Reliance communications report 2

SUMMER TRAINING REPORT SUBMITTED TOWARDS THE
PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF POST GRADUATE DEGREE IN
INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS

Comparative Study of Voice and Data
Products of Reliance in India

SUBMITTED BY:
Shrey Arora
MBA-IB (2009-2011)
Roll No. : A1802009219

INDUSTRY GUIDE FACULTY GUIDE

Mr. Navneet Rai Mr. Roopak Kumar Gupta
Customer Operations Manager Amity International
Reliance Communications Business School

AMITY INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS SCHOOL,
NOIDA
AMITY UNIVERSITY – UTTAR PRADESH

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Amity International Business School

Company Certificate

(LETTER HEAD of the Company)

TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN

This is to certify that _____________________, a student of Amity
International Business School, Noida, undertook a project on
“___________________” at ________________________
from __________to _____________.

Ms./Mr.________________ has successfully completed the project under
the guidance of Mr./Ms.____________________. She/He is a sincere and
hard-working student with pleasant manners.

We wish all success in her/him future endeavours.

Signature with date
(Name)
(Designation)
(Company Name)

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CERTIFICATE OF ORIGIN

This is to certify that Mr. Shrey Arora, a student of Post Graduate Degree in
MBA(International Business), Amity International Business School, Noida has
worked in the Reliance Communications, under the able guidance and
supervision of Mr. Navneet Rai, Customer Operations Manager, Reliance
Communications. The period for which he was on training was for 4 weeks,
starting from 3rd May, 2010 to 2nd July, 2010. This Summer Internship report
has the requisite standard for the partial fulfillment the Post Graduate Degree in
International Business. To the best of our knowledge no part of this report has
been reproduced from any other report and the contents are based on original
research.

(Student)
Mr. Roopak Kumar Gupta Shrey Arora

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I express my sincere gratitude to my industry guide Mr. Navneet Rai, Customer
Operations Manager, Reliance Communications, for his able guidance,
continuous support and cooperation throughout my project, without which the
present work would not have been possible.

I would also like to thank the entire team of Reliance Communications, for the
constant support and help in the successful completion of my project.

Also, I am thankful to my faculty guide Mr. Roopak Kumar Gupta of my
institute, for his/her continued guidance and invaluable encouragement.

Shrey Arora

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Chapter No. Subject Page No.
1.0 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 6
2.0 INTRODUCTION 8
3.0 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 10
Primary Objective
Scope of the Study
Sampling
4.0 CRITICAL REVIEW OF LITERATURE 13
After-Sales Service Revenue Can Yield Even Bigger Returns
Teaching Good Customer Service
5.0 INDUSTRY PROFILE 19
Introduction to Indian Telecom Industry
Market Structure for telephony and wireless services
Opportunity for companies
Regulatory Framework
Major Players in different segments of Indian telecom industry
Market SWOT Analysis
6.0 COMPANY PROFILE 32
Reliance Group
Vision
Board of Directors
Company Roadmap
Milestones
Voice Solutions
Data Solutions
7.0 ISSUES AND CHALLENGES FACED BY THE ORGANIZATION 61
8.0 DATA COLLECTION 64
Primary Data
Secondary Data
9.0 ANALYSIS OF QUESTIONNAIRE 66
10.0 REFLECTIONS ON WHAT HAS BEEN LEARNED DURING
THE PLACEMENT EXPERIENCE 72
11.0 RECOMMENDATIONS 74
12.0 BIBLIOGRAPHY 76
13.0 ANNEXURE 78
14.0 CASE STUDY 86
15.0 SYNOPSIS OF THE PROJECT 90

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1. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

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1.0 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

These days, organizations are looking forward to obtain competitive edge over their
competitors through highly developed employee skills, distinctive organizational
cultures, management processes and systems which are in contrast to traditional emphasis
on transferable resources such as equipment that can be purchased any time by the
competitors.

In Reliance Communications, much work is done to develop competencies so as to have
better results. In this context apart from the various departments, the Customer Assurance
department has got a crucial role to play.

