Idea also manufactures Smart phones which are easily
available in Offline as well as Online Marketplaces. Idea holds a strong network of sales and
services and retail outlets across India.
Founded: 1995
Type: Public Company
Industry: Telecom Services
Services: Wireless Broadband, Mobile Telephony
Key People: Kumar Mangalam Birla
Headquarter: Mumbai
6) MTNL (3.6 Million subscribers) Market Share (0.36%)
Ownership (State-owned)
Corporate office – New Delhi | Establishment – 1986 |
Business – Telecommunications | Website – www.mtnl.net.in |
38
Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited is an Indian state-owned telecommunications company.
MTNL provides services in New Delhi and Mumbai in India and Mauritius in Africa.
CEO: Pravin Kumar Purwar
Headquarters: New Delhi
Founded: 1986
Parent organization: Government of India
7) Aircel (86.06 Million subscribers) Market Share (8.47%)
Ownership (Maxis Communications (74%), Sindya Securities and Investments (26%))
Corporate office – Chennai, Tamilnadu | Establishment – 1999 |
Business – Telecommunications | Website – www.aircel.com |
Aircel is a Leading Telecom Operator in India. Aircel offers Voice and Internet Services for
Mobile Users. Aircel launched the first 4G Mobile internet service in 2014 and become the first
only private Telecom Operation which offers all the three technologies as 2G, 3G, and 4G.
Founded: 1999
Type: Joint Venture
Industry: Telecommunications
Services: Mobile Telephony, Wireless Broadband.
Key People: kaizadheerjee
Headquarter: Chennai
8) MTS (8.13 Million subscribers) Market Share (0.89%)
Ownership (Sistema (56.68%) Shyam Group(23.98%) Government of Russia(17.14%))
Corporate office – New Delhi | Establishment – 2008 |
Business – Telecommunications | Website – www.mtsindia.in |
39
Founders: Moscow City Telephone Network, T-Mobile, Siemens
Parent organization: Sistema
Subsidiaries: Vodafone Ukraine, Universal Mobile Systems, K-Telecom CJSC, MTS Turkmenistan
9) Telenor (5.16 Million subscribers) Market Share (4.91%)
Ownership (Telenor (100%))
Corporate office – Gurgaon, India | Establishment – 2009 |
Business – Telecommunications | Website – www.uninor.in |
Telenor India earlier known as Uninor is an Indian Telecom Operator which provides Mobile
Telephony and Internet services in India. Telenor holds the license of providing its services in
only six Indian states like Maharashtra & Goa (circle), Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Uttarakhand,
Gujarat and Andhra Pradesh &Telangana (circle). Telenor largely offers Low Voice Tariff and is
well known for it.
Founded: 2009
Type: Private Company
Industry: Telecom Services
Services: Mobile Telephony, Wireless Internet.
Key People: VivekSood
Headquarter: Gurgaon
10) BSNL (85.29 Million subscribers) Market Share (8.19%)
40
Ownership (State-owned)
Corporate office – New Delhi | Establishment – 2000 |
Business – Telecommunications | Website – www.bsnl.co.in |
Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited or commonly known as BSNL is an Indian Telecom Company
which provides Voice and Data services in India. BSNL Provides its Services in each and every
place in India except the Densely Populated City Mumbai and Delhi. BSNL is Operated by
Government of India and is the only Government Owned Telecom Operator in India rather than
MTNL which was earlier present before the establishment of BSNL.
Founded: 2000
Type: State-Owned Entity
Industry: Telecommunications
Services: Mobile Telephony, Data Services.
Key People: AnupamShrivastava
Headquarter: New Delhi
Further developments and Milestones:
TELECOM SECTOR SINCE 1990’S TILL DATE IS BRIEFED BELOW:
1991-92:
 On 24th July 1991, Government announced the New Economic Policy.
 Telecom Manufacturing Equipment license was delicensed in 1991.
 Automatic foreign collaboration was permitted with 51% equity by the collaborator.
1992-93:
 Value added services were opened for private and foreign players on franchise or license
basis
41
1994-95:
 The Government announced a National Telecom Policy 1994 in September 1994. It
opened basic telecom services to private participation including foreign investments.
 Foreign equity participation up to 49% was allowed in basic telecom services, radio
paging and cellular mobile.
 Eight cellular licenses for four metros were finalized.
1996-97:
 TRAI was set up as an autonomous body to separate the regulatory functions from policy
formulations and operational functions.
 An agreement between Department of Telecommunication (DOT) and financial
institutions to facilitate funding of cellular and basis telecom projects.
 External Commercial Borrowing (ECB) limits on telecom projects made flexible with an
increased share from 35% to 50% of total project cost.
 Internet Policy was finalized.
1998-99:
 FDI up to 49% of total equality, subject to license, permitted in companies providing
Global Mobile Personal Communication (GMPC) by satellite services.
1999-2000:
 National Telecom Policy 1999 was announced which multiple 27 fixed services operators
and opened long distance services to private operators.
 TRAI reconstituted: clear distinction was made between the recommendatory and
regulatory functions of the Authority.
 DOT/MTNL was permitted to start cellular mobile telephone service.
 To separate service providing functions from policy and licensing functions, Department
of Telecom Services was set up.
 A package for migration from fixed license fee to revenue sharing offered to exist cellular
and basic service providers.
42
 First phase of re-balancing of tariff structure started. STD and ISD charges were reduced
by 23% on an average.
 Voice and data segment was opened to full competition and foreign ownership increased
to 100% from 49% previously.
2000-01:
 TRAI Act was amended. The Amendment clarified and strengthened and
recommendatory power of TRAI, especially with respect to the need and timing of
introduction of new services provider, and in terms of licenses to a services provider.
 Department of Telecom Services and Department of Telecom Operations corporatized by
creating Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited.
 Domestic long distance services opened up without any restriction on the number of
operators.
 Second phase of tariff rationalization started with further reductions in the long distance
STD rates by an average of 13% for different distance slabs and ISD rates for 17%.
 Internet Service Providers were given approval for setting up of International Gateways
for Internet using satellite as a medium in March 28 2000.
 In August 2000, private players were allowed to set up of international gateways via the
submarine cable route.
 The termination of monopoly of VSNL in International Long Distance Services was
antedated to March 31, 2002 from March 31, 2004.
2001-02:
 Communication Convergence Bill, 2001 was introduced in August 2001.
 Competition was introduced in all services segments. TRAI recommended opening of
market to full competition of new services in the telecom sector. The licensing terms and
conditions for Cellular Mobile were simplified to encourage entry for operators in areas
without effective competition.
 Usage of Voice over Internet Protocol permitted for international telephony service.
43
 The five-year tax holiday and 30% deduction for the next five years available to the
telecommunication sector till 31st March 2000 was reintroduced for the units
commencing their operations on or before 31st March 2003. These concessions were also
extended to internet services providers and broadband networks.
 Thirteen ISP’s were given clearance for commissioning of international gateways for
Internet using satellite medium for 29 gateways.
 License conditions for Global Mobile Personal Communications by satellite finalized in
November 2001.
 National Long Distance Service was opened up for unrestricted entry with the
announcement of guidelines for licensing NLD operators. Four companies were issued
Letter of Intent (LOI) for National Long Distance Service of which three licenses have
been signed.
 Four cellular operators, one each in four metros and thirteen were permitted with 17 fresh
licenses issued to private companies in September/October 2001. The cell phone
providers were given freedom to provide, within their area of operation, all types of
mobile services equipment, including circuit and/or package switches that meet the
relevant International Telecommunications Union (ITU)/ Telecom Engineering Centre
(TEC) standards.
 Wireless in Local Loop (WLL) was introduced for providing telephone connection in
urban, semi-urban and rural areas.
 Disinvestment of PSU’s in the telecom sector was also undertaken during the year. In
February 2002, the disinvestment of VSNL was completed by bringing down the
government equity to 26% and the management of the company was transferred to Tata
Group, a strategic partner. During the year, HTL was also disinvested.
 Reliance, MTML and Tata were issued licenses to provide the CDMA based services in
the country.
2002-03:
 International Long Distance business opened for unrestricted entry.
 Telephony on internet permitted in April 2002.
44
 TRAI finalized the System of Accounting Separation (SAS) providing 30 detailed
accounting and financial system to be maintained by telecom service providers.
2004-05:
 Budget 2004-2005 proposed to lift the ceiling from 49% to 74% as an incentive to the
cellular operators to fall in line with the new unified licensing norm.
 ‘Last Mile’ linkages permitted in April 2004 within the local area for ISP’s 31 for
establishing their own last mile to their customers.
 Indoor use of low power equipment’s in 2.4 GHz band de-licensed from august 2004.
 Broadband Policy announced on 14th October 2004. In this policy, broadband had been
defined as an “always-on” data connection supporting interactive services including
internet access with minimum download speed of 256 kbps per subscriber.
 The Telecommunications (Broadcasting and Cable Services) Interconnection Regulation
2004 was introduced on 10th December 2004.
 BSNL and MTNL launched broadband services on 14th January 2005.
 TRAI announced the reduction of Access Deficit Charge (ADC) by 41% on ISD calls
and by 61% on STD calls which were applicable from 1st February 2005.
2005-06:
 Budget 2005-2006 cleared a hike in FDI ceiling to 74% from the earlier limit of 49%.
100% FDI was permitted in the area of telecom equipment manufacturing and provision
of IT enabled services.
 Annual license fee for National Long Distance (NLD) as well as International Long
Distance (ILD) licenses reduced to 6% of Adjusted Gross Revenue (AGR) with effect
from 1st January 2006.
 BSNL and MTNL launched the ‘One-India Plan’ with effect from 1st March 2006 which
enable the customers of BSNL and MTNL to call from one end of India to other at the
cost of Rs. 1 per minute, any time of the day to phone.
 TRAI fixed Ceiling Tariff for International Bandwidth, Ceiling Tariff for higher
capacities reduced by about 70% and for lower capacity by 35%.
45
 Regulation on Quality of Service of Basic and Cellular Mobile Telephone Services 2005
introduced on 21st March 2006.
2009-10:
 The total number of telephone connections reaches 413.85 million with this growth; the
overall tele-density has reached 35.65. The total wireless subscribers (GSM, CDMA and
WLL (F)) base stood at 391.76 million at the end of March 2009. In the wire line
segment, the subscriber base has increased to 37.96 million in the month of March 2009
Total Broadband subscriber base has increased from 7.83 million.
2010-11:
 3G and BWA spectrum auction.
 MNP launched pan India.
2012-14:
 2013 was “TRANSITION YEAR” for Indian telecom sector’s growth story with over
900 million telephone connections; India remained the world’s second-largest
telecommunications market in 2013.
 Data traffic powered by third generation (3G) services grew at 146% in India during
2013, higher than the global average that saw use double.
 India’s global system for mobile (GSM) operators added 4.14 million rural subscribers in
January 2014, taking the total to 285.35 million.
 RAVI SHANKAR PRASAD, India’s new Minister for Communications and
Information Technology who is also the Minister for Law and Justice said: “The
AtalBihari Vajpayee government is remembered for the National Highways project. We
will be known for the broadband highway”. As part of this, Prasad is looking to improve
mobile connectivity in the North-East, Ladakh and the Andaman & Nicobar Islands.
46
 TSSC is mandated to facilitate training of 80,000 people and help infuse 80crore of
government support for imparting skills in telecom sector under the recently launched
National Skill Certification and Monetary Scheme.
 BSNL has launched Face book on USSD in East and South Zones and will be
shortly launched in West and North Zones in coming days. BSNL customers can
access this service without any internet or mobile data services.
 This service is brought together with their partners U20pia Mobile Face book for USSD
enables users to access their Face book accounts, view/post status messages, respond to
friend requests, write on friend walls, view birthday reminders and send messages, all
without any internet or data connection.
 Rural tele-density target has been set at 40% by 2014. Industry estimates suggest that
there is a potential to reach beyond one billion telephones in India by 2015.
List of top mobile operators of India as on 17 April 2016
Rank
Operator's
Name
Technology
Subscribers
in million
Ownership
Mark
Shar
47
1 Bharti Airtel GSM, EDGE, HSPA+, TD-LTE 248.6
Bharti
Enterprises (68%)
SingTel (32%)
32.35
2 Vodafone India GSM, EDGE, HSPA+,LTE 196.7
Vodafone
Group (100%)
25.59
3 Idea Cellular GSM, EDGE, HSPA+,LTE 174.6
Aditya Birla
Group (100%)
22.72
4
Reliance
Communications
CDMA2000, EVDO, GSM, EDGE, HSPA+, WiMAX 106.81
Reliance
ADAG (67%)
Public (26%)
11.21
5 Aircel GSM, EDGE, HSDPA, TD-LTE 86.06
Maxis
Communications
(74%)
Sindya Securities
and
Investments (26%)
8.47%
6 BSNL GSM, EDGE, HSDPA, HSPA+,CDMA2000, EVDO, WiMAX 85.29 State-owned 8.19%
7 Tata DoCoMo CDMA2000, EVDO, GSM, EDGE,HSDPA, HSPA+, WiMAX 60.89
Tata
Teleservices (74%)
NTT
DoCoMo (26%)
6.28%
48
DOT PROFILE:
8 Telenor India GSM, EDGE, NB-LTE 5.16 Telenor (100%) 4.91%
9
MTS India being
acquired
by Reliance
Communications
(subject to
regulatory
approvals)
CDMA2000, EVDO 8.13
Sistema (56.68%)
Shyam
Group (23.98%)
Government of
Russia (17.14%)
0.89%
10 MTNL GSM, HSDPA, CDMA2000 3.6 State-owned
0.36%
49
The telecom services have been recognized the world-over as an important tool for socio
economic development for a nation and hence telecom infrastructure is treated as a crucial factor
to realize the socio-economic objectives in India. Accordingly, the Department of Telecom has
been formulating developmental policies for the accelerated growth of the telecommunication
services. The Department is also responsible for grant of licenses for various telecom services
like Unified Access Service Internet and VSAT service. The Department is also responsible for
frequency management in the field of radio communication in close coordination with the
international bodies. It also enforces wireless regulatory measures by monitoring wireless
transmission of all users in the country.
Telecom Commission:
The Telecom Commission was set up by the Government of India vide Notification dated
11th April, 1989 with administrative and financial powers of the Government of India to deal
with various aspects of Telecommunications. The Commission consists of a Chairman, four
full time members, who are ex-officio Secretary to the Government of India in the Department of
Telecommunications and four part time members who are the Secretaries to the Government of
India of the concerned Departments. The composition of the Commission is as follows:-
Designation Name
Chairman Sri J S Deepak
Member(Finance) Ms. Annie Moraes
Member(Production) Vacant
Member(Services) Sri Narendra K. Yadav
Member(Technology) Vacant
The part time Members of Telecom Commission are
1. Secretary (Department of Information Technology)
2. Secretary (Finance)
3. Secretary (Planning Commission) and
4. Secretary (Industrial Policy Promotion).
50
The Telecom Commission and the Department of Telecommunications are responsible for policy
formulation, licensing, wireless spectrum management, administrative monitoring of PSUs,
research and development and standardization/validation of equipment etc. The multi-pronged
strategies followed by the Telecom Commission have not only transformed the very structure of
this sector but have motivated all the partners to contribute in accelerating the growth of the
sector.
Telecom Policies:
 National Telecom Policy, 1994
 New Telecom Policy, 1999
 Addendum to NTP, 1999
 National Numbering Plan, 2003
 Broadband Policy, 2004
 Amendment to Broadband Policy, 2004
 National Telecom Policy, 2012
 Office Memorandum regarding National Telecom Policy, 2012
 Office Memorandum No. 100-47/2012-STG_I dated 22.04.2013
 Investment Policy
51
52
TRAI (Telecom Regulatory Authority of India)
Abbreviation TRAI
Formation 1997
Legal status Created by Telecom Regulatory Authority of India Act, 1997
Purpose Independent regulator
Headquarters New Delhi, India
Region served India
Key people R. S. Sharma(IAS Chairman)
A.K. Kaushal (ITS Member) Dr Vijayalakshmy K. Gupta
(Member)
Website www.trai.gov.in
53
THE TELECOM REGULATORY AUTHORITY OF INDIA ACT, 1997
The main objective of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India Act, 1997 (TRAI Act)
was to establish the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) and Telecom Dispute
Settlement Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT). The main purpose of these two institutions established
under the TRAI Act is to regulate telecommunication services, adjudicate disputes, dispose
appeals and protect the interest of the service providers as well as the consumers. The Act also
aims at promoting and ensuring orderly growth of the telecom sector.
AMENDMENT TO THE TRAI ACT
The TRAI Act was amended through the TRAI (Amendment) Act, 2000 (“Amendment
Act”). Before the amendment, TRAI exercised both regulatory and dispute resolution functions.
The Amendment Act established the Telecom Dispute Settlement Appellate Tribunal to solely
deal with relevant disputes. There was ambiguity in the Act as to whether TRAI
recommendations are binding upon the Government; this was clarified by the Amendment Act.
INDEPENDENT TELECOM REGULATORY AUTHORITY
In Delhi Science Forum v. Union of India, the Supreme Court while deciding on the
constitutionality of the National Telecom Policy, 1994 observed that it is necessary that the
telecom regulator should be an independent body. National Telecom Policy, 1994 allowed for
private participation in the telecommunication sector, and in the light of this policy change the
Supreme Court also emphasized on the necessity of an independent statutory authority in a
deregulated and competitive telecom market.
GOVERNMENT CONTROL OVER TRAI
TRAI is not a completely independent telecom regulator. The Government exercises
certain amount of control over TRAI. Under section 25 of the Act it has the power to issue
directions which are binding on TRAI. The TRAI is also funded by the Central Government.
Moreover, under section 35 of the TRAI Act, the Central Government has the power to make
rules on various subjects and such rules are binding upon TRAI. Therefore, TRAI is not a
completely independent telecom regulator as envisioned by the Supreme Court.
54
SCHEME OF THE TRAI ACT
The TRAI Act contains six chapters. Chapter 1 deals with applicability of the Act, key
concepts and definitions. Chapter 2 contains provisions for constitution of the TRAI. Chapter 3
deals with the powers and functions of TRAI. Chapter 4 deals with establishment of appellate
tribunal, TDSAT and the procedure of the appellate tribunal. Chapter V deals with finance,
accounts and audit of the two institutions established under the Act. Chapter 6 consists of
miscellaneous provisions for the purpose of smooth functioning of the two institutions created
under the Act.
Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) was established as a corporation under
Section 3 of the Act. The head office of TRAI is in New Delhi. TRAI constitutes of a
chairperson and less than two, full time and part-time members. The chairperson and the
members of TRAI are appointed by the Central Government and the duration for which they can
hold their office is three years or until they attain the age of 65 years, whichever is earlier. The
persons who are appointed should have special knowledge and prior experience in the field of
telecommunication, industry, finance, accountancy, law, management or consumer affairs. If
someone, who has been in the service of the Government prior to appointment then he should
have served the Government in the capacity of a Secretary or Additional Secretary for a period
more than three years.
Section 8 deals with procedure to be followed with respect to meetings of TRAI. All
questions before TRAI will be decided by a majority vote of the members, present and voting.
The person who is presiding the meeting will entitled to a second or casting vote.
The TRAI may also appoint officers and employees in order to carry out its function under
this Act. Currently the officers and employees of TRAI are divided into nine divisions. The
divisions are:
 Mobile network division.
 Fixed network division.
 Converged network division.
 Quality of service division.
 Broadcast and cable services division.
55
 Economic division
 Financial analysis, internal finance and accounts division.
 Legal division
 Administration and personnel division.
ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE OF TRAI:
POWERS AND FUNCTIONS OF TRAI
The functions of the TRAI are enumerated under section 11 of the TRAI Act. The function
mentioned under the provision has an overriding effect on any provision of the Indian Telegraph
Act,1885.
The 2000 Amendment classified the TRAI’s functions into four broad categories:
1. Making recommendations on various issues;
2. General administrative and regulatory functions;
3. Fixing tariffs and rates for telecom services; and
4. Any other functions entrusted by the Central Government.
56
THE FUNCTIONS OF THE TRAI ARE:
The recommendations made by the TRAI are not binding on the Central Government.
However, the Central Government has to mandatorily ask for recommendations from TRAI with
respect to need and timing of new service provider and terms and conditions of the license to be
granted to the service provider.
TRAI has the obligation to forward the recommendation to the Central Government
within 60 days from the date of the request for recommendation. TRAI may also request for
relevant information or documents from the Central Government to make such recommendations
and the Central Government has to furnish such information within seven days from the date of
the request.
The Central Government can issue license to the service provider, if TRAI fails to give
any recommendation within the stipulated period. Where the Central Government is of the
opinion that the recommendations made by TRAI cannot be accepted or need modification, then
it can send them back to TRAI for reconsideration. TRAI may reply within a period of 15 days
from the date of reference.
TRAI also has the power to notify in the official gazette the rates at which
telecommunication services are being provided in and outside India. TRAI shall ensure
transparency while exercising its powers and discharging its functions. TRAI under section 12
has the power to call for information and conduct investigation. It also has got powers to issue
directions under section 13.
TELECOM DISPUTES SETTLEMENT APPELLATE TRIBUNAL
The Telecom Dispute Settlement Appellate Tribunal (Tribunal) is established under
section 14 of the Act. It is the sole dispute resolution body in the communication sector. It can
adjudicate upon any dispute between:
1. Licensor (Central Government) and a licensee.
2. Two or more service providers.
3. Between a service provider and a group of consumers.
However, the Tribunal does not have any jurisdiction to try any matter which deals with anti-
competitive trade practices or any consumer complaint.
57
CHAPTER 4
COMPANY PROFILE
58
CHAPTER 4
COMPANY PROFILE
Type State-owned enterprise
Industry Telecommunications
Founded 1 October 2000
Headquarters New Delhi, India
Key people AnupamShrivastava (Chairman & MD)
Services Fixed line and mobile telephony, Internet services, digital television, IPTV
Revenue Rs 28,645.20 (Cr) 2015 (as March 31st 2015)
Net income Rs 27,242 (Cr)
Total assets Rs.4,713.414 Cr (as on 31st March,2015)
Owner Government of India
Number of
employees
216,925 (2015)
Website www.bsnl.co.in
USP
SMS rates are reasonable; high speech quality and is capable of delivering
high bandwidth using DSL technologies
59
4.1 Introduction
Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd was incorporated on 15th September 2000.
It took over the business of providing of telecom services and network management from the
erstwhile Central Government Departments of Telecom Services (DTS) and Telecom Operations
(DTO), with effect from 1st October’2000 on going concern basis. It is one of the largest &
leading public sector units providing comprehensive range of telecom services in India.
BSNL has installed Quality Telecom Network in the country & now focusing on improving it,
expanding the network, introducing new telecom services with ICT applications in villages &
winning customer's confidence. Today, it has about 43.74 million line basic telephone capacity,
8.83 million WLL capacity, 72.60 million GSM capacity, 37,885 fixed exchanges, 68,162 GSM
BTSs, 12,071 CDMA Towers, 197 Satellite Stations, 6,86,644 R km. of OFC, 50,430 R Km. of
microwave network connecting 623 districts, 7330 cities/towns & 5.8 lakhs villages .
BSNL is the only service provider, making focused efforts & planned initiatives to bridge the
rural-urban digital divide in ICT sector. In fact there is no telecom operator in the country to beat
its reach with its wide network giving services in every nook & corner of the country & operates
across India except New Delhi & Mumbai. Whether it is inaccessible areas of Siachen glacier or
North-Eastern regions of the country, BSNL serves its customers with a wide bouquet of telecom
services namely Wire line, CDMA mobile, GSM mobile, Internet, Broadband, Carrier service,
MPLS-VPN, VSAT, VoIP, IN Services, FTTH, etc.
60
BSNL is number one of India in all services in its license area. The company offers wide ranging
& most transparent tariff schemes designed to suit every customer. BSNL has 90.09
million cellular & 5.06 million WLL customers as on 31.07.2011. 3G Facility has been given to
all 2G connections of BSNL.
In basic services, BSNL is miles ahead of its rivals, with 24.58 million wireline
phone subscribers i.e. 71.93% share of the wire line subscriber base.
BSNL has set up a world class multi-gigabit, multi-protocol convergent IP infrastructure
that provides convergent services like voice, data & video through the same Backbone &
Broadband Access Network. At present there are 8.09 million broadband customers.
The company has vast experience in planning, installation, network integration &
maintenance of switching & transmission networks & also has a world class ISO 9000 certified
Telecom Training Institute.
During the 2010-11, turnover of BSNL is around Rs. 29,700 Crores.
4.2 HISTORY
The foundation of Telecom network in India was laid by the British some times in 19th
century. The history of BSNL is linked with the beginning of Telecom in India. In 19th century
and for almost entire 20th century, the Telecom in India was operated as a Government of India
wing. Earlier it was part of erstwhile Post & Telegraph Department (P&T).In 1975 the
Department of Telecom (DoT) was separated from P&T. DoT was responsible for running of
Telecom services in entire country until 1985 when Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited
(MTNL) was carved out of DoT to run the telecom services of Delhi and Mumbai. It is a well-
known fact that BSNL was carved out of Department of Telecom to provide level playing field
to private telecoms. Subsequently in 1990’s the telecom sector was opened up by the
Government of Private investment, therefore it became necessary to separate the government’s
policy wing from operations wing. The government of India corporatized the operations wing of
DoT on October 1st, 2000 and named it as Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL), BSNL
operates as public sector.
61
4.3 VISION
 Be the leading telecom service provider in India with global presence.
 Create a customer focused organization with excellence in customer care, sales and
marketing.
 Leverage technology to provide affordable and innovative telecom. Services/products
across customer segments.
4.4 MISSION:
Be the leading telecom service provider in India with global presence.
Generating value for all stakeholders - employees, shareholders, vendors & business associates
Maximizing return on existing assets with sustained focus on profitability
 Becoming the most trusted, preferred and admired telecom brand
 To explore International markets for Global presence
Creating a customer focused organization with excellence in customer care,
sales&marketing .
 Developing a marketing and sales culture that is responsive to customer needs mer care,
sales & marketing
 Excellence in customer service-”friendly, reliable, time bound, convenient and courteous
service”
Leveraging technology to provide affordable and innovative products/ services across
customer segments
 Offering differentiated products/services tailored to different service segments
 Providing reliable telecom services that are value for money
Providing a conducive work environment with strong focus on performance
 Attracting talent and keeping them motivated
 Enhancing employees skills and utilizing them effectively
 Encouraging and rewarding individual and team/group performance
Establishing efficient business processes enabled by IT
 Changing policies and processes to enable transparent, quick and efficient decision
making
 Building effective IT systems and tools
62
 4.5 OBJECTIVES:
 To be the Leading Telecom Services provider by achieving higher rate of growth so as to
become a profitable enterprise.
 To provide quality and reliable fixed telecom service to our customer and thereby
increase customers confidence.
 To provide customer friendly mobile telephone service of high quality and play a leading
role as GSM operator in its area of operation.
 Strategy for:
 Rightsizing the manpower
 Providing greater customer satisfaction
 Contribute towards:
 Broadband customers base of 20 Mn in India by the end of 2011-12 as per
broadband policy 2004.
 Providing telephone connections in villages as per Government policy.
 To leverage the existing infrastructure of BSNL for facilitating implementation of other
government programmes and initiatives particularly in the rural areas.
 To look for the opportunity of possible expansion of BSNL footprint globally by
exploring international telecom in developing markets such as Africa
4.6 Boardof Directors
The Board comprise of 12 Directors, of which 5 [including the CMD] are whole
time Directors and 2 Government Nominee Directors . The present composition is as under
 Chairman & Managing Director- ShriAnupamShrivastava
 Director-(Enterprise) –Shri A.N. Rai
 Director - Consumer Fixed Access(CFA)- ShriN.K.Gupta
 Director - (HRD) & (Fin)- Smt. Sujata Ray
 Director - (Enterprise) - ShriN.K.Mehta
 Director - (CM) - ShriR.K.Mittal
 Govt. Director- Shri N.SIVASAILAM
63
 Govt. Director-Smt. ArunaSundrarajan(Chairman, Nom.& Rem.Com Chairman, Audit
Committee)
 Government Director -Smt. DarshanaMomayaDabral
 Govt. Director- Smt. Padma IyerKaul
 Government Director - Smt. Rita A. Teaotia
 Director Chairman, Nom. & Rem.Com- ShriAjaiVikram Singh
 Director Chairman, Audit Committee -Prof. N. Balakrishnan
64
4.7 Organizational Setup:
Chief Managing Director (CMD)
Director (Fin.) Director (HR) Director (CM) Director (E)
Circle level setup:
BSNL Employees consists of four cadres:
Gr-A: CMD to CAO & DE
Gr-B: SDE, AO, JTO, JAO
Gr-C: Clerks, Field man, Line man
Gr-D: Peon, Helpers.
Full Time Directors
Other Directors
Part Time Directors
Director
(CFA)
Chief General Manager (CGM)
General Manager (Eng.g) General Manager (Fin.)
Deputy General Manager (DGM)
Sub Divisional Engineer (SDE)
Junior Accounts Officer (JAO)
Accounts Officer (AO)
Chief Accounts Officer (CAO)
Deputy General Manager (DGM)
Divisional Engineer (DE)
Junior Telecom Officer (JTO)
65
Gr-A and Gr-B are Executives (Gazetted Officers)
Gr-c and Gr-D are Non- Executives (Non Gazetted Officers)
4.8 PRODUCTS AND SERVICES OF BSNL
1) DATA ONE
Bharat Shanchar Nigam Ltd. is in the process of commissioning of a world class,
(multi-gigabit,) multi-protocol, convergent IP infrastructure through National Internet
Backbone-II (NIB-II), that will provide convergent services through the same backbone and
broadband access network. The Broadband service will be available on DSL technology (on the
same copper cable that is used for connecting telephone), on a countrywide basis spanning 198
cities.
In terms of infrastructure for broadband services NIB-II would put India at par with
more advanced nations. The services that would be supported includes always-on broadband
access to the Internet for residential and business customers, Content based services, Video
multicasting, Video-on-demand and Interactive gaming, Audio and Video conferencing, IP
Telephony, Distance learning, Messaging: plain and feature rich, Multi-site MPLS VPNs with
Quality of Service (QoS) guarantees. The subscriber will be able to access the above services
through Subscriber Service Selection System (SSSS) portal.
Key Objectives
 To provide high speed Internet connectivity (upto 8 Mbps)
 To provide Virtual Private Network (VPN) service to the broadband customers
 To provide dial VPN service to MPLS VPN customers.
66
 To provide multicast video services, video-on-demand etc. through the
Broadband Remote Access Server (BRAS).
 To provide a means to bill for the aforesaid services by either time-based or volume-
based billing. It shall provide the customer with the option to select the services through
web server
 To provide both pre-paid and post paid broadband services up
2) SANCHARNET BSNL
Sancharnet is a country wide Internet Access Network of Bharat Sanchar Nigam
Limited, India. It offers Dedicated and Dialup (PSTN & ISDN) Internet Access Services across
all the major cities in India
Acceptable user policy for Sancharnet users
This acceptable user policy (AUP) specifies the actions permitted by Bharat Sanchar
Nigam Limited (BSNL) to its users of Sancharnet Internet Services, including leased line, dial
up and other services which may be introduced in future.. BSNL reserve right to modify the
policy at any time. All subscribers of Sancharnet Services, directly or indirectly are required to
engage in acceptable use only as per this policy as modified from time to time.
3) LEASED LINES
To transmit data between computer and electronic information devices, BSNL provides
data communication services to its subscribers. It offers a choice of high, medium and low speed
leased data circuits as well as dial-up lines. Bandwidth is available on demand in most of the
cities. Managed leased Line Network (MLLN) offers flexibility of providing circuits with speeds
of n x 64 Kbps up to 2 Mbps. Useful for internet leased lines and international principle Leased
Lines (IPLCs).
For dedicated point to point speech, private wire, tele-printer and data circuits are given
67
on lease basis. Leased circuits are provided to subscribers for internal communication between
their offices/factories at various sites within a city/town or different cities/town on point to point
basis, or on a network basis interconnecting the various sites.
4) ISDN
ISDN Has emerged as a powerful tool worldwide for provisioning of different services
like voice, data and image transmission over the telephone line through the telephone network.
ISDN is being viewed as the logical extension of the digitalization of telecommunication
network and most developed countries are in different stages of implementing ISDN.
Variety of supplementary Services supported by ISDN.
 Calling Line Identification Presentation(CLIP)
 Calling Line Identification Restriction(CLIR)
 Multiple Subscriber Number(MSN)
 Terminal Portability(TP)
 Call Hold(CH)
 Call Waiting(CW)
 User to User Signalling (UUSI)
5) Wi-Fi
BSNL has introduced new Wi-Fi Services for providing high speed internet access at
convenient public locations hereunder called as Hot Spots. Installation of more Hot Spots is
already under process at various cities/ locations.
Hot Spot Type-A is applicable for public utility services like Airports, Railway Stations,
Universities and their campus etc. initially for a period of 90 days from the date of its launch.
6) WEB COLOCATION SERVICES
68
BSNL provides Internet services to the customers located in about 450 locations. Web
Co-location is an easy and cost effective solution to house a company's powerful infrastructure
without losing the administrative control on the equipments. Web Co-location eliminates much
of the Infrastructure costs as well as the maintenance cost of such equipments apart from
avoiding the last mile problems. Web Co-location enables customer's equipment/Servers to be
treated as a part and parcel of the ISP network enjoying all the facilities as the ISP servers. Web
Co-location provides the infrastructure at a nominal value keeping the customer comfortable and
focussed in maintaining the Applications/Services of the company. Apart from enjoying the
bandwidth and facilities, the customer retains control over his equipment, software and operating
system. The customer simply leases the physical space and high-grade, tier one network access
from BSNL the hosting provider.
FACILITIES
Any organization interested to host its server from an ISP premises. It includes the new
customer or the customer using the existing facilities of other ISP. Companies of all the sectors
can co-locate their servers without any difficulty on maintenance aspects BSNL provides
69
 Air-Conditioned, dust free, fire-safe and secure space with racks (42 U) at the nodes for
co-location.
 Necessary CAT5 cabling for connecting the server to the LAN.
 AC and DC power supply.
 One Sancharnet account of 100 hours to customer to enable administration of the server.
 BSNL provides one IP Address per site on request
WEB HOSTING SERVICES
Web Hosting utilizes the server/client model to distribute content. A web hosting
provider will offer its clients access to a web server that will push the client's content to
recipients on request. Recipients use web browsers to request content from the Web over their
own Internet connection. BSNL provides the web hosting server and other technical resources
that are required to provide a consumer with their own customized Web site.
"Anything and Everything on the Net" is the culture of the day. It has become essential to
keep the information about the organization and self in the cyberspace. Web hosting is a service
that allows users to post Web pages to the Internet. It allows users to publish their own
information resources to any Internet user interested in accessing them. It is a business that
provides the technologies and services needed for web sites to be viewed on the web.
7) MESSAGE HOSTING
 A new post-paid service being offered by BSNL for corporate on message hosting
service.
 Plans provide default email space and max email ids.
 Plans cater to providing options for customer to take additional email space and email ids
and opt for more features, at an extra cost.
70
8) POST PAID DIAL-VPN
 Dial VPN (or VPDN) is a post paid value add service, for customers availing the BSNL VPN
services
9) NET ONE
CLI BasedInternet Access
This is a new service for providing Internet Access. For this service, the Internet access is given
based on the username, password and the Calling Line Identification. Normally, Internet access is
given based on a username and a password. In this service the Calling Line Identification is also taken
into account for providing Internet access.
The Service
To use this service, the user has to register his telephone number. On registration, the username
is the telephone number and the password is the one that is registered. Internet access will be provided
after checking the username/telephone number, the password and the Calling Line Identification.
10) MPLS-VPN
BSNL's IP Backbone using MPLS Technology:
Keeping pace with the technological trend to provide latest and varied value added services to
its customers, BSNL harnesses IP Infrastructure based on MPLS Technology to offer world class IP
VPN services. MPLS is an acronym for "Multi-Protocol Label Switching".
MPLS VPN is a technology that allows a Service Provider like BSNL to have complete control
over parameters that are critical to offering its customers service guarantees with regard to bandwidth
throughputs, latencies and availability. The technology enables secure Virtual Private Networks (VPN)
71
to be built and allows scalability that will make it possible for BSNL to offer assured growth to its
customers without having to make significant investments. BSNL would now be geared to provide
Bandwidth on demand, Video Conferencing, Voice Over IP (VOIP) and a host of other value added
services that could revolutionize the way a corporate business works.
MPLS based VPNs reduce customer networking complexity, costs and totally do away with the
requirement of in-house technical work force. Rather than setting up and managing individual point-to-
point circuits between each office using pair of Leased Lines, MPLS VPN customers need to provide
only one connection from their office router to a service provider edge router.
BSNL has tied up with various Networking solution providers to provide end-to-end solution to
its valued customers, including Customer End (CE) routers and other networking components.
1) BSNL Prepaid/ Post paid GSM Card
Authorized BSNL Prepaid/ Post paid 2G/3G GSM Card Provider
2) BSNL 2G/3G DATA CARD
Authorized BSNL 2G/3G Data Card Provider
3) BSNL TABLET
Authorized BSNL Tablet Provider
72
4) BSNL LAND LINE
4.9 Revenue chart
Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited has got net fixed assets valuing more than Rs.71,333Crore, which are in
the form of Tangible Assets (Land, Buildings Cables, Apparatus & Plants etc.)
Revenue earned by BSNL during last five years
4.10 SWOT analysis of BSNL:
Strengths in the SWOT analysis of BSNL:
 Backed by Government of India: It was incorporated on 15 September 2000 and took over the
business of telecom services and network management from the erstwhile Central Government
Departments of Telecom Services (DTS) and Telecom Operations (DTO), with effect from
0
5000
10000
15000
20000
25000
30000
35000
40000
2008-09 2009-10 2010-11 2011-12 2012-13 2013-14 2014-15
Revenue(Crores)
Revenue
73
1 October 2000 in an ongoing concern basis. Ever since the formation of BSNL, the Indian
telecommunications scenario has been transforming itself into a multi-player, multi-product
market with varied market sizes and segments.
 Extensive infrastructure in remote areas: BSNL has installed Quality Telecom Network in the
country & now focusing on improving it, expanding the network, introducing new telecom
services with ICT applications in villages & winning customer’s confidence.
 PAN India-reach: You name the place & BSNL is there. It has about 43.74 million line basic
telephone capacity, 8.83 million WLL capacity, 72.60 million GSM capacity, 37,885 fixed
exchanges, 68,162 GSM BTSs, 12,071 CDMA Towers, and 197 Satellite Stations.
 Huge Optical-Fibre infrastructure: Fibre-based cable networks act as a backbone to transmit
data on wireless networks. BSNL has 6,86,644RKm. of OFC, 50,430 RKm. of microwave
network connecting 623 districts, 7330 cities/towns & 5.8 lakhs villages.
 Strategic alliances with IT & hardware companies: It got into many strategic alliances for IT
& hardware requirements like with Ericsson, Cisco , HP, Compaq , NFL , MTNL etc. in order to
run the business smoothly.
 Vast Experience: The Company has vast experience in planning, installation, network
integration & maintenance of switching & transmission networks & also has a world class ISO
9000 certified Telecom Training Institute. It has 3 training institutions and 4 specialized telecom
units.
Weaknesses in the SWOT analysis of BSNL
 Working culture of government Institution: Despite having stiff competition in telecom sector
making private players to design their strategy cautiously BSNL is still running on Bureaucratic
type of setup.
 Network capabilities: Although BSNL have 62000 tower & wireless networks stretched to
6,86,644 RKm. of OFC, 50,430 RKm. of microwave network connecting 623 districts, 7330
cities/towns & 5.8 lakhs villages, they are not able to optimize the network capabilities.
 Unproductive rural assets: Problems associated with outdated technologies, low ROI form of
rural assets & Political interference is making the company handicapped.
 Poor Service Image: With the advent of technologies & new players foraying in the telecom
Project on telecom sector
Project on telecom sector
Project on telecom sector
Project on telecom sector
Project on telecom sector
Project on telecom sector
Project on telecom sector
Project on telecom sector
Project on telecom sector
Project on telecom sector
Project on telecom sector
Project on telecom sector
Project on telecom sector
Project on telecom sector
Project on telecom sector
Project on telecom sector
Project on telecom sector
Project on telecom sector
Project on telecom sector
Project on telecom sector
Project on telecom sector
Project on telecom sector
Project on telecom sector
Project on telecom sector
Project on telecom sector
Project on telecom sector
Project on telecom sector
Project on telecom sector
Project on telecom sector
Project on telecom sector
Project on telecom sector
Project on telecom sector
Project on telecom sector
Project on telecom sector
Project on telecom sector
Project on telecom sector
Project on telecom sector
Project on telecom sector
Project on telecom sector
Project on telecom sector
Project on telecom sector