In my study I have tried to study the various factors which are responsible for making a
customer loyal and retaining him forever. For this I had to contact many corporate customers
to find out what they actually think of the services given by the company and how satisfied
they are with those services.

The research gave me an opportunity to obtain feedback and suggestions from the enterprise
customers who use business services like leased lines, VPNs, PRIs etc. and demand
exceptional quality of experience from Reliance Communications.

The study I conducted involved designing a questionnaire, which was not easy as I was not
aware upto what horizon the customers are facing and in what categories. So, to design the
questionnaire, I contacted 10 random enterprise customers of Reliance Communications and
asked them open ended questions like feedbacks, suggestions, any other problem with major
services like leased lines, VPNs and also referred a previous questionnaire which was quite
generic in nature and did not include specific issues. The output of this interaction gave me
the problem areas. Then based on these issues, I designed a questionnaire which was sent to
more than 100 enterprise customers via email and text messages which contained the link to
the questionnaire.

The responses which were received were quite less in number i.e. 50. This was expected as
corporates are very busy to respond to such feedback surveys and cannot be forced or
spammed to fill up the form. Another reason for fewer responses was the number of questions
in the questionnaire which were quite much compared to a general questionnaire. As the
questionnaire was not general so it was mostly sent to technical department of companies and
not to masses.

The results of the questionnaire were forwarded via department heads to the top level. There
was a confidentiality factor as this included many of the company clients which are even the
competitors of the company in the market. So, the names of the clients could not be revealed
in the report.

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2. INTRODUCTION

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2.0 INTRODUCTION
2.1 Objectives
1. To get a practical Corporate Exposure.
2. To study the company products, and services solutions offered by Reliance
Communications in Enterprise Sector.
3. To understand the telecom terms, working, designations, strategies, teams used in
company.
4. To interact with Reliance Communications’ corporate customers over the phone.
5. Making client visits with industry guide.
6. Business process learning
7. Gathering information from corporate customers like their issues/problems with the
services Reliance Communications offers like leased lines, VPNs, PRIs etc. This
information gathering also included any suggestions or feedback they liked to give
regarding the Reliance Communications services.
8. Understanding the importance service.
9. Working towards increasing customer satisfaction.
10. Understanding the feasibility and implementation of deliveries.
11. To get maximum exposure about the working of the service assurance team.
12. To proceed with 1-2-1 interaction with more corporates.
13. To know and help the company improve company’s products and services in the
following five aspects:
• Billing,
• Sales,
• After-Sales/Assurance,
• Delivery

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3. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

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3.0 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
3.1 Primary Objective

Customer satisfaction and retention is a strategy whose objective is to keep a company’s
customers and to retain their revenue contribution. It costs less to keep an existing customer
than to acquire a new one.
Thus the primary objective was to prepare an effective questionnaire which reflected all the
issues and problems faced by the customers of the company. And hence implement strategies
to improve customer satisfaction and retention.

And the secondary objectives are:
• Improving the perception of the company to customers.
• Implementing proper co-ordination between various teams like Sales, Delivery,
Billing, After-sales etc.

3.2 Scope of the Study

The research was carried out on random 10 customers to know about the technicalities to
design the questionnaire. Then the questionnaire was designed considering all the aspects.

3.3 Sampling

Sampling procedure:

The sample is selected in a random way. Data was collected through the questionnaires send
to the clients. The questionnaire has questions related to each and every aspect like sales,
delivery, after-sales, overall experience with Reliance etc. The clients rated Reliance
communications on a scale of 5. Then percentage was calculated of satisfied customers in
each aspect.

Sample size:

Though the questionnaire was sent to more than 100 customers, but only 50 responded
properly. So, only 50 responses were considered for the analysis.

Sample design:

The customers rated us on the scale of 5. To present the result efficiently, these average for
each question was taken and was converted into percentage. This data has been presented in
the form of bar chart.

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Limitations:

1. Corporates are busy mostly and cannot be forced to fill the questionnaire.
2. The sample size was very less as these were Reliance Communications’ customers who
have been using the service for a quite reasonable period of time.
3. Maybe a few of the forms were filled by non-technical persons in the organizations who
did not have a proper idea of the issues and technicalities. This could have contributed slight
erroneous analysis.