More Related Content

What's hot

summer internship project(2)
summer internship project(2)summer internship project(2)
summer internship project(2)
????SuRiN ?
 
Project report on consumer behaviour of Airtel
Project report on consumer behaviour of AirtelProject report on consumer behaviour of Airtel
Project report on consumer behaviour of Airtel
Ashish Dubey
 
MBA Final year Project - Customer satisfaction
MBA Final year Project - Customer satisfactionMBA Final year Project - Customer satisfaction
MBA Final year Project - Customer satisfaction
Vijendra Kumar (VJ)
 
mba project on vodafone
mba project on vodafonemba project on vodafone
mba project on vodafone
Projects Kart
 
A STUDY ON CONSUMER SATISFACTION AT BIG BAZAAR
A STUDY ON CONSUMER SATISFACTION AT BIG BAZAARA STUDY ON CONSUMER SATISFACTION AT BIG BAZAAR
A STUDY ON CONSUMER SATISFACTION AT BIG BAZAAR
Shashi Kishore
 
Comparative study of telecom sector
Comparative study of telecom sectorComparative study of telecom sector
Comparative study of telecom sector
Nirankar Royal
 

What's hot (20)

summer internship project(2)
summer internship project(2)summer internship project(2)
summer internship project(2)
 
Project report on consumer behaviour of Airtel
Project report on consumer behaviour of AirtelProject report on consumer behaviour of Airtel
Project report on consumer behaviour of Airtel
 
Airtel
AirtelAirtel
Airtel
 
customer satisfaction on airtel
customer satisfaction on airtelcustomer satisfaction on airtel
customer satisfaction on airtel
 
study of customer satisfaction on Airtel
study of customer satisfaction on Airtelstudy of customer satisfaction on Airtel
study of customer satisfaction on Airtel
 
Customer Satisfaction Project
Customer Satisfaction ProjectCustomer Satisfaction Project
Customer Satisfaction Project
 
Summer Internship Report on Marketing strategies of Airtel.
Summer Internship Report on Marketing strategies of Airtel.Summer Internship Report on Marketing strategies of Airtel.
Summer Internship Report on Marketing strategies of Airtel.
 
Bharti Airtel Pvt. Ltd. Summer training project report
Bharti Airtel Pvt. Ltd. Summer training project report Bharti Airtel Pvt. Ltd. Summer training project report
Bharti Airtel Pvt. Ltd. Summer training project report
 
Dessertation on customer satisfaction from reliance jio services
Dessertation on customer satisfaction from reliance jio servicesDessertation on customer satisfaction from reliance jio services
Dessertation on customer satisfaction from reliance jio services
 
MBA Final year Project - Customer satisfaction
MBA Final year Project - Customer satisfactionMBA Final year Project - Customer satisfaction
MBA Final year Project - Customer satisfaction
 
mba project on vodafone
mba project on vodafonemba project on vodafone
mba project on vodafone
 
A project report on to study the customers satisfaction towards mrf tyres at...
A project report on  to study the customers satisfaction towards mrf tyres at...A project report on  to study the customers satisfaction towards mrf tyres at...
A project report on to study the customers satisfaction towards mrf tyres at...
 
Jio review of literature
Jio review of literatureJio review of literature
Jio review of literature
 
Company profile of airtel
Company   profile   of   airtelCompany   profile   of   airtel
Company profile of airtel
 
Strategic Management Analysis - Airtel
Strategic Management Analysis - AirtelStrategic Management Analysis - Airtel
Strategic Management Analysis - Airtel
 
A STUDY ON CONSUMER SATISFACTION AT BIG BAZAAR
A STUDY ON CONSUMER SATISFACTION AT BIG BAZAARA STUDY ON CONSUMER SATISFACTION AT BIG BAZAAR
A STUDY ON CONSUMER SATISFACTION AT BIG BAZAAR
 
MBA Marketing - Final project report on sales promotion in home automation , ...
MBA Marketing - Final project report on sales promotion in home automation , ...MBA Marketing - Final project report on sales promotion in home automation , ...
MBA Marketing - Final project report on sales promotion in home automation , ...
 
Comparative study of telecom sector
Comparative study of telecom sectorComparative study of telecom sector
Comparative study of telecom sector
 
BBA Minor Project Report on Airtel
BBA Minor Project Report on AirtelBBA Minor Project Report on Airtel
BBA Minor Project Report on Airtel
 
Airtel finncial analysis & marketing strategy
Airtel finncial analysis & marketing strategyAirtel finncial analysis & marketing strategy
Airtel finncial analysis & marketing strategy
 

Similar to Project on telecom sector

Final Internshp Report by mostafa.doc
Final Internshp Report by mostafa.docFinal Internshp Report by mostafa.doc
Final Internshp Report by mostafa.doc
mosharafhossain65
 
AN INTEGRATED MANAGEMENT AND MEASUREMENT OF CUSTOMER FEASIBLILTY IN CONSTRUCT...
AN INTEGRATED MANAGEMENT AND MEASUREMENT OF CUSTOMER FEASIBLILTY IN CONSTRUCT...AN INTEGRATED MANAGEMENT AND MEASUREMENT OF CUSTOMER FEASIBLILTY IN CONSTRUCT...
AN INTEGRATED MANAGEMENT AND MEASUREMENT OF CUSTOMER FEASIBLILTY IN CONSTRUCT...
IAEME Publication
 

Similar to Project on telecom sector (20)

A STUDY ON CUSTOMERS SATISFACTION OF MARUTI SUZUKI CARS IN TIRUPUR CITY BY AJITH
A STUDY ON CUSTOMERS SATISFACTION OF MARUTI SUZUKI CARS IN TIRUPUR CITY BY AJITHA STUDY ON CUSTOMERS SATISFACTION OF MARUTI SUZUKI CARS IN TIRUPUR CITY BY AJITH
A STUDY ON CUSTOMERS SATISFACTION OF MARUTI SUZUKI CARS IN TIRUPUR CITY BY AJITH
 
Basics of marketing student notes-sachin lele
Basics of marketing student notes-sachin leleBasics of marketing student notes-sachin lele
Basics of marketing student notes-sachin lele
 
Strategic Thinking, TCF and Action Plans
Strategic Thinking, TCF and Action PlansStrategic Thinking, TCF and Action Plans
Strategic Thinking, TCF and Action Plans
 
Final Internshp Report by mostafa.doc
Final Internshp Report by mostafa.docFinal Internshp Report by mostafa.doc
Final Internshp Report by mostafa.doc
 
Annamalai MBA 2nd year General 346 Solved Assignment 2021
Annamalai MBA 2nd year General  346  Solved Assignment 2021Annamalai MBA 2nd year General  346  Solved Assignment 2021
Annamalai MBA 2nd year General 346 Solved Assignment 2021
 
A Survey on Customer Analytics Techniques for the Retail Industry
A Survey on Customer Analytics Techniques for the Retail IndustryA Survey on Customer Analytics Techniques for the Retail Industry
A Survey on Customer Analytics Techniques for the Retail Industry
 
consumer Satisfaction
consumer Satisfaction consumer Satisfaction
consumer Satisfaction
 
A STUDY ON CUSTOMERS SATISFACTION OF BARTI AIRTEL TELECOMMUNICATION IN TIRUPU...
A STUDY ON CUSTOMERS SATISFACTION OF BARTI AIRTEL TELECOMMUNICATION IN TIRUPU...A STUDY ON CUSTOMERS SATISFACTION OF BARTI AIRTEL TELECOMMUNICATION IN TIRUPU...
A STUDY ON CUSTOMERS SATISFACTION OF BARTI AIRTEL TELECOMMUNICATION IN TIRUPU...
 
What is Market Research?
What is Market Research?What is Market Research?
What is Market Research?
 
What is Market Research?
What is Market Research?What is Market Research?
What is Market Research?
 
AN INTEGRATED MANAGEMENT AND MEASUREMENT OF CUSTOMER FEASIBLILTY IN CONSTRUCT...
AN INTEGRATED MANAGEMENT AND MEASUREMENT OF CUSTOMER FEASIBLILTY IN CONSTRUCT...AN INTEGRATED MANAGEMENT AND MEASUREMENT OF CUSTOMER FEASIBLILTY IN CONSTRUCT...
AN INTEGRATED MANAGEMENT AND MEASUREMENT OF CUSTOMER FEASIBLILTY IN CONSTRUCT...
 
Introduction
IntroductionIntroduction
Introduction
 
Powerful ways-to-start-a-new-business vol1
Powerful ways-to-start-a-new-business vol1Powerful ways-to-start-a-new-business vol1
Powerful ways-to-start-a-new-business vol1
 
Material 1 - Blog - Learn, do and growth
Material 1 - Blog - Learn, do and growthMaterial 1 - Blog - Learn, do and growth
Material 1 - Blog - Learn, do and growth
 
Customer satisfaction of mobile phone subscribers
Customer satisfaction of mobile phone subscribersCustomer satisfaction of mobile phone subscribers
Customer satisfaction of mobile phone subscribers
 
Scott droney - strategic planning and strategic management
Scott droney -  strategic planning and strategic managementScott droney -  strategic planning and strategic management
Scott droney - strategic planning and strategic management
 
Introduction to performing an assessment of your company's product management...
Introduction to performing an assessment of your company's product management...Introduction to performing an assessment of your company's product management...
Introduction to performing an assessment of your company's product management...
 
1 Market Research (1).doc
1 Market Research (1).doc1 Market Research (1).doc
1 Market Research (1).doc
 
Unit 2Marketing Essentials.docx
Unit 2Marketing Essentials.docxUnit 2Marketing Essentials.docx
Unit 2Marketing Essentials.docx
 
NMIMS Customized Dec 2021 Assignment Solution
NMIMS  Customized  Dec 2021 Assignment Solution NMIMS  Customized  Dec 2021 Assignment Solution
NMIMS Customized Dec 2021 Assignment Solution
 

Recently uploaded

Recently uploaded (8)

International Tech Talent in Finland 2024
International Tech Talent in Finland 2024International Tech Talent in Finland 2024
International Tech Talent in Finland 2024
 
Emotional Intelligence and You - Gauri Das
Emotional Intelligence and You - Gauri DasEmotional Intelligence and You - Gauri Das
Emotional Intelligence and You - Gauri Das
 
Rally Webinar: Employer Brand Campaigns that Attract and Retain.pdf
Rally Webinar: Employer Brand Campaigns that Attract and Retain.pdfRally Webinar: Employer Brand Campaigns that Attract and Retain.pdf
Rally Webinar: Employer Brand Campaigns that Attract and Retain.pdf
 
BHOLENDRA SINGH RESUME - Sr. Software Engineer at India Today Group
BHOLENDRA SINGH RESUME - Sr. Software Engineer at India Today GroupBHOLENDRA SINGH RESUME - Sr. Software Engineer at India Today Group
BHOLENDRA SINGH RESUME - Sr. Software Engineer at India Today Group
 
Module 3 - Onboarding Course Outline.pptx
Module 3 - Onboarding Course Outline.pptxModule 3 - Onboarding Course Outline.pptx
Module 3 - Onboarding Course Outline.pptx
 
Unlocking Employee Potential with the Power of Continuous Feedback
Unlocking Employee Potential with the Power of Continuous FeedbackUnlocking Employee Potential with the Power of Continuous Feedback
Unlocking Employee Potential with the Power of Continuous Feedback
 
Boost Efficiency with an Inventory Tracking Spreadsheet.docx
Boost Efficiency with an Inventory Tracking Spreadsheet.docxBoost Efficiency with an Inventory Tracking Spreadsheet.docx
Boost Efficiency with an Inventory Tracking Spreadsheet.docx
 
Acing Performance Management - Harjeet Khanduja
Acing Performance Management - Harjeet KhandujaAcing Performance Management - Harjeet Khanduja
Acing Performance Management - Harjeet Khanduja
 