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4. CRITICAL REVIEW OF
LITERATURE

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4.0 CRITICAL REVIEW OF LITERATURE
4.1 After-Sales Service Revenue Can Yield Even Bigger Returns
Kevin Keegan
March 1, 2004

Unfortunately, managing global spare-parts inventory is too often not given a spare thought
by senior management teams. They're likely to pay attention to this issue only if an important
customer threatens to take its business elsewhere, or a significant inventory write-off occurs.
Yet, effective management of spare (service) parts impacts the margin contribution coming
from after-sales services (30 percent of a typical manufacturing company's total revenue, and
upwards of 40 percent of its profit).

This has become an important business issue because after-sales service revenue has been
increasing as a percent of total revenue in recent years given product price erosion, customers
keeping equipment for longer periods of time, and the extension of product service life for
competitive reasons (now over seven years after the initial sale of equipment).

In effect, good margins from after-sales revenue have masked the opportunities to reduce
service-parts costs. Still, manufacturers lose as much as 10 to 20 percent of their warranty
and extended service contracts because of poor spare-parts management. These companies
have a hard time finding a way to balance between delivering excellent service to their
customers and controlling the material cost of these operations. Why? Because they do not
normally think about this aspect of their business as an integrated set of global activities.

A recent PRTM survey defines the opportunity in clear terms. The companies that pay
attention to managing their global service-parts activity, employing best practices here, enjoy
a wide margin of customer service and operational cost advantage over average-performing
companies:

• 75 percent lower inventory per dollar of installed base
• 15 percent higher fill rates
• 15 percent more on-time service-parts delivery

Achieving control in global service-parts management is no easy matter, for several reasons.
The processes, information systems, accountabilities, and policies are most often selected and
managed by a local sales team or by product line management, and not by the service supply
chain team. Additionally, service parts are often managed as a cost of warranty and not
managed as a business, with a mix of local and global performance goals even when there are
specific strategies for things like repair centers, warranty pricing, and product lifecycles.

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Figure 1: The Efficient Frontier
A driving issue of underperformance in global service-parts management is that business
leaders typically do not have an efficient way to see total service-parts inventory positions at
each echelon, or to see where service 'misses' are about to occur. Nor do they see where profit
is leaking from service-parts operations.

Best performers have put the systems and practices in place to gain this visibility and have
aligned local policies, procedures, and accountabilities around specific local and global
service and cost goals. Specific practices of top performers in this realm include:

• Using or moving to a single instance global service-parts planning and execution
information management tool. This tool will have integrated planning and execution
functionality and will have regional but globally aligned security, business rules,
reporting, and so forth.
• Managing to a single set of policies for service-parts sourcing, purchasing, stocking,
moving, and write-off decisions.
• Implementing consistent regional accountabilities for delivery and inventory
performance.

Some good examples: One wireless handset company has developed the capability to
coordinate last-time purchase and end-of-manufactured-life and end-of-service-life decisions
with an understanding of global service-parts inventory positions. This capability allows it to
efficiently move service-parts inventories where needed to support warranty obligations and
to minimize excess and obsolete service-part write-offs.

A company that makes large-scale industrial engines provides another example of a best
practice: It is able to review trends on where spare parts are received and used in Europe,
North America, and South America in order to help support foreign exchange hedge goals.
This information also helps it minimize inbound and outbound freight and duty costs, reduce
lead times, and periodically restructure its set of service-parts suppliers.

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Figure 2: The New Efficient Frontier

Based on our survey, we have confirmed that the best performers manage service parts like a
global business or as part of a global post-sales-services business. The top companies
consistently calculate the amount of inventory investment needed to meet fill rates by product
and customer and then roll up these investments across geographies to establish the minimum
amount of total (global) investment to achieve targeted fill rates. In doing so, they create a
high-level 'efficient frontier' (see Figure 1). From here, they can compare inventory positions
(from regional stock to 'trunk stock,' carrying costs, duty costs, and so forth) in and across
echelons, spare-parts logistics partners, and geographies. The purpose of the comparison is to
determine whether these inventories need to be redistributed (increased or decreased) in order
to optimize the total actual global inventory investment relative to achieving good and
consistent local service-parts fill rates.