Project on telecom sector

  • 2. 2 CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION A competitive analysis is a critical part of your company marketing plan. With this evaluation, you can establish what makes your product or service unique--and therefore what attributes you play up in order to attract your target market. Competitor analysis includes : Strategic Management Strategic Management is all about identification and description of the strategies that managers can carry so as to achieve better performance and a competitive advantage for their organization. An organization is said to have competitive advantage if its profitability is higher than the average profitability for all companies in its industry.
  • 3. 3 Strategic management can also be defined as a bundle of decisions and acts which a manager undertakes and which decides the result of the firm’s performance. They should conduct a SWOT Analysis (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats), i.e., they should make best possible utilization of strengths, minimize the organizational weaknesses, make use of arising opportunities from the business environment and shouldn’t ignore the threats. Strategic management is nothing but planning for both predictable as well as unfeasible contingencies. It is applicable to both small as well as large organizations as even the smallest organization face competition and, by formulating and implementing appropriate strategies, they can attain sustainable competitive advantage. Strategic management is a continuous process that evaluates and controls the business and the industries in which an organization is involved; evaluates its competitors and sets goals and strategies to meet all existing and potential competitors; and then reevaluates strategies on a
  • 4. 4 regular basis to determine how it has been implemented and whether it was successful or does it needs replacement. Strategic Management gives a broader perspective to the employees of an organization and they can better understand how their job fits into the entire organizational plan and how it is co- related to other organizational members. It is nothing but the art of managing employees in a manner which maximizes the ability of achieving business objectives. The employees become more trustworthy, more committed and more satisfied as they can co-relate themselves very well with each organizational task. They can understand the reaction of environmental changes on the organization and the probable response of the organization with the help of strategic management. Thus the employees can judge the impact of such changes on their own job and can effectively face the changes. The managers and employees must do appropriate things in appropriate manner. They need to be both effective as well as efficient. 1.1 NEED OF THE STUDY: 1. There are several important elements of competitive analysis, each of which need to be carefully studied if one hopes to transform competitive analysis activities into business profitability. Major aspects of competitive analysis include the following: 2. Defining Competitors 3. Analysis of competitor strengths and weakness 4. Analysis of internal strength and weakness 5. Analysis of customer needs and wants. In the present day dynamic busuness environment, it is essential that every organisation has to observe his competitors and their strategies on a continuous basis in order to be competitive and to understand the needs and wants of he customers. 1.2 SCOPE OF THE STUDY: Scope defines the products offered to the market and the customers that purchase them. It needs to incorporate both “static” and “dynamic” analysis. A static analysis defines where the competitor is and what it is doing at the present time. Dynamic analysis refers to move competitor and how they are making over time in its choice of products or customers and both. Customer segments may be identified by needs or the demographics tied to those need states
  • 5. 5 1.3 OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY: 1. To awareness about the BSNL mobiles and broadband services. 2 .To understand the level of the satisfaction with BSNL services. 3 .To ascertain the customer preference of service provider while availing the service. 1.4RESEARCH METHODOLOGY : Every business works on an explicit or implicit “business plan”, which comprises of both the corporate and the competitive strategies of the firm. To implement the above two strategies there are functional areas, which have their own strategies and plan. The major functional areas of business are marketing, production, finance, human resource management. Marketing research plays an important role in deciding on the market strategy by providing information necessary for choosing an appropriate strategy. This could be termed as marketing research at strategic level of marketing. 1.4.1 PRIMARY DATA The primary data is collected by conducting the field survey with the help of the structure questionnaire and by administering this questionnaire on the sample of respondents. 1.4.2 SECONDARY DATA: The secondary data are usually of two types internal and external.  Internal records of the company are used as the point of the marketing research. This includes information about the product being researched, its history, company’s background, market share and Competitors. These types of information were collected from the marketing department, sales department and corporate cell for marketing intelligence in the company.  External secondary data contains information available from public sources such as business newspapers, business magazines. A prominent source of data is the
  • 6. 6 CMIE (Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy). which publishes monthly reports on various aspects of Indian economy and Industry. 1.4.3 STATISTICAL TOOLS: The data thus obtained through the survey was analysed with the help of statistical tools such as bar diagrams and sample percentages. 1.4.4 SAMPLING: 1. The sample size taken for the above study is 60. 2. Convenient sampling method has been adopted for the study. 3. Samples are taken from the BSNL customer service centres in hyderbad and also from the employees of BSNL. 4. 60 samples has been chosen from Hyderabad ,Gachibowli, madeenaguda, kukatpally and balnagar. 1.5 LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY: 1.The research had to be conducted with in some of the places of Hyderabad, and the report had to be made on basis of the findings which could be in minor differences from the facts and figures from all over India. 2. There were some questions which the BSNL officials were not ready to answer Like for example, the exact reason behind losing market share and exact reason for customer dissatisfaction. 3. Time constraint was also a one of the major factors which prevented me from conducting a research in depth
  • 8. 8 CHAPTER 2 REVIEW OF LITERATURE 2.1 REVIEWS BY EXPERTS: The foundation of telecom network in India was laid by the British sometimes in 19th century. The history of BSNL is linked with the beginning of telecom in India. In 19th century and for almost entire 20th century, the telecom in India was operated as a government of India wing. Earlier it was part of erstwhile post & telegraph department (P&T). In 1975 the department of telecom (Dot) was separated from p & t. Dot was responsible for running of telecom services in entire country until 1985 when Mahan Nagar Telecom Telephone Nigam limited (MTNL) was carved out of dot to run the telecom services of Delhi and Mumbai. It is a well known fact that BSNL was carved out of department of telecom to provide level playing field to provide telecoms. Subsequently in 1990s the telecom sector was opened up by the government for private investment therefore it became necessary to separate the government policy wing from operations wing. The government of India corporatized the operations wing of dot on October 01, 2000 and named it is Bharat Sanchar Nigam limited (BSNL). BSNL operates as a public sector. Customer satisfaction is defined as “the number of customers or percentage of total customers, whose reported experience with a firm, its products, or its services (ratings) exceeds specified satisfaction goals.” Stephan A.Butscher In a competitive marketplace where businesses compete for customers, customer satisfaction is seen as a key differentiator and increasingly has become a key element of business strategy. A.T.Kearney Organizations need to retain existing customers while targeting non-customers. Steven Wheeler
  • 9. 9 It is essential for firms to effectively manage customer satisfaction. To be able do this, we need accurate measurement of satisfaction. Parasuraman, Zeithaml and berry Hedonic benefits are associated with the sensory and experiential attributes of the product. Utilitarian benefits of a product are associated with the more instrumental and functional attributes of the product. Batra and Athol,a 1990. Six-item 7-point bipolar scale by Wirtz& Lee (2003), that consistently performed best across both hedonic and utilitarian services loaded most highly on satisfaction, had the highest item reliability, and had by far the lowest error variance across both studies. In the study, the six items asked respondents evaluation of their most recent experience with ATM services and ice cream restaurant, along seven points within these six items: “please me to displeased me”, “contented with to disgusted with”, “very satisfied with to very dissatisfied with”, “did a good job for me to did a poor job for me”, “wise choice to poor choice” and “happy with to unhappy with”. A semantic differential (4 items) scale by Eroglu and Machleit (1990), which is a four item 7- point bipolar scale, was the second best performing measure, which was again consistent across both contexts. In the study, respondents were asked to evaluate their experience with both products, along seven points within these four items: “satisfied to dissatisfied”, “favourable to unfavourable”, “pleasant to unpleasant”, and “I like it very much to I didn’t like it at all”. The third best scale was single-item percentage measure, a one-item 7-point bipolar scale by Westbrook (1980). Again, the respondents were asked to evaluate their experience on both ATM services and ice cream restaurants, along seven points within “delighted to terrible”.
  • 10. 10 2.2 INTRODUCTION: Competitor analysis in marketing and strategic management is an assessment of the strengths and weaknesses of current and potential competitors. This analysis provides both an offensive and defensive strategic context to identify opportunities and threats. Profiling coalesces all of the relevant sources of competitor analysis into one framework in the support of efficient and effective strategy formulation, implementation, monitoring and adjustment. 2.3 COMPETIVE ANALYSIS: One common and useful technique is constructing a competitor array. The steps include:  Define your industry – scope and nature of the industry.  Determine who your competitors are.  Determine who your customers are and what benefits they expect.  Determine what the key success factors are in your industry.  Rank the key success factors by giving each one a weighting – The sum of all the weightings must add up to one.  Rate each competitor on each of the key success factors.  Multiply each cell in the matrix by the factor weighting. This can best be displayed on a two dimensional matrix – competitors along the top and key success factors down the side.
  • 11. 11 An example of a competitor array follows. Key Industry Success Factors Weighting Competitor #1 rating Competitor #1 weighted Competitor #2 rating Competitor #2 weighted 1 - Extensive distribution .4 6 2.4 3 1.2 2 - Customer focus .3 4 1.2 5 1.5 3 - Economies of scale .2 3 .6 3 .6 4 - Product innovation .1 7 .7 4 .4
  • 12. 12 Totals 1.0 20 4.9 15 3.7
  • 13. 13 2.4 COMPETITOR’S PROFILE: The strategic rationale of competitor profiling is powerfully simple. Superior knowledge of rivals offers a legitimate source of competitive advantage. The raw material of competitive advantage consists of offering superior customer value in the firm’s chosen market. The definitive characteristic of customer value is the adjective, superior. Customer value is defined relative to rival offerings making competitor knowledge an intrinsic component of corporate strategy. Profiling facilitates this strategic objective in three important ways. First, profiling can reveal strategic weaknesses in rivals that the firm may exploit. Second, the proactive stance of competitor profiling will allow the firm to anticipate the strategic response of their rivals to the firm’s planned strategies, the strategies of other competing firms, and changes in the environment. Third, this proactive knowledge will give the firms strategic agility. Offensive strategy can be implemented more quickly in order to exploit opportunities and capitalize on strengths. Similarly, defensive strategy can be employed more deftly in order to counter the threat of rival firms from exploiting the firm’s own weaknesses. Clearly, those firms practicing systematic and advanced competitor profiling have a significant advantage. As such, a comprehensive profiling capability is rapidly becoming a core competence required for successful competition. An appropriate analogy is to consider this advantage as akin to having a good idea of the next move that your opponent in a chess match will make. By staying one move ahead, checkmate is one step closer. Indeed, as in chess, a good offense is the best defense in the game of business as well. A common technique is to create detailed profiles on each of your major competitors. These profiles give an in-depth description of the competitor's background, finances, products, markets, facilities, personnel, and strategies. This involves:
  • 14. 14 2.5 NEW COMPETITORS: In addition to analysing current competitors, it is necessary to estimate future competitive threats. The most common sources of new competitors are:  Companies competing in a related product/market  Companies using related technologies  Companies already targeting your prime market segment but with unrelated products  Companies from other geographical areas and with similar products  New start-up companies organized by former employees and/or managers of existing companies The entrance of new competitors is likely when:  There are high profit margins in the industry  There is unmet demand (insufficient supply) in the industry  There are no major barriers to entry  There is future growth potential  Competitive rivalry is not intense  Gaining a competitive advantage over existing firms is feasible. 2.6 MARKETING : Marketing is a widely used term to describe the communication between a company and the consumer audience that aims to increase the value of the company or its merchandise or, at its simplest, raises the profile of the company and its products in the public mind. The purpose of marketing is to induce behavioral change in the receptive audience.The American Marketing Association most recently defined marketing as "the activity, set of institutions, and processes for
  • 15. 15 creating, communicating, delivering, and exchanging offerings that have value for customers, clients, partners, and society at large." The techniques used in marketing include choosing target markets through market analysis and market segmentation, as well as understanding methods of influence on the consumer behavior. From a societal point of view, marketing provides the link between a society's material requirements and its economic patterns of response. This way marketing satisfies these needs and wants through the development of exchange processes and the building of long-term relationships. In the case of nonprofit organization marketing, the aim is to deliver a message about the organization's services to the applicable audience. Governments often employ marketing to communicate messages with a social purpose, such as a public health or safety message, to citizens 2.7 FACTORS OF INFLUENCE ON MARKETING STRATEGIES : In addition to the controllable marketing mix factors, there are uncontrollable factors called environmental forces. The external influences are the forces that affect the characteristics of the marketing strategies to which marketeers adapt. Amongst others they include: regulatory, economic, social, political environmental, competitive, and technological.[15] • Regulatory: This refers to laws and legality (governmental policies) that may affect the way marketing can be characterized. For example, government restriction on the importation of a particular product might hinder the marketers playing in that particular field. • Economic. Various trends in the economic business cycle, including inflation, recessions, deficit, or income level. Each of these factors can have a direct impact on marketing which may have to be re-evaluated and overhauled as a result.
  • 16. 16 • Social: The social forces refer to the structure and dynamics of individuals and groups and their behaviors, beliefs, thought patterns, and lifestyles, friendships, etc. When consumers change their needs and wants, this directly affects marketing strategies. • Political: The socio-economic conditions are closely related to the state of the governmental institutions. Depending on the governmental impact on bureaucracy, corruption, freedom of speech, and other limitations (or opportunities), the marketing strategies will adapt to the political conditions. • Competitive: Competition refers to the numbers of similar competitive product brands. A new competitor entering the market will directly affect the marketing strategies of the incumbent companies. Firms offering similar services or products often achieve differentiation through marketing, positioning, and branding. • Technological: The marketing strategies often adapt to the pace of development of the consumer demand and exponential technological progression. 2.8 MARKETING MANAGENET: Marketing management is the organizational discipline which focuses on the practical application of marketing orientation, techniques and methods inside enterprises and organizations and on the management of a firm's marketing resources and activities. Globalization has led some firms to market beyond the borders of their home countries, making international marketing a part of those firms' marketing strategy. Marketing managers are often responsible for influencing the level, timing, and composition of customer demand. In part, this is because the role of a marketing manager (or sometimes called managing marketer in small- and medium-sized enterprises) can vary significantly based on a business's size, corporate culture, and industry context. For example, in a small- and medium-sized enterprises, the managing marketer may contribute in both managerial and marketing operations roles for the company brands. In a large consumer products company, the marketing manager may act as the overall general manager of his or her assigned product.To create an effective, cost-efficient marketing management strategy, firms must possess a detailed,objective understanding of their own business and the market in which
  • 17. 17 they operate.[3] In analyzing these issues, the discipline of marketing management often overlaps with the related discipline of strategic planning. Two customer segments are often selected as targets because they score highly on two dimensions: 1. The segment is attractive to serve because it is large, growing, makes frequent purchases, is not price sensitive (i.e. is willing to pay high prices), or other factors; and 2. The company has the resources and capabilities to compete for the segment's business, can meet their needs better than the competition, and can do so profitably. A commonly cited definition of marketing is simply "meeting needs profitably" The implication of selecting target segments is that the business will subsequently allocate more resources to acquire and retain customers in the target segment(s) than it will for other, non- targeted customers. In some cases, the firm may go so far as to turn away customers who are not in its target segment.The doorman at a swanky nightclub, for example, may deny entry to unfashionably dressed individuals because the business has made a strategic decision to target the "high fashion" segment of nightclub patrons. In conjunction with targeting decisions, marketing managers will identify the desired positioning they want the company, product, or brand to occupy in the target customer's mind. This positioning is often an encapsulation of a key benefit the company's product or service offers that is differentiated and superior to the benefits offered by competitive products. For example, Volvo has traditionally positioned its products in the automobile market in North America in order to be perceived as the leader in "safety", whereasBMW has traditionally positioned its brand to be perceived as the leader in "performance". Ideally, a firm's positioning can be maintained over a long period of time because the company possesses, or can develop, some form of sustainable competitive advantage. The positioning should also be sufficiently relevant to the target segment such that it will drive the purchasing behavior of target customers .To sum up,the marketing branch of a company is to deal with the
  • 18. 18 selling and popularity of its products among people and its customers,as the central and eventual goal of a company is customer satisfaction and the return of revenue. 2.8 Implementation planning The Marketing Metrics Continuum provides a framework for how to categorize metrics from the tactical to strategic. If the company has obtained an adequate understanding of the customer base and its own competitive position in the industry, marketing managers are able to make their own key strategic decisions and develop a marketing strategy designed to maximize the revenues and profits of the firm. The selected strategy may aim for any of a variety of specific objectives, including optimizing short-term unit margins, revenue growth, market share, long-term profitability, or other goals. After the firm's strategic objectives have been identified, the target market selected, and the desired positioning for the company, product or brand has been determined, marketing managers focus on how to best implement the chosen strategy. Traditionally, this has involved implementation planning across the "4 Ps" of : product management, pricing (at what price slot does a producer position a product, e.g. low, medium or high price), place (the place or area