To make these changes sustainable, they set priorities to move to the efficient global frontier,
locality by locality. They also regularly evaluate the basis of competition for fill rates and
make needed adjustments to the efficient frontier, the service-parts replenishment network,
and their total managerial approach (see Figure 2). Top global performers leverage an
integrated spare-parts planning and execution system that can automate location analysis, flag
and help manage shortages before they happen, and identify unprofitable service supply chain
operations.

Many companies understand and desire to achieve consistently high levels of post-sales
service for regional and global customers. Some are beginning to understand the service-parts
cost associated with providing this service. Only a few manufacturing companies, however,
have embarked on a path to provide excellent customer service at best-in-class operational
costs. These see service-parts as a global business that needs management using integrated IT
architectures, consistent practices, and management disciplines that regularly review progress
toward the targeted efficient frontier.

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4.2 Teaching Good Customer Service

By David Javitch
March 07, 2005

Is customer service important? Is customer service every employee's responsibility?
The clear answer to both of these questions is a resounding yes! And more important, the
major responsibility for creating a customer friendly atmosphere begins with you, the boss.
Not only are you responsible for teaching first-ratecustomer service skills, but as their leader,
you must demonstrate these behaviors and be a role model for your employees. Without
positive examples from you, they're not likely to improve.
But just why is customer service so crucially important to the success of your company?
The Alternative Board
Whether or not your employees work specifically as customer service people, as the head of
your organization, you must instill in all your employees one key strategic thought and
direction: If you're going to create a positive and productive business environment, everyone
must speak and relate to customers and potential customers as if each person were their
paycheck. Because, in fact, they are.
Tell your employees to seriously consider this startling truth: If customers don't keep coming
back and purchasing your company's products or services, there will be no company. And
obviously, if there's no company--or if you're forced to downsize--many of the people
working for you now may lose their jobs.
I bet you'll have your employee's complete attention.
So just what is optimal customer service? Simply stated, it's a positive way of relating to
people that lets them know you care about them, their actions, their purchases and the buying
process, no matter how expensive, intricate or involved it is. Your main goal is to have each
customer leave with a smile on their face and a feeling of having been well taken care of by
you and your employees--and for having purchased just what they needed or wanted.
But why is optimal customer service so crucial? Won't customers keep coming back if your
price is right? Not necessarily. If you want your customers to come back again and again,
you've got to satisfy them by making it easy for them to do business with you, which will get
them to return for more. Understand that if they aren't treated properly, they won't become
those coveted return customers.
Here are four powerful points you need to model and impart to your employees in order for
them to provide top-notch service to the purchasing public.
Optimal customer service means:

1. Your employees can keep their job. Remember, no customers equals no business and no
employees.

2. You've created a positive buying atmosphere for both first-time and repeat customers.

3. You're able to satisfy the information or buying needs of your potentialcustomers.
4. You're able to transform prospects into happy, satisfied customers. And happy, satisfied

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customers come back for more.

Your next step is to teach and motivate your employees to demonstrate the following
successful customer service behaviors:

• Stop talking with colleagues and get off the phone whenever a potential customer
approaches.

• Look up and at the person, smile and welcome your potential paycheck.

• Ask how you can help or assist your potential customer.

• Provide information in a pleasant manner, always remembering to smile.

• Ask, in a friendly way, if you've been of assistance to the customer. If the answer is no,
continue to serve your customer until you've satisfied their needs.

• Ask if there's anything else you can do to help them make the right decision.

• Smile and say goodbye, encouraging the customer to return with other questions.

• Mean what you say and mean what you do.

And don't forget that the most important features of an interaction that potential buyers will
remember are how helpful the employee was and how delighted or satisfied the customers are
with the product and the process of purchasing.
Undoubtedly, these satisfied customers will return over and over. And this result is due to the
attitude, politeness and willingness to assist that your employees express.
Bingo, they just earned their paychecks!

David G. Javitch, Ph.D., is an organizational psychologist and president ofJavitch
Associates, an organizational consulting firm in Newton, Massachusetts. With more than 20
years of experience working with executives among various industries, he is an
internationally recognized author, keynote speaker and consultant on key management and
leadership issues. Dr. Javitch utilizes field-proven managerial and psychological methods to
increase organizational success. His unique approach focuses on employee development to
ensure organizational success.

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5. INDUSTRY PROFILE

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5.0 INDUSTRY PROFILE
5.1 Introduction to Indian Telecom Industry
• The Indian Telecom sector is third largest network in the world.

• Subscriber numbers already crossed 250 million.

• Average growth rate of over 40% in respect of subscribers.

• Monthly additions of above 7 million phones.

• Growth impetus from wireless segment with 84% wireless and 16% wired.

• National teledensity at 26%.

• Rural teledensity stands at 7%, while the urban at 57%.

• Further access is provided by 54 lakh PCOs and 5 lakh VPTs.

• 9 million Internet and 2.5 million broadband subscribers.

• More than a thousand cities have been provided with broadband connectivity out a
total of five thousand cities

5.2 Indian Telecom Industry – A Lucrative Option
In recent years, the Indian telecom industry has witnessed phenomenal growth. A conducive
business environment, favourable demographic outlook and the political stability enjoyed by
the country have contributed to the growth of the industry. India achieved the distinction of
having the world's lowest call rates (2–3 US cents), the fastest sale of million mobile phones
(1 week), the world's cheapest mobile handset (USD 19) and the world's most affordable
colour phone (USD 31).

5.3 Indian Telecom Industry – Facts
One of the fastest growing cellular markets in the world in terms of number of
subscriber additions – 261.07 million (March 2008)

Expected to reach total subscriber base of about 500 million by 2010 (i.e., more than
one phone for every household)

Annual growth rate of the telecom subscribers – 42 percent (2007–08)

More GSM subscribers than fixed-line subscribers

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Total telecom subscribers – 300.49 million (March 2008 Cellular + Fixed Line )

Tele density – 26.22 percent (March 2008)

Number of new mobile subscribers added last quarter – 27.62 million (March 2008)

ARPU for GSM – USD 5.28* (USD./sub/ month)

Telecom equipment market – USD 34,100 million (2007–08)

Handset market – USD 7,250 million (2007–08)

(Data Source TRAI 2008 Report)

5.4 Telephony services (mobile and basic) and Internet services
dominate the Indian telecom services
The Indian telecom market generated revenues of approximately USD 32 billion in 2007–08.
It registered a CAGR of approximately 32 percent from 2002–03 to 2007–08. The CAGR
from 2008–08 to 2011–12 is expected to stabilise at 21 percent. Apart from mobile telephony
services, other value-added services are also gaining importance.

The Indian telecom services can be divided predominantly into basic, mobile and Internet
services. It also comprises smaller segments, such as radio paging services, Very Small
Aperture Terminals (VSATs), Public Mobile Radio Trunked Services (PMRTS) and Global
Mobile Personal Communications by Satellite (GMPCS).
The growth witnessed in the mobile services and Internet services segments was much higher
as compared to other services, such as basic services and radio paging services which are
nominal in terms of numbers.

5.5 Market Structure for basic telephony services segment (Fixed
Lines)
Basic services include fixed wireline and wireless in local loop (WLL-fixed). In
2007–08, basic services subscribers exceeded 60 million.

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Fixed wireline services hold a major market share of 83 percent in basic services.

BSNL and MTNL are market leaders in this segment.

Although the government-owned BSNL dominates the segment in terms of subscriber
base and market share, private players have registered a notable growth.