  • 19. 19 where the products are going to be sold, which could be local, regional, countrywide or international) (i.e. sales and distribution channels), and Promotion. Taken together, the company's implementation choices across the 4 Ps are often described as the marketing mix, meaning the mix of elements the business will employ to "go to market" and execute the marketing strategy. The overall goal for the marketing mix is to consistently deliver a compelling value proposition that reinforces the firm's chosen positioning, buildscustomer loyalty and brand equity among target customers, and achieves the firm's marketing and financial objectives. In many cases, marketing management will develop a marketing plan to specify how the company will execute the chosen strategy and achieve the business' objectives. The content of marketing plans varies from firm to firm, but commonly includes:  An executive summary  Situation analysis to summarize facts and insights gained from market research and marketing analysis  The company's mission statement or long-term strategic vision  A statement of the company's key objectives, often subdivided into marketing objectives and financial objectives  The marketing strategy the business has chosen, specifying the target segments to be pursued and the competitive positioning to be achieved  Implementation choices for each element of the marketing mix (the 4 Ps) 2.9 Marketing mix : The marketing mix is a business tool used in marketing and by marketers. The marketing mix, originally coined by Neil Borden, can be valuable when determining a product or brand's offer, and is often associated with the four Ps.The four Ps was proposed by professor E. Jerome McCarthy in the 1960s.The "four P's". Product is the first P representing the actual product. Price represents the process of determining the value of a product. Place represents the variables of
  • 20. 20 getting the product to the consumer such as distribution channels, market coverage, and movement organization. The last P stands for Promotion which is the process of reaching the target market andconvincing them to buy the product. The four Ps determine how marketing satisfies consumer needs. They are considered controllable marketing mix factors, meaning that they can change or be altered as needed. Habits, lifestyle, and diet are all considered to be controllable risk factors. In the 1990s, the concept of four C's was introduced as a more customer-driven replacement of four P's.[9] There are two theories based on four Cs: Lauterborn's four Cs (consumer, cost, communication, convenience)[10] and Shimizu's four Cs (commodity, cost, communication, channel) in the 7Cs Compass Model (Co-marketing). 2.10 Marketing environment : Staying ahead of the consumer is an important part of a marketer's job. It is important to understand the "marketing environment" in order to comprehend the consumers concerns, motivations and to adjust the product according to the consumers needs. Marketers use the process of marketing environmental scans, which continually acquires information on events occurring outside the organization to identify trends, opportunities and threats to a business. The six key elements of a marketing scan are thedemographic forces, socio-cultural forces, economic forces, regulatory forces, competitive forces, and technological forces. Marketers must look at where the threats and opportunities stem from in the world around the consumer to maintain a productive and profitable business. The market environment is a marketing term and refers to factors and forces that affect a firm's ability to build and maintain successful relationships with customers. Three levels of the environment are: Micro (internal) environment - forces within the company that affect its ability to serve its customers. Meso environment – the industry in which a company operates and the industry's market(s).Macro (national) environment - larger societal forces that affect the microenvironment.
  • 21. 21 2.11 Marketing research : Marketing research involves conducting research to support marketing activities, and the statistical interpretation of data into information. This information is then used by managers to plan marketing activities, gauge the nature of a firm's marketing environment and obtain information from suppliers. Marketing researchers use statistical methods such as quantitativeresearch, qualitativeresearch, hypothesistests, Chi-squaredtests, linea- regression, correlations, frequencydistributions, poissondistributions,binomialdistributions, etc. to interpret their findings, and convert data into information. The marketing research process spans a number of stages, including the definition of a problem, development of a research plan, collection and interpretation of data, and disseminating information formally in the form of a report. The task of marketing research is to provide management with relevant, accurate, reliable, valid, and current information. A distinction should be made between marketingresearch and marketresearch. Market research pertains to research in a given market. As an example, a firm may conduct research in a target market, after selecting a suitable market segment. In contrast, marketing research relates to all research conducted within marketing. Thus, market research is a subset of marketing research. 2.12 Marketing effectiveness : Marketing effectiveness is the measure of how effective a given marketer's go to market strategy is toward meeting the goal of maximizing their spending to achieve positive results in both the short- and long-term. It is also related to Marketing ROI and Return on Marketing Investment (ROMI). Factors driving marketing effectiveness  Corporate: Each company operates within different bounds. These are determined by their size, their budget and their ability to make organizes act in similar ways leading to the need to segment them. Based on these segments, they make choices based on how they value the
  • 22. 22 attributes of a product and the brand, in return for price paid for the product. Consumers build brand value through information. Information is received through many sources, such as, advertising, word-of-mouth and in the (distribution) channel often characterized with the purchase funnel, a McKinsey & Company concept. Lastly, consumers consume and make purchase decisions in certain ways.  Exogenous Factors: External factors such as weather, interest rates, government regulations, etc. that lie outside of marketers' immediate control and may impact marketing effectiveness.  Understanding the impact these factors have on consumers can help in designing programs that take advantage or mitigate the risk of these factors and the impact they may have on a marketing campaigns. Therefore, exogenous factors often times influence how marketers strive to improve their results such as leveraging the factors noted above (i.e. seasonality, interest rates, regulatory environment) in an effort to improve marketing effectiveness.  Marketing Strategy: Improving marketing effectiveness can be achieved by employing a superior marketing strategy. By positioning the product or brand correctly, the product/brand will be more successful in the market than competitors’ products/brands. The match-up between the product, the consumer lifestyle, and the endorser is important for effectiveness of brand communication. Even with the best strategy, marketers must execute their programs properly to achieve extraordinary results.  Marketing Creative: Even without a change in strategy, better creatives can improve results. Without a change in strategy, AFLAC was able to achieve stunning results with its introduction of the Duck (AFLAC) campaign. With the introduction of this new creative concept, the company growth rate soared from 12% prior to the campaign to 28% following it. (See references below, Bang). Creatives are an integral part of any marketing campaign, as it establishes the corporate identity and plays a significant role in brand recollection. These may include designing point of purchase displays, brochures or even product packaging. Apart from communicating the brand, consistency in design across various mediums helps reinforce a specific offering in the minds of the audience. Using typography, imagery and color, marketing creatives evoke emotion related to a brand.  Marketing Execution: By improving how marketers go to market, they can achieve significantly greater results without changing their strategy or their creative execution. At the
  • 23. 23 marketing mix level, marketers can improve their execution by making small changes in any or all of the 4-Ps (Product, Price, Place and Promotion) (Marketing) without making changes to the strategic position or the creative execution marketers can improve their effectiveness and deliver increased revenue. At the program level marketers can improve their effectiveness by managing and executing each of their marketing campaigns better. It's commonly known that consistency of a Marketing Creative strategy across various media (e.g. TV, Radio, Print and Online), not just within each individual media message, can amplify and enhance impact of the overall marketing campaign effort.  Additional examples would be improving direct mail through a better call-to-action or editing web site content to improve its organic search results, marketers can improve their marketing effectiveness for each type of program. A growing area of interest within (Marketing Strategy) and Execution are the more recent interaction dynamics of traditional marketing (e.g. TV or Events) with online consumer activity (e.g. Social Media). (See references below, Brand Ecosystems) Not only direct product experience, but also any stimulus provided by traditional marketing, can become a catalyst for a consumer brand "groundswell" online as outlined in the book Groundswell.  Marketing Infrastructure (also known as Marketing Management): Improving the business of marketing can lead to significant gains for the company. Management of agencies, budgeting, motivation and coordination of marketing activities can lead to improved competitiveness and improved results. The overall accountability for brand leadership and business results is often reflected in an organization under a title within a (Brand management) department.
  • 25. 25 CHAPTER 3 INDUSTRY PROFILE HISTROYOF TELECOM INDUSTRY: The beginning
  • 26. 26 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 world’s 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 the British East India Company. The Posts and Telegraphs department occupied a small corner of the Public Works Department, at that time. The construction of 4,000 miles (6,400 km) of telegraph lines was started in November 1853. These connected Kolkata (then Calcutta) and Peshawar in the north; Agra, Mumbai (then Bombay) through sindhuGhats,and Chennai (thenMadras)inthesouth; Ootacamund and Bangalore. 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 the Government of India to establish telephone exchange 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 license was granted to the Oriental telephone Company Limited of England for opening telephone exchanges at Calcutta, Bombay, Madras and Ahmedabad and the first formal telephone service was established in the country. 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. Initial developments and milestones:  Pre-1902 – Cable telegraph  1902 – First wireless telegraph station established between Sagar Island and Sand head.
  • 27. 27  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 dialing 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 fiber 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 Laxmi Nagar, Delhi 15 August 1995 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 Radioand since 1957 it has been called Akashvani. 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 Doordarshanin the country prior to the economic reforms of 1991. In 1997, an autonomous body was established in the name of PrasarBharti to take care of the public service broadcasting under the PrasarBharti Act. All India Radio and Doordarshan, which earlier were working as media units under the Ministry of I&B became constituents of the body.
  • 28. 28 PRE-LIBERALIZATION 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. TELECOMMUNICATIONS INDUSTRY PROFILE Telecom is one of the fastest-growing industries in India. Today India stands as the second-largest telecommunications market in the world. The mobile phone industry in India would contribute US$ 400 billion in terms of gross domestic product (GDP) of the country in 2014. This sector which is growing exponentially is expected to generate about 4.1 million additional jobs by 2020, as per Group Special Mobile Association (GSMA). In the period April 2000 to January 2014, the telecom industry has got in foreign direct investments (FDI) of about US$ 59,796 million, which is an increase of 6 per cent to the total FDI inflows in terms of US$, as per report published by Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP). India’s global system for mobile (GSM) operators had 4.14 million rural subscribers as of January 2014, bringing the total to 285.35 million. Data traffic powered by third generation (3G) services grew at 146 per cent in India during 2013, higher than the global average that saw usage double, according to an MBIT Index study by Nokia Siemens Networks (NSN). India's Smartphone market grew by 171 per cent in 2013, to 44
  • 29. 29 million devices from 16.2 million in 2012, as per research firm IDC India. The increasing popularity of bring-your-own-device (BYOD) in the workplace is further adding momentum to the Smartphone market. Indian telecom industry has grown from a Tele-density of 3.58% in March 2001 to 74% in June 2013. This great leap in both numbers of consumers as well as revenues from telecom services has not only provided sufficient contribution in Indian GDP growth but also provided much needed employment to India youth. Broadly telecom industry can be divided into two sectors, Equipment Sector and Services Sector. Equipment sector players manufacture telecom products whereas the services sector comprises of operators and other service providers SECTORS IN TELECOM INDUSTRY: Broadly telecom industry can be divided into two sectors, Equipment Sector and Services Sector. Equipment sector players manufacture telecom products whereas the services sector comprises of operators and other service providers TELECOMMUNICATIONS EQUIPMENT SECTOR: The telecommunications industry equipment sector is comprised of companies that manufacture products that are used by both end users and input to other telecommunications companies. Customers use these products to access telecommunications services. Other telecommunications companies use these products to create and maintain infrastructure and deliver services. 1) Telephony: 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
  • 30. 30 Minister of Finance. Since then, most companies gained 2G, 3G and 4G licenses 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. 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, MTS, Telenor, TATA Docomo, and Videocon. 2) Fixed Telephony: 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 connections are now also available on demand, even in high density urban areas. 3) Internet: The history of the Internet in India started with launch of services by VSNL on 15 August 1995. 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), BhartiAirtel (1.40 million), MTNL (1.09 million), Hathaway (0.36 million) and You Broadband (0.31 million). 4) Network Neutrality:
  • 31. 31 As of 2015, India had no laws governing net neutrality and there have been violations of net neutrality principles by some service providers. While the TelecomRegulatoryAuthority of India (TRAI) guidelines for the Unified Access Service license promote net neutrality, they are not enforced. The Information Technology Act, 2000 does not prohibit companies from throttling their service in accordance with their business interests. In March 2015, the TRAI released a formal consultation paper on Regulatory Framework for Over-the-top(OTT) services, seeking comments from the public. The consultation paper was criticized for being one sided and having confusing statements. It was condemned by various politicians and internet users. By 18 April 2015, over 800,000 emails had been sent to TRAI demanding net neutrality. TELECOMMUNICATIONS SERVICES SECTOR: This sector constitutes of players in telecommunications industry that provides various services to end customers like telecom service providers, broadband service providers and intermediaries. The telecommunications services sector can be divided into following categories: 1) WIRED SERVICES: The wired services subsector offers direct communication services, including fixed telephone (local and long distance), broadband, and cable network services. This subsector also builds and maintains the needed fixed-line infrastructure, including land lines, microwaves, and satellite link-ups. This subsector also includes companies that offer non-voice communication products, such as telegraph. The largest sector of the telecommunications industry continues to be made up of wired telecommunications carriers. Establishments in this sector mainly provide telecommunications services via wires and cables that connect customers’ premises to central offices maintained by telecommunications companies. The central offices contain switching equipment that routes content to its final destination or to another switching center that
  • 32. 32 determines the most efficient route for the content to take. These companies also maintain the cable network that connects different regions of the country as well as foreign countries, and forms the backbone of the industry. While voice used to be the main type of data transmitted over the wires, wired telecommunications service now includes the transmission of all types of graphic, video, and electronic data mainly over the Internet. 2) WIRELESS SERVICES The wireless services subsector offers services such as cellular mobile phone, paging, satellite, broadband communication, and wireless public safety services. This subsector operates and maintains the switching and transmission facilities to provide these services. Companies in this sector may also supply and maintain the equipment used to receive signals. Wireless telecommunications carriers, many of which are subsidiaries of the wired carriers, transmit voice, graphics, data, and Internet access through the transmission of signals over networks of radio towers. The signal is transmitted through an antenna into the wire line network. Increasing numbers of consumers are choosing to replace their home landline phones with wireless phones. Other wireless services include beeper and paging services. 3) INTERNET SERVICES: The Internet services subsector offers wired, wireless, and broadband Internet services, which are provided by telecommunications companies and Internet service providers, also known as ISPs. Some ISPs also provide extra services, like web hosting or web page designing. Players in this subsector may build and maintain their own infrastructure and networks or they may share the infrastructure of other providers. 4) RESELLERS: Resellers of telecommunications services are another sector of the telecommunications industry. These resellers lease transmission facilities, such as telephone lines or space on a satellite, from existing telecommunications networks, and then resell the service to other customers. Other sectors in the industry include message communications services such as e- mail and facsimile services, satellite telecommunications, and operators of other communication services ranging from radar stations to radio networks used by taxicab companies.
  • 33. 33 5) CABLE AND PROGRAM DISTRIBUTION: Cable and other program distribution is another sector of the telecommunications industry. Establishments in this sector provide television and other services on a subscription or fee basis. These establishments do not include cable networks. Distributors of pay television services transmit programming through two basic types of systems. Cable systems transmit programs over fiber optic and coaxial cables. Direct broadcasting satellite (DBS) operators constitute a growing segment of the pay television industry. DBS operators transmit programming from orbiting satellites to customers’ receivers. Establishments in the cable and other program distribution industry generate revenue through subscriptions, providing Internet access, providing phone service, and advertising sales. They also charge fees for pay-per-view or video-on-demand programs. 6) OTHER BROADBAND SERVICES: The other broadband services subsector offers other wired or wire line broadband services and applications that are not covered by the other three subsectors. These include services such as Internet Protocol television (IPTV), Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), and Internet Protocol virtual private network (IP VPN or VPN). - Learn more at www.technofunc.com.Your online source for free professional tutorials. INDIAN TELECOMMUNICATIONS VISON & MISSION VISION To provide secure, reliable affordable and high quality converged telecommunication services anytime, anywhere for an accelerated inclusive socio-economic development. MISSION 1. To develop a robust and secure state-of-the-art telecommunication network providing seamless coverage with special focus on rural and remote areas for bridging the digital divide and thereby facilitate socio- economic development.
  • 34. 34 2. To create an inclusive knowledge society through proliferation of affordable and high quality broadband services across the nation. 3. To reposition the mobile device as an instrument of socio-economic empowerment of citizens. 4. To make India a global hub for telecom equipment manufacturing and a centre for converged communication services. 5. To promote Research and Development, Design in cutting edge ICTE technologies, products and services for meeting the infrastructure needs of domestic and global markets with focus on security and green technologies. 6. To promote development of new standards to meet national requirements, generation of IPRs and participation in international standardization bodies to contribute in formation of global standards, thereby making India a leading nation in the area of telecom standardization. 7. To attract investment, both domestic and foreign. 8. To promote creation of jobs through all of the above. MAJOR PLAYERS 1) Airtel (248.6 Million subscribers) Market Share (32.35%) Ownership (Bharti Enterprises(68%), SingTel (32%)) Business – Telecommunications & satellite TV | Website – www.airtel.in | Bharti Airtel Ltd. is a substantial Indian Multinational Telecommunication Company in India. Airtel has the highest number of Subscribers in India. Airtel Provide a Vast range of Products including Digital television and Fixed Line Broadband. Airtel has many Retail Outlets and a good quality high end network across India. Airtel has been awarded for one of the most valuable brand in year 2015. Founded: 1995 Type: Public Company
  • 35. 35 Industry: Telecommunications Services: Mobile Telephony, Broadband, Digital Television. Key People: Sunil Bharti Mittal, GopalVittal Headquarter: New Delhi Products offered by company includes mobile commerce, 2G, 3G and 4G wireless services, fixed line services, IPTV, high speed DSL broadband, DTH and enterprise services. 2) Reliance (106.81Million subscribers) Market Share (11.21%) Ownership (Reliance ADAG (67%) Public (26%)) Corporate office – Navy Mumbai, Maharashtra | Establishment – 2004 | Business – Mobile, Satellite TV and telecommunication | Website – www.rcom.co.in | Reliance Communications is managed by Reliance group which has its other subsidiary as Reliance Big TV Ltd, Reliance Global.com Ltd, Reliance Entertainment, etc. Founded: 2002 Type: Public Company Industry: Telecom Services Services: Mobile Telephony, Broadband Services. Key People: Anil Ambani, VinodSawhny. Headquarter: Mumbai The Company’s product offerings include wireless, broadband, national and international long distance services. 3) Tata DoCoMo(60.89 Million subscribers) Market Share (6.28%)