5.6 Market Structure for Wireless Service (GSM)
• Divided into 22 circles

– 4 metros

– 19 circles

• Further divided into A, B and C category based on economic
parameters and revenue potential

• Each circle has a licenses

– Four operators per circle are allowed

– Licenses are saleable

Source: COAI & TRAI

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5.7 Mobile telecom services provide an unprecedented growth
opportunity for companies
Mobile services have led to a spectacular growth in the Indian telecom industry. Currently, 12
players are active in this segment. The total number of wireless subscribers escalated to
261.07 million at the end of March 2008, with a monthly addition of more than 6 million
wireless subscribers. Despite the decreasing ARPU*, the minutes of usage is on a rise, which
provides impetus to the mobile services growth in India.

Despite a low teledensity of
approximately 19 percent, India has
the second highest minutes of usage
per month. This offers huge growth
opportunity to telecom companies.

The declining ARPU implies that India Inc. is
tapping a large market at the bottom of the
pyramid by reducing tariffs; thereby,
enhancing affordability.

• Data Source TRAI 2008 Report

5.8 Number of mobile subscriber will propel the total subscriber
base to 500 million by 2010
The telecom subscriber base
has witnessed an explosive growth;
the additions in the current year
registered a growth of approximately
47 percent over the previous year.

The subscriber base
registered a CAGR of 40.4 percent

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for 2002–03 to 2007–08.

The state-owned BSNL was the second
largest service provider after Bharti Airtel
(23 percent) in the Indian wireless telecom
market with a market share of
approximately 19 percent for the year
ending March 2008.

5.9 Various other services emerged by leveraging the telecom
services industry:

Public Mobile Radio Trunked Services
PMRTS have not grown to their expected potential in
India. The high licence fee leaves a very thin margin for
services providers; thereby, inhibiting its growth. About
31,000 subscribers are currently availing this service in
India from 12 different operators.

Radio Paging

In 1995, radio paging services emerged as a
promising segment in India. However, this segment
could not compete with cellular services in general
and SMS technology in particular, and is currently
shrinking. At present, only four radio paging
service providers are present in the Indian market.

GMPCS: Global Mobile Personal Communication by Satellite

GMPCS services were launched in India in 1999. These
services allow a subscriber to communicate from any point
on earth through a handheld terminal. Moreover, the
telephone number remains unchanged, irrespective of the
subscriber’s location.

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Very Small Aperture Terminals (VSAT)

The market for VSAT services increased by 5.73 percent
during the quarter ending in December 2006, and the
segment had a total subscriber base of 55,070. HCL
Comnet is the largest of the eight players functioning in
the market.

5.10 Broadband services to drive Internet penetration in India
The emergence of private players and new
technologies have provided a strong impetus to the
growth of Internet and broadband services. The
quality and penetration of these services have
undergone changes, with significant improvement
in the telecom infrastructure. The Internet
subscriber base registered a CAGR of 60 percent
for the period 1997–98 to 2007–08.

• BSNL and MTNL caters to more than two-
thirds of Internet subscribers in India.
• The total no. of Broadband Subscribers of
these 13 Service Providers have increased
from 3.1 million to 3.82 million by adding
0.72 million (23.35%) subscribers in the
quarter ending March, 2008.
• Private players are catching up fast due to
increased penetration of Internet and
broadband services in India.
• The telecom market will experience high
penetration of Internet services with the
support from government policies and
introduction of novel technologies in India.

5.11 India: An Ideal Destination for Investments in Telecom
Sector
• World’s largest democracy
• Independent judiciary
• Skilled and competitive labour force

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• Fifth largest telecom network in the world; second largest among the emerging
economies after China
• On an average, about 6–7 million new users added per month, making India the
world’s fastest growing wireless services market
• Liberal Foreign Investment Regime–FDI limit increased from 49 percent to 74
percent; the rural telecom equipment market is also open to large investments
• Among the countries offering the highest rates of return on investment
• The large untapped potential in India’s rural markets–1.9 percent teledensity in rural
markets as compared to the national level of 18 percent
• Expected to become the second largest telecom market by 2010
• The government promoting telecom manufacturing by providing tax sops and
establishing telecom specific Special Economic Zones
• Fully repatriable dividend income and capital invested in telecom equipment
manufacturing

5.12 Increasing mobile subscriber numbers and low level of
teledensity offers large opportunities to Indian companies

The telecom subscriber base has witnessed an explosive growth; the additions in year
200-08 registered a growth of approximately 52 percent over the previous year.

The subscriber base witnessed a CAGR of 42 percent during 2002–03 to 2007–08.

The impressive growth in the subscriber base has resulted in a significant increase in
teledensity. In 2007–08, India has a teledensity of 26.22 percent, as compared to year
2006-07 figure of 18.23 percent, signifying a growth of percent.

Even though the Indian telecom industry has
exceeded a subscriber base of 200 million,
its teledensity is only 18 percent. Thus, the
Indian market provides telecom service
providers with a large untapped potential
due to the country’s increasing population
and its low teledensity. The government has
plans to raise teledensity to 40–45 percent
by 2010; thereby, offering greater growth
opportunities for service providers.

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5.13 Regulatory Framework provides level playing field for all
operators
The Department of telecommunications (Government of India) is the main governing body
for the industry. Telephone Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) assists the Government of
India (GoI) to take timely decisions and introduce new technologies in the country.

5.14 FDI and other M&A activities increasing in number
Major trends in the telecom sector is increasing M&A activity, de-regulation of telecom
policies and growing interest of international investors.

FDI in Telecom Sector

The Indian telecom industry has a 74 percent FDI 700 680

limit in the telecom services segment. The GoI 521
FDI (USD million)

500
has permitted 100 percent FDI in manufacturing
of telecom equipment in India. The Indian 300

telecom industry has always attracted foreign 116 129
100
investors. In fact, the cumulative FDI inflow, 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07
during the August 1991 to March 2007 period, in the
telecommunication sector amounted to USD 3,892 million. It is the third largest sector to
attract FDI in India in the post-liberalisation era.
FDI calculation takes into account radio paging, cellular mobile and basic telephone services
in the telecommunication sector.

Past Deals in Telecom Sector

Vodafone purchased stake in Hutch from Hong
Kong's Hutchison Telecom International for
USD 11.08 billion.

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Reliance Communications Limited has sold a five percent equity share
capital of its subsidiary Reliance Telecom Infrastructure Limited to
international investors across the US, Europe and Asia. The deal was
worth USD 337.5 million.

Telekom Malaysia acquired a 49 percent stake in Spice
Communications for USD 179 million.

Maxis Communications acquired a 74 percent stake in
Aircel for USD 1.08 billion.

Ericsson to design, plan, deploy and manage Bharti
Airtel network and facilitate their expansion in the
rural areas, under a USD 2 billion contract.

5.15 Major Players in different segments of Indian telecom
industry

Basic Services Internet Services Operators

BSNL BSNL

MTNL MTNL

Reliance Reliance

TTSL
TTSL

Airtel

GSM Services CDMA Services Operators

Airtel Reliance

Vodafone

Idea TTSL

Reliance BSNL

BSNL

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5.16 Market SWOT Analysis

Strengths Weaknesses

• Huge wireless subscriber potential • Lowest call tariffs in the world
• Fastest growing mobile market in the world • Market strongly regulated by Government
• Consumers are ready to pay for cutting edge body – Governing both ISP and Telecom
services sectors
• Government proposes to hike FDI limit in • Too many authorities ruling the sector
Telecom to 74% • Huge potential for low end and cheap
• Unified license regime handsets
• Wide scale Consumer churn in Telecom
and ISP
• Wide spread VAS deployment is restricted
due to language and literacy problems
• Primarily a voice based market

Opportunities Threats

• To offer value added services on GSM, CDMA • Low cost service providers – no
and IP possibility of breaking even in short
• Language independent services term
• Mobile Marketing concepts • Weak IPR protection
• Content influenced by local culture and Global • Software and digital content Piracy
success stories • Political instability
• M-Commerce • Regulatory interference
• Unified messaging platforms
• Foreign investment in form of equity or
technology

5.17 India presents a host of opportunities for telecom companies:

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Infrastructure sharing offers the following advantages:

Improved service quality

Increased affordability for customers

Faster roll out of services in rural and remote areas

Significant reduction in initial set up costs

Increased environmental aesthetics

Lower operating costs for service providers

Virtual Private Network is a private data network that provides connectivity within closed
user groups via public telecommunication infrastructure. Competition is likely to heat up in
the VPN segment as DoT has relaxed the norms for private players.