  • 36. 36 Ownership (Tata Teleservices(74%), NTT DoCoMo (26%)) Corporate office – New Delhi | Establishment – 2008 | Business – Telecommunication sector | Website – www.tatadocomo.com | A Tata Group company providing cellular service on the GSM, CDMA and platform. It is among the top telecom companies in India and the first Indian telecom company to launch 3G services in India. 4) Vodafone (196.7Million subscribers) Market Share (25.59%) Ownership (VodafoneGroup(100%)) Corporate office – London, United Kingdom | Establishment – 1991 | Business – Telecommunications | Website – www.vodafone.in | Vodafone is a leading global telecommunications company with operations in over 30 countries. Head quartered in London, the company ranks amongst the top 4 telecom companies globally in terms of subscribers and revenues. Company owns 45% of Verizon Wireless, the largest mobile telecom company in the US measured by subscribers. Founded: 2008 Type: Joint Venture Industry: Telecommunication Services: Mobile Network, Wireless Broadband.
  • 37. 37 Key People: Cyrus PallonjiMistry Headquarter: New Delhi 5) Idea (174.6Million subscribers) Market Share (22.72%) Ownership (Aditya Birla Group(100%)) Corporate office – Mumbai, Maharashtra | Establishment – 1995 | Business – Telecommunications | Website – www.ideacellular.com | Idea Cellular which is commonly known as Idea is an Indian foremost Telecom Service Provider in India. Idea is familiar for its reasonable Mobile Telephony Services and also offers 2G and 3G Mobile Internet services. Idea also manufactures Smart phones which are easily available in Offline as well as Online Marketplaces. Idea holds a strong network of sales and services and retail outlets across India. Founded: 1995 Type: Public Company Industry: Telecom Services Services: Wireless Broadband, Mobile Telephony Key People: Kumar Mangalam Birla Headquarter: Mumbai 6) MTNL (3.6 Million subscribers) Market Share (0.36%) Ownership (State-owned) Corporate office – New Delhi | Establishment – 1986 | Business – Telecommunications | Website – www.mtnl.net.in |
  • 38. 38 Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited is an Indian state-owned telecommunications company. MTNL provides services in New Delhi and Mumbai in India and Mauritius in Africa. CEO: Pravin Kumar Purwar Headquarters: New Delhi Founded: 1986 Parent organization: Government of India 7) Aircel (86.06 Million subscribers) Market Share (8.47%) Ownership (Maxis Communications (74%), Sindya Securities and Investments (26%)) Corporate office – Chennai, Tamilnadu | Establishment – 1999 | Business – Telecommunications | Website – www.aircel.com | Aircel is a Leading Telecom Operator in India. Aircel offers Voice and Internet Services for Mobile Users. Aircel launched the first 4G Mobile internet service in 2014 and become the first only private Telecom Operation which offers all the three technologies as 2G, 3G, and 4G. Founded: 1999 Type: Joint Venture Industry: Telecommunications Services: Mobile Telephony, Wireless Broadband. Key People: kaizadheerjee Headquarter: Chennai 8) MTS (8.13 Million subscribers) Market Share (0.89%) Ownership (Sistema (56.68%) Shyam Group(23.98%) Government of Russia(17.14%)) Corporate office – New Delhi | Establishment – 2008 | Business – Telecommunications | Website – www.mtsindia.in |
  • 39. 39 Founders: Moscow City Telephone Network, T-Mobile, Siemens Parent organization: Sistema Subsidiaries: Vodafone Ukraine, Universal Mobile Systems, K-Telecom CJSC, MTS Turkmenistan 9) Telenor (5.16 Million subscribers) Market Share (4.91%) Ownership (Telenor (100%)) Corporate office – Gurgaon, India | Establishment – 2009 | Business – Telecommunications | Website – www.uninor.in | Telenor India earlier known as Uninor is an Indian Telecom Operator which provides Mobile Telephony and Internet services in India. Telenor holds the license of providing its services in only six Indian states like Maharashtra & Goa (circle), Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Uttarakhand, Gujarat and Andhra Pradesh &Telangana (circle). Telenor largely offers Low Voice Tariff and is well known for it. Founded: 2009 Type: Private Company Industry: Telecom Services Services: Mobile Telephony, Wireless Internet. Key People: VivekSood Headquarter: Gurgaon 10) BSNL (85.29 Million subscribers) Market Share (8.19%)
  • 40. 40 Ownership (State-owned) Corporate office – New Delhi | Establishment – 2000 | Business – Telecommunications | Website – www.bsnl.co.in | Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited or commonly known as BSNL is an Indian Telecom Company which provides Voice and Data services in India. BSNL Provides its Services in each and every place in India except the Densely Populated City Mumbai and Delhi. BSNL is Operated by Government of India and is the only Government Owned Telecom Operator in India rather than MTNL which was earlier present before the establishment of BSNL. Founded: 2000 Type: State-Owned Entity Industry: Telecommunications Services: Mobile Telephony, Data Services. Key People: AnupamShrivastava Headquarter: New Delhi Further developments and Milestones: TELECOM SECTOR SINCE 1990’S TILL DATE IS BRIEFED BELOW: 1991-92:  On 24th July 1991, Government announced the New Economic Policy.  Telecom Manufacturing Equipment license was delicensed in 1991.  Automatic foreign collaboration was permitted with 51% equity by the collaborator. 1992-93:  Value added services were opened for private and foreign players on franchise or license basis
  • 41. 41 1994-95:  The Government announced a National Telecom Policy 1994 in September 1994. It opened basic telecom services to private participation including foreign investments.  Foreign equity participation up to 49% was allowed in basic telecom services, radio paging and cellular mobile.  Eight cellular licenses for four metros were finalized. 1996-97:  TRAI was set up as an autonomous body to separate the regulatory functions from policy formulations and operational functions.  An agreement between Department of Telecommunication (DOT) and financial institutions to facilitate funding of cellular and basis telecom projects.  External Commercial Borrowing (ECB) limits on telecom projects made flexible with an increased share from 35% to 50% of total project cost.  Internet Policy was finalized. 1998-99:  FDI up to 49% of total equality, subject to license, permitted in companies providing Global Mobile Personal Communication (GMPC) by satellite services. 1999-2000:  National Telecom Policy 1999 was announced which multiple 27 fixed services operators and opened long distance services to private operators.  TRAI reconstituted: clear distinction was made between the recommendatory and regulatory functions of the Authority.  DOT/MTNL was permitted to start cellular mobile telephone service.  To separate service providing functions from policy and licensing functions, Department of Telecom Services was set up.  A package for migration from fixed license fee to revenue sharing offered to exist cellular and basic service providers.
  • 42. 42  First phase of re-balancing of tariff structure started. STD and ISD charges were reduced by 23% on an average.  Voice and data segment was opened to full competition and foreign ownership increased to 100% from 49% previously. 2000-01:  TRAI Act was amended. The Amendment clarified and strengthened and recommendatory power of TRAI, especially with respect to the need and timing of introduction of new services provider, and in terms of licenses to a services provider.  Department of Telecom Services and Department of Telecom Operations corporatized by creating Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited.  Domestic long distance services opened up without any restriction on the number of operators.  Second phase of tariff rationalization started with further reductions in the long distance STD rates by an average of 13% for different distance slabs and ISD rates for 17%.  Internet Service Providers were given approval for setting up of International Gateways for Internet using satellite as a medium in March 28 2000.  In August 2000, private players were allowed to set up of international gateways via the submarine cable route.  The termination of monopoly of VSNL in International Long Distance Services was antedated to March 31, 2002 from March 31, 2004. 2001-02:  Communication Convergence Bill, 2001 was introduced in August 2001.  Competition was introduced in all services segments. TRAI recommended opening of market to full competition of new services in the telecom sector. The licensing terms and conditions for Cellular Mobile were simplified to encourage entry for operators in areas without effective competition.  Usage of Voice over Internet Protocol permitted for international telephony service.
  • 43. 43  The five-year tax holiday and 30% deduction for the next five years available to the telecommunication sector till 31st March 2000 was reintroduced for the units commencing their operations on or before 31st March 2003. These concessions were also extended to internet services providers and broadband networks.  Thirteen ISP’s were given clearance for commissioning of international gateways for Internet using satellite medium for 29 gateways.  License conditions for Global Mobile Personal Communications by satellite finalized in November 2001.  National Long Distance Service was opened up for unrestricted entry with the announcement of guidelines for licensing NLD operators. Four companies were issued Letter of Intent (LOI) for National Long Distance Service of which three licenses have been signed.  Four cellular operators, one each in four metros and thirteen were permitted with 17 fresh licenses issued to private companies in September/October 2001. The cell phone providers were given freedom to provide, within their area of operation, all types of mobile services equipment, including circuit and/or package switches that meet the relevant International Telecommunications Union (ITU)/ Telecom Engineering Centre (TEC) standards.  Wireless in Local Loop (WLL) was introduced for providing telephone connection in urban, semi-urban and rural areas.  Disinvestment of PSU’s in the telecom sector was also undertaken during the year. In February 2002, the disinvestment of VSNL was completed by bringing down the government equity to 26% and the management of the company was transferred to Tata Group, a strategic partner. During the year, HTL was also disinvested.  Reliance, MTML and Tata were issued licenses to provide the CDMA based services in the country. 2002-03:  International Long Distance business opened for unrestricted entry.  Telephony on internet permitted in April 2002.
  • 44. 44  TRAI finalized the System of Accounting Separation (SAS) providing 30 detailed accounting and financial system to be maintained by telecom service providers. 2004-05:  Budget 2004-2005 proposed to lift the ceiling from 49% to 74% as an incentive to the cellular operators to fall in line with the new unified licensing norm.  ‘Last Mile’ linkages permitted in April 2004 within the local area for ISP’s 31 for establishing their own last mile to their customers.  Indoor use of low power equipment’s in 2.4 GHz band de-licensed from august 2004.  Broadband Policy announced on 14th October 2004. In this policy, broadband had been defined as an “always-on” data connection supporting interactive services including internet access with minimum download speed of 256 kbps per subscriber.  The Telecommunications (Broadcasting and Cable Services) Interconnection Regulation 2004 was introduced on 10th December 2004.  BSNL and MTNL launched broadband services on 14th January 2005.  TRAI announced the reduction of Access Deficit Charge (ADC) by 41% on ISD calls and by 61% on STD calls which were applicable from 1st February 2005. 2005-06:  Budget 2005-2006 cleared a hike in FDI ceiling to 74% from the earlier limit of 49%. 100% FDI was permitted in the area of telecom equipment manufacturing and provision of IT enabled services.  Annual license fee for National Long Distance (NLD) as well as International Long Distance (ILD) licenses reduced to 6% of Adjusted Gross Revenue (AGR) with effect from 1st January 2006.  BSNL and MTNL launched the ‘One-India Plan’ with effect from 1st March 2006 which enable the customers of BSNL and MTNL to call from one end of India to other at the cost of Rs. 1 per minute, any time of the day to phone.  TRAI fixed Ceiling Tariff for International Bandwidth, Ceiling Tariff for higher capacities reduced by about 70% and for lower capacity by 35%.
  • 45. 45  Regulation on Quality of Service of Basic and Cellular Mobile Telephone Services 2005 introduced on 21st March 2006. 2009-10:  The total number of telephone connections reaches 413.85 million with this growth; the overall tele-density has reached 35.65. The total wireless subscribers (GSM, CDMA and WLL (F)) base stood at 391.76 million at the end of March 2009. In the wire line segment, the subscriber base has increased to 37.96 million in the month of March 2009 Total Broadband subscriber base has increased from 7.83 million. 2010-11:  3G and BWA spectrum auction.  MNP launched pan India. 2012-14:  2013 was “TRANSITION YEAR” for Indian telecom sector’s growth story with over 900 million telephone connections; India remained the world’s second-largest telecommunications market in 2013.  Data traffic powered by third generation (3G) services grew at 146% in India during 2013, higher than the global average that saw use double.  India’s global system for mobile (GSM) operators added 4.14 million rural subscribers in January 2014, taking the total to 285.35 million.  RAVI SHANKAR PRASAD, India’s new Minister for Communications and Information Technology who is also the Minister for Law and Justice said: “The AtalBihari Vajpayee government is remembered for the National Highways project. We will be known for the broadband highway”. As part of this, Prasad is looking to improve mobile connectivity in the North-East, Ladakh and the Andaman & Nicobar Islands.
  • 46. 46  TSSC is mandated to facilitate training of 80,000 people and help infuse 80crore of government support for imparting skills in telecom sector under the recently launched National Skill Certification and Monetary Scheme.  BSNL has launched Face book on USSD in East and South Zones and will be shortly launched in West and North Zones in coming days. BSNL customers can access this service without any internet or mobile data services.  This service is brought together with their partners U20pia Mobile Face book for USSD enables users to access their Face book accounts, view/post status messages, respond to friend requests, write on friend walls, view birthday reminders and send messages, all without any internet or data connection.  Rural tele-density target has been set at 40% by 2014. Industry estimates suggest that there is a potential to reach beyond one billion telephones in India by 2015. List of top mobile operators of India as on 17 April 2016 Rank Operator's Name Technology Subscribers in million Ownership Mark Shar
  • 47. 47 1 Bharti Airtel GSM, EDGE, HSPA+, TD-LTE 248.6 Bharti Enterprises (68%) SingTel (32%) 32.35 2 Vodafone India GSM, EDGE, HSPA+,LTE 196.7 Vodafone Group (100%) 25.59 3 Idea Cellular GSM, EDGE, HSPA+,LTE 174.6 Aditya Birla Group (100%) 22.72 4 Reliance Communications CDMA2000, EVDO, GSM, EDGE, HSPA+, WiMAX 106.81 Reliance ADAG (67%) Public (26%) 11.21 5 Aircel GSM, EDGE, HSDPA, TD-LTE 86.06 Maxis Communications (74%) Sindya Securities and Investments (26%) 8.47% 6 BSNL GSM, EDGE, HSDPA, HSPA+,CDMA2000, EVDO, WiMAX 85.29 State-owned 8.19% 7 Tata DoCoMo CDMA2000, EVDO, GSM, EDGE,HSDPA, HSPA+, WiMAX 60.89 Tata Teleservices (74%) NTT DoCoMo (26%) 6.28%
  • 48. 48 DOT PROFILE: 8 Telenor India GSM, EDGE, NB-LTE 5.16 Telenor (100%) 4.91% 9 MTS India being acquired by Reliance Communications (subject to regulatory approvals) CDMA2000, EVDO 8.13 Sistema (56.68%) Shyam Group (23.98%) Government of Russia (17.14%) 0.89% 10 MTNL GSM, HSDPA, CDMA2000 3.6 State-owned 0.36%
  • 49. 49 The telecom services have been recognized the world-over as an important tool for socio economic development for a nation and hence telecom infrastructure is treated as a crucial factor to realize the socio-economic objectives in India. Accordingly, the Department of Telecom has been formulating developmental policies for the accelerated growth of the telecommunication services. The Department is also responsible for grant of licenses for various telecom services like Unified Access Service Internet and VSAT service. The Department is also responsible for frequency management in the field of radio communication in close coordination with the international bodies. It also enforces wireless regulatory measures by monitoring wireless transmission of all users in the country. Telecom Commission: The Telecom Commission was set up by the Government of India vide Notification dated 11th April, 1989 with administrative and financial powers of the Government of India to deal with various aspects of Telecommunications. The Commission consists of a Chairman, four full time members, who are ex-officio Secretary to the Government of India in the Department of Telecommunications and four part time members who are the Secretaries to the Government of India of the concerned Departments. The composition of the Commission is as follows:- Designation Name Chairman Sri J S Deepak Member(Finance) Ms. Annie Moraes Member(Production) Vacant Member(Services) Sri Narendra K. Yadav Member(Technology) Vacant The part time Members of Telecom Commission are 1. Secretary (Department of Information Technology) 2. Secretary (Finance) 3. Secretary (Planning Commission) and 4. Secretary (Industrial Policy Promotion).
  • 50. 50 The Telecom Commission and the Department of Telecommunications are responsible for policy formulation, licensing, wireless spectrum management, administrative monitoring of PSUs, research and development and standardization/validation of equipment etc. The multi-pronged strategies followed by the Telecom Commission have not only transformed the very structure of this sector but have motivated all the partners to contribute in accelerating the growth of the sector. Telecom Policies:  National Telecom Policy, 1994  New Telecom Policy, 1999  Addendum to NTP, 1999  National Numbering Plan, 2003  Broadband Policy, 2004  Amendment to Broadband Policy, 2004  National Telecom Policy, 2012  Office Memorandum regarding National Telecom Policy, 2012  Office Memorandum No. 100-47/2012-STG_I dated 22.04.2013  Investment Policy
  • 51. 51
  • 52. 52 TRAI (Telecom Regulatory Authority of India) Abbreviation TRAI Formation 1997 Legal status Created by Telecom Regulatory Authority of India Act, 1997 Purpose Independent regulator Headquarters New Delhi, India Region served India Key people R. S. Sharma(IAS Chairman) A.K. Kaushal (ITS Member) Dr Vijayalakshmy K. Gupta (Member) Website www.trai.gov.in
  • 53. 53 THE TELECOM REGULATORY AUTHORITY OF INDIA ACT, 1997 The main objective of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India Act, 1997 (TRAI Act) was to establish the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) and Telecom Dispute Settlement Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT). The main purpose of these two institutions established under the TRAI Act is to regulate telecommunication services, adjudicate disputes, dispose appeals and protect the interest of the service providers as well as the consumers. The Act also aims at promoting and ensuring orderly growth of the telecom sector. AMENDMENT TO THE TRAI ACT The TRAI Act was amended through the TRAI (Amendment) Act, 2000 (“Amendment Act”). Before the amendment, TRAI exercised both regulatory and dispute resolution functions. The Amendment Act established the Telecom Dispute Settlement Appellate Tribunal to solely deal with relevant disputes. There was ambiguity in the Act as to whether TRAI recommendations are binding upon the Government; this was clarified by the Amendment Act. INDEPENDENT TELECOM REGULATORY AUTHORITY In Delhi Science Forum v. Union of India, the Supreme Court while deciding on the constitutionality of the National Telecom Policy, 1994 observed that it is necessary that the telecom regulator should be an independent body. National Telecom Policy, 1994 allowed for private participation in the telecommunication sector, and in the light of this policy change the Supreme Court also emphasized on the necessity of an independent statutory authority in a deregulated and competitive telecom market. GOVERNMENT CONTROL OVER TRAI TRAI is not a completely independent telecom regulator. The Government exercises certain amount of control over TRAI. Under section 25 of the Act it has the power to issue directions which are binding on TRAI. The TRAI is also funded by the Central Government. Moreover, under section 35 of the TRAI Act, the Central Government has the power to make rules on various subjects and such rules are binding upon TRAI. Therefore, TRAI is not a completely independent telecom regulator as envisioned by the Supreme Court.
  • 54. 54 SCHEME OF THE TRAI ACT The TRAI Act contains six chapters. Chapter 1 deals with applicability of the Act, key concepts and definitions. Chapter 2 contains provisions for constitution of the TRAI. Chapter 3 deals with the powers and functions of TRAI. Chapter 4 deals with establishment of appellate tribunal, TDSAT and the procedure of the appellate tribunal. Chapter V deals with finance, accounts and audit of the two institutions established under the Act. Chapter 6 consists of miscellaneous provisions for the purpose of smooth functioning of the two institutions created under the Act. Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) was established as a corporation under Section 3 of the Act. The head office of TRAI is in New Delhi. TRAI constitutes of a chairperson and less than two, full time and part-time members. The chairperson and the members of TRAI are appointed by the Central Government and the duration for which they can hold their office is three years or until they attain the age of 65 years, whichever is earlier. The persons who are appointed should have special knowledge and prior experience in the field of telecommunication, industry, finance, accountancy, law, management or consumer affairs. If someone, who has been in the service of the Government prior to appointment then he should have served the Government in the capacity of a Secretary or Additional Secretary for a period more than three years. Section 8 deals with procedure to be followed with respect to meetings of TRAI. All questions before TRAI will be decided by a majority vote of the members, present and voting. The person who is presiding the meeting will entitled to a second or casting vote. The TRAI may also appoint officers and employees in order to carry out its function under this Act. Currently the officers and employees of TRAI are divided into nine divisions. The divisions are:  Mobile network division.  Fixed network division.  Converged network division.  Quality of service division.  Broadcast and cable services division.
  • 55. 55  Economic division  Financial analysis, internal finance and accounts division.  Legal division  Administration and personnel division. ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE OF TRAI: POWERS AND FUNCTIONS OF TRAI The functions of the TRAI are enumerated under section 11 of the TRAI Act. The function mentioned under the provision has an overriding effect on any provision of the Indian Telegraph Act,1885. The 2000 Amendment classified the TRAI’s functions into four broad categories: 1. Making recommendations on various issues; 2. General administrative and regulatory functions; 3. Fixing tariffs and rates for telecom services; and 4. Any other functions entrusted by the Central Government.
  • 56. 56 THE FUNCTIONS OF THE TRAI ARE: The recommendations made by the TRAI are not binding on the Central Government. However, the Central Government has to mandatorily ask for recommendations from TRAI with respect to need and timing of new service provider and terms and conditions of the license to be granted to the service provider. TRAI has the obligation to forward the recommendation to the Central Government within 60 days from the date of the request for recommendation. TRAI may also request for relevant information or documents from the Central Government to make such recommendations and the Central Government has to furnish such information within seven days from the date of the request. The Central Government can issue license to the service provider, if TRAI fails to give any recommendation within the stipulated period. Where the Central Government is of the opinion that the recommendations made by TRAI cannot be accepted or need modification, then it can send them back to TRAI for reconsideration. TRAI may reply within a period of 15 days from the date of reference. TRAI also has the power to notify in the official gazette the rates at which telecommunication services are being provided in and outside India. TRAI shall ensure transparency while exercising its powers and discharging its functions. TRAI under section 12 has the power to call for information and conduct investigation. It also has got powers to issue directions under section 13. TELECOM DISPUTES SETTLEMENT APPELLATE TRIBUNAL The Telecom Dispute Settlement Appellate Tribunal (Tribunal) is established under section 14 of the Act. It is the sole dispute resolution body in the communication sector. It can adjudicate upon any dispute between: 1. Licensor (Central Government) and a licensee. 2. Two or more service providers. 3. Between a service provider and a group of consumers. However, the Tribunal does not have any jurisdiction to try any matter which deals with anti- competitive trade practices or any consumer complaint.
  • 58. 58 CHAPTER 4 COMPANY PROFILE Type State-owned enterprise Industry Telecommunications Founded 1 October 2000 Headquarters New Delhi, India Key people AnupamShrivastava (Chairman & MD) Services Fixed line and mobile telephony, Internet services, digital television, IPTV Revenue Rs 28,645.20 (Cr) 2015 (as March 31st 2015) Net income Rs 27,242 (Cr) Total assets Rs.4,713.414 Cr (as on 31st March,2015) Owner Government of India Number of employees 216,925 (2015) Website www.bsnl.co.in USP SMS rates are reasonable; high speech quality and is capable of delivering high bandwidth using DSL technologies
  • 59. 59 4.1 Introduction Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd was incorporated on 15th September 2000. It took over the business of providing of telecom services and network management from the erstwhile Central Government Departments of Telecom Services (DTS) and Telecom Operations (DTO), with effect from 1st October’2000 on going concern basis. It is one of the largest & leading public sector units providing comprehensive range of telecom services in India. BSNL has installed Quality Telecom Network in the country & now focusing on improving it, expanding the network, introducing new telecom services with ICT applications in villages & winning customer's confidence. Today, it has about 43.74 million line basic telephone capacity, 8.83 million WLL capacity, 72.60 million GSM capacity, 37,885 fixed exchanges, 68,162 GSM BTSs, 12,071 CDMA Towers, 197 Satellite Stations, 6,86,644 R km. of OFC, 50,430 R Km. of microwave network connecting 623 districts, 7330 cities/towns & 5.8 lakhs villages . BSNL is the only service provider, making focused efforts & planned initiatives to bridge the rural-urban digital divide in ICT sector. In fact there is no telecom operator in the country to beat its reach with its wide network giving services in every nook & corner of the country & operates across India except New Delhi & Mumbai. Whether it is inaccessible areas of Siachen glacier or North-Eastern regions of the country, BSNL serves its customers with a wide bouquet of telecom services namely Wire line, CDMA mobile, GSM mobile, Internet, Broadband, Carrier service, MPLS-VPN, VSAT, VoIP, IN Services, FTTH, etc.
  • 60. 60 BSNL is number one of India in all services in its license area. The company offers wide ranging & most transparent tariff schemes designed to suit every customer. BSNL has 90.09 million cellular & 5.06 million WLL customers as on 31.07.2011. 3G Facility has been given to all 2G connections of BSNL. In basic services, BSNL is miles ahead of its rivals, with 24.58 million wireline phone subscribers i.e. 71.93% share of the wire line subscriber base. BSNL has set up a world class multi-gigabit, multi-protocol convergent IP infrastructure that provides convergent services like voice, data & video through the same Backbone & Broadband Access Network. At present there are 8.09 million broadband customers. The company has vast experience in planning, installation, network integration & maintenance of switching & transmission networks & also has a world class ISO 9000 certified Telecom Training Institute. During the 2010-11, turnover of BSNL is around Rs. 29,700 Crores. 4.2 HISTORY The foundation of Telecom network in India was laid by the British some times in 19th century. The history of BSNL is linked with the beginning of Telecom in India. In 19th century and for almost entire 20th century, the Telecom in India was operated as a Government of India wing. Earlier it was part of erstwhile Post & Telegraph Department (P&T).In 1975 the Department of Telecom (DoT) was separated from P&T. DoT was responsible for running of Telecom services in entire country until 1985 when Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited (MTNL) was carved out of DoT to run the telecom services of Delhi and Mumbai. It is a well- known fact that BSNL was carved out of Department of Telecom to provide level playing field to private telecoms. Subsequently in 1990’s the telecom sector was opened up by the Government of Private investment, therefore it became necessary to separate the government’s policy wing from operations wing. The government of India corporatized the operations wing of DoT on October 1st, 2000 and named it as Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL), BSNL operates as public sector.
  • 61. 61 4.3 VISION  Be the leading telecom service provider in India with global presence.  Create a customer focused organization with excellence in customer care, sales and marketing.  Leverage technology to provide affordable and innovative telecom. Services/products across customer segments. 4.4 MISSION: Be the leading telecom service provider in India with global presence. Generating value for all stakeholders - employees, shareholders, vendors & business associates Maximizing return on existing assets with sustained focus on profitability  Becoming the most trusted, preferred and admired telecom brand  To explore International markets for Global presence Creating a customer focused organization with excellence in customer care, sales&marketing .  Developing a marketing and sales culture that is responsive to customer needs mer care, sales & marketing  Excellence in customer service-”friendly, reliable, time bound, convenient and courteous service” Leveraging technology to provide affordable and innovative products/ services across customer segments  Offering differentiated products/services tailored to different service segments  Providing reliable telecom services that are value for money Providing a conducive work environment with strong focus on performance  Attracting talent and keeping them motivated  Enhancing employees skills and utilizing them effectively  Encouraging and rewarding individual and team/group performance Establishing efficient business processes enabled by IT  Changing policies and processes to enable transparent, quick and efficient decision making  Building effective IT systems and tools
  • 62. 62  4.5 OBJECTIVES:  To be the Leading Telecom Services provider by achieving higher rate of growth so as to become a profitable enterprise.  To provide quality and reliable fixed telecom service to our customer and thereby increase customers confidence.  To provide customer friendly mobile telephone service of high quality and play a leading role as GSM operator in its area of operation.  Strategy for:  Rightsizing the manpower  Providing greater customer satisfaction  Contribute towards:  Broadband customers base of 20 Mn in India by the end of 2011-12 as per broadband policy 2004.  Providing telephone connections in villages as per Government policy.  To leverage the existing infrastructure of BSNL for facilitating implementation of other government programmes and initiatives particularly in the rural areas.  To look for the opportunity of possible expansion of BSNL footprint globally by exploring international telecom in developing markets such as Africa 4.6 Boardof Directors The Board comprise of 12 Directors, of which 5 [including the CMD] are whole time Directors and 2 Government Nominee Directors . The present composition is as under  Chairman & Managing Director- ShriAnupamShrivastava  Director-(Enterprise) –Shri A.N. Rai  Director - Consumer Fixed Access(CFA)- ShriN.K.Gupta  Director - (HRD) & (Fin)- Smt. Sujata Ray  Director - (Enterprise) - ShriN.K.Mehta  Director - (CM) - ShriR.K.Mittal  Govt. Director- Shri N.SIVASAILAM
  • 63. 63  Govt. Director-Smt. ArunaSundrarajan(Chairman, Nom.& Rem.Com Chairman, Audit Committee)  Government Director -Smt. DarshanaMomayaDabral  Govt. Director- Smt. Padma IyerKaul  Government Director - Smt. Rita A. Teaotia  Director Chairman, Nom. & Rem.Com- ShriAjaiVikram Singh  Director Chairman, Audit Committee -Prof. N. Balakrishnan
  • 64. 64 4.7 Organizational Setup: Chief Managing Director (CMD) Director (Fin.) Director (HR) Director (CM) Director (E) Circle level setup: BSNL Employees consists of four cadres: Gr-A: CMD to CAO & DE Gr-B: SDE, AO, JTO, JAO Gr-C: Clerks, Field man, Line man Gr-D: Peon, Helpers. Full Time Directors Other Directors Part Time Directors Director (CFA) Chief General Manager (CGM) General Manager (Eng.g) General Manager (Fin.) Deputy General Manager (DGM) Sub Divisional Engineer (SDE) Junior Accounts Officer (JAO) Accounts Officer (AO) Chief Accounts Officer (CAO) Deputy General Manager (DGM) Divisional Engineer (DE) Junior Telecom Officer (JTO)
  • 65. 65 Gr-A and Gr-B are Executives (Gazetted Officers) Gr-c and Gr-D are Non- Executives (Non Gazetted Officers) 4.8 PRODUCTS AND SERVICES OF BSNL 1) DATA ONE Bharat Shanchar Nigam Ltd. is in the process of commissioning of a world class, (multi-gigabit,) multi-protocol, convergent IP infrastructure through National Internet Backbone-II (NIB-II), that will provide convergent services through the same backbone and broadband access network. The Broadband service will be available on DSL technology (on the same copper cable that is used for connecting telephone), on a countrywide basis spanning 198 cities. In terms of infrastructure for broadband services NIB-II would put India at par with more advanced nations. The services that would be supported includes always-on broadband access to the Internet for residential and business customers, Content based services, Video multicasting, Video-on-demand and Interactive gaming, Audio and Video conferencing, IP Telephony, Distance learning, Messaging: plain and feature rich, Multi-site MPLS VPNs with Quality of Service (QoS) guarantees. The subscriber will be able to access the above services through Subscriber Service Selection System (SSSS) portal. Key Objectives  To provide high speed Internet connectivity (upto 8 Mbps)  To provide Virtual Private Network (VPN) service to the broadband customers  To provide dial VPN service to MPLS VPN customers.
  • 66. 66  To provide multicast video services, video-on-demand etc. through the Broadband Remote Access Server (BRAS).  To provide a means to bill for the aforesaid services by either time-based or volume- based billing. It shall provide the customer with the option to select the services through web server  To provide both pre-paid and post paid broadband services up 2) SANCHARNET BSNL Sancharnet is a country wide Internet Access Network of Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited, India. It offers Dedicated and Dialup (PSTN & ISDN) Internet Access Services across all the major cities in India Acceptable user policy for Sancharnet users This acceptable user policy (AUP) specifies the actions permitted by Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) to its users of Sancharnet Internet Services, including leased line, dial up and other services which may be introduced in future.. BSNL reserve right to modify the policy at any time. All subscribers of Sancharnet Services, directly or indirectly are required to engage in acceptable use only as per this policy as modified from time to time. 3) LEASED LINES To transmit data between computer and electronic information devices, BSNL provides data communication services to its subscribers. It offers a choice of high, medium and low speed leased data circuits as well as dial-up lines. Bandwidth is available on demand in most of the cities. Managed leased Line Network (MLLN) offers flexibility of providing circuits with speeds of n x 64 Kbps up to 2 Mbps. Useful for internet leased lines and international principle Leased Lines (IPLCs). For dedicated point to point speech, private wire, tele-printer and data circuits are given
  • 67. 67 on lease basis. Leased circuits are provided to subscribers for internal communication between their offices/factories at various sites within a city/town or different cities/town on point to point basis, or on a network basis interconnecting the various sites. 4) ISDN ISDN Has emerged as a powerful tool worldwide for provisioning of different services like voice, data and image transmission over the telephone line through the telephone network. ISDN is being viewed as the logical extension of the digitalization of telecommunication network and most developed countries are in different stages of implementing ISDN. Variety of supplementary Services supported by ISDN.  Calling Line Identification Presentation(CLIP)  Calling Line Identification Restriction(CLIR)  Multiple Subscriber Number(MSN)  Terminal Portability(TP)  Call Hold(CH)  Call Waiting(CW)  User to User Signalling (UUSI) 5) Wi-Fi BSNL has introduced new Wi-Fi Services for providing high speed internet access at convenient public locations hereunder called as Hot Spots. Installation of more Hot Spots is already under process at various cities/ locations. Hot Spot Type-A is applicable for public utility services like Airports, Railway Stations, Universities and their campus etc. initially for a period of 90 days from the date of its launch. 6) WEB COLOCATION SERVICES
  • 68. 68 BSNL provides Internet services to the customers located in about 450 locations. Web Co-location is an easy and cost effective solution to house a company's powerful infrastructure without losing the administrative control on the equipments. Web Co-location eliminates much of the Infrastructure costs as well as the maintenance cost of such equipments apart from avoiding the last mile problems. Web Co-location enables customer's equipment/Servers to be treated as a part and parcel of the ISP network enjoying all the facilities as the ISP servers. Web Co-location provides the infrastructure at a nominal value keeping the customer comfortable and focussed in maintaining the Applications/Services of the company. Apart from enjoying the bandwidth and facilities, the customer retains control over his equipment, software and operating system. The customer simply leases the physical space and high-grade, tier one network access from BSNL the hosting provider. FACILITIES Any organization interested to host its server from an ISP premises. It includes the new customer or the customer using the existing facilities of other ISP. Companies of all the sectors can co-locate their servers without any difficulty on maintenance aspects BSNL provides
  • 69. 69  Air-Conditioned, dust free, fire-safe and secure space with racks (42 U) at the nodes for co-location.  Necessary CAT5 cabling for connecting the server to the LAN.  AC and DC power supply.  One Sancharnet account of 100 hours to customer to enable administration of the server.  BSNL provides one IP Address per site on request WEB HOSTING SERVICES Web Hosting utilizes the server/client model to distribute content. A web hosting provider will offer its clients access to a web server that will push the client's content to recipients on request. Recipients use web browsers to request content from the Web over their own Internet connection. BSNL provides the web hosting server and other technical resources that are required to provide a consumer with their own customized Web site. "Anything and Everything on the Net" is the culture of the day. It has become essential to keep the information about the organization and self in the cyberspace. Web hosting is a service that allows users to post Web pages to the Internet. It allows users to publish their own information resources to any Internet user interested in accessing them. It is a business that provides the technologies and services needed for web sites to be viewed on the web. 7) MESSAGE HOSTING  A new post-paid service being offered by BSNL for corporate on message hosting service.  Plans provide default email space and max email ids.  Plans cater to providing options for customer to take additional email space and email ids and opt for more features, at an extra cost.
  • 70. 70 8) POST PAID DIAL-VPN  Dial VPN (or VPDN) is a post paid value add service, for customers availing the BSNL VPN services 9) NET ONE CLI BasedInternet Access This is a new service for providing Internet Access. For this service, the Internet access is given based on the username, password and the Calling Line Identification. Normally, Internet access is given based on a username and a password. In this service the Calling Line Identification is also taken into account for providing Internet access. The Service To use this service, the user has to register his telephone number. On registration, the username is the telephone number and the password is the one that is registered. Internet access will be provided after checking the username/telephone number, the password and the Calling Line Identification. 10) MPLS-VPN BSNL's IP Backbone using MPLS Technology: Keeping pace with the technological trend to provide latest and varied value added services to its customers, BSNL harnesses IP Infrastructure based on MPLS Technology to offer world class IP VPN services. MPLS is an acronym for "Multi-Protocol Label Switching". MPLS VPN is a technology that allows a Service Provider like BSNL to have complete control over parameters that are critical to offering its customers service guarantees with regard to bandwidth throughputs, latencies and availability. The technology enables secure Virtual Private Networks (VPN)
  • 71. 71 to be built and allows scalability that will make it possible for BSNL to offer assured growth to its customers without having to make significant investments. BSNL would now be geared to provide Bandwidth on demand, Video Conferencing, Voice Over IP (VOIP) and a host of other value added services that could revolutionize the way a corporate business works. MPLS based VPNs reduce customer networking complexity, costs and totally do away with the requirement of in-house technical work force. Rather than setting up and managing individual point-to- point circuits between each office using pair of Leased Lines, MPLS VPN customers need to provide only one connection from their office router to a service provider edge router. BSNL has tied up with various Networking solution providers to provide end-to-end solution to its valued customers, including Customer End (CE) routers and other networking components. 1) BSNL Prepaid/ Post paid GSM Card Authorized BSNL Prepaid/ Post paid 2G/3G GSM Card Provider 2) BSNL 2G/3G DATA CARD Authorized BSNL 2G/3G Data Card Provider 3) BSNL TABLET Authorized BSNL Tablet Provider
  • 72. 72 4) BSNL LAND LINE 4.9 Revenue chart Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited has got net fixed assets valuing more than Rs.71,333Crore, which are in the form of Tangible Assets (Land, Buildings Cables, Apparatus & Plants etc.) Revenue earned by BSNL during last five years 4.10 SWOT analysis of BSNL: Strengths in the SWOT analysis of BSNL:  Backed by Government of India: It was incorporated on 15 September 2000 and took over the business of telecom services and network management from the erstwhile Central Government Departments of Telecom Services (DTS) and Telecom Operations (DTO), with effect from 0 5000 10000 15000 20000 25000 30000 35000 40000 2008-09 2009-10 2010-11 2011-12 2012-13 2013-14 2014-15 Revenue(Crores) Revenue
  • 73. 73 1 October 2000 in an ongoing concern basis. Ever since the formation of BSNL, the Indian telecommunications scenario has been transforming itself into a multi-player, multi-product market with varied market sizes and segments.  Extensive infrastructure in remote areas: BSNL has installed Quality Telecom Network in the country & now focusing on improving it, expanding the network, introducing new telecom services with ICT applications in villages & winning customer’s confidence.  PAN India-reach: You name the place & BSNL is there. It has about 43.74 million line basic telephone capacity, 8.83 million WLL capacity, 72.60 million GSM capacity, 37,885 fixed exchanges, 68,162 GSM BTSs, 12,071 CDMA Towers, and 197 Satellite Stations.  Huge Optical-Fibre infrastructure: Fibre-based cable networks act as a backbone to transmit data on wireless networks. BSNL has 6,86,644RKm. of OFC, 50,430 RKm. of microwave network connecting 623 districts, 7330 cities/towns & 5.8 lakhs villages.  Strategic alliances with IT & hardware companies: It got into many strategic alliances for IT & hardware requirements like with Ericsson, Cisco , HP, Compaq , NFL , MTNL etc. in order to run the business smoothly.  Vast Experience: The Company has vast experience in planning, installation, network integration & maintenance of switching & transmission networks & also has a world class ISO 9000 certified Telecom Training Institute. It has 3 training institutions and 4 specialized telecom units. Weaknesses in the SWOT analysis of BSNL  Working culture of government Institution: Despite having stiff competition in telecom sector making private players to design their strategy cautiously BSNL is still running on Bureaucratic type of setup.  Network capabilities: Although BSNL have 62000 tower & wireless networks stretched to 6,86,644 RKm. of OFC, 50,430 RKm. of microwave network connecting 623 districts, 7330 cities/towns & 5.8 lakhs villages, they are not able to optimize the network capabilities.  Unproductive rural assets: Problems associated with outdated technologies, low ROI form of rural assets & Political interference is making the company handicapped.  Poor Service Image: With the advent of technologies & new players foraying in the telecom