Managed services is another segment that is attracting telecom companies. On account of the
rapidly growing subscriber base, service providers find it difficult to manage their
infrastructure and network management operations. In such cases, they completely or
partially outsource their infrastructure or network management operations.

Enterprise Telecom Services includes key services, such as voice over Internet protocol
(VoIP), dedicated telecom communication systems, IT infrastructure enabled unified
communication services, etc. Telecom service providers are increasingly targeting enterprises
by providing dedicated services and is expected to witness major developments in near
future.

3G Services The Indian government had auctioned the spectrum for 3G services by inviting
bids from domestic as well as foreign players, and creating a competitive environment that
offers better services to consumers in January 2008. Therefore, the 3G spectrum is among the
major investment opportunities and growth drivers of the telecom industry.

The immense potential for 3G is reflected by the 30–40 percent annual growth in
Value-Added Services.

Cell phone manufacturers are striving to develop USD 100 priced 3G handsets for the
Indian market.

India expects to replicate its 2G growth in 3G services.

MTNL has soft launched its 3G service and calls it MTNL 3G Jadoo.

WiMAX has been one of the most significant developments in wireless communication in
the recent past. Since this mode of communication provides network access in inaccessible
locations at a speed of more than 4 Mbps, it is expected to be a major factor in driving
telecom services in India, especially wireless services. Thus, it will lead to the increased use

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of telecom services, Internet, value-added services and enterprise services. WiMAX is
expected to accelerate economic growth and assist in providing better education, healthcare
and entertainment services.
It is estimated that India will have 13 million WiMAX subscribers by 2012.

Aircel is the pioneer in WiMAX technology in India.

The state-owned player, BSNL, aims to connect 74,000 villages through WiMAX.

Bharti, Reliance and VSNL have acquired licenses in the 3.3GHz range to utilise the
opportunities offered by this domain.

Value Added Services(VAS)

The VAS industry was worth USD 632 million in 2007–08.
The industry is estimated to grow by 60 percent in 2008–09
and become an USD 1,011 million opportunity.

The VAS industry is currently focussing on the
entertainment sector, such as the Indian film industry and
cricket; however, there is scope for growth in other avenues
as utility-based services, such as location information and
mobile transactions.

Rural Telephony

As the government targets to increase rural teledensity from
the current 2 percent to 25 percent by 2012, rural telephony
will require major investments. This segment will boost the
demand for telecom services, equipment, Internet services
and other value-added services; thereby, offering great
market opportunities for telecom players.

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6. COMPANY PROFILE

32

6.0 COMPANY PROFILE

6.1 Reliance Group
Reliance – Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group, an offshoot of the Reliance Group founded by
Shri Dhirubhai H Ambani (1932-2002), ranks among India’s top three private sector business
houses in terms of net worth. The group has business interests that range from
telecommunications (Reliance Communications Limited) to financial services (Reliance
Capital Ltd) and the generation and distribution of power (Reliance Infrastructure Limited).

Reliance – ADA Group’s flagship company, Reliance Communications, is India's largest
private sector information and communications company, with over 100 million subscribers.
It has established a pan-India, high-capacity, integrated (wireless and wireline), convergent
(voice, data and video) digital network, to offer services spanning the entire infocomm value
chain.

Other major group companies — Reliance Capital and Reliance Infrastructure — are widely
acknowledged as the market leaders in their respective areas of operation.

6.2 Our Founder: About Sh. Dhirubhai Ambani
Few men in history have made as dramatic a
contribution to their country’s economic fortunes as
did the founder of Reliance, Sh. Dhirubhai H
Ambani. Fewer still have left behind a legacy that is
more enduring and timeless.

As with all great pioneers, there is more than one
unique way of describing the true genius of
Dhirubhai: the corporate visionary, the unmatched
strategist, the proud patriot, the leader of men, the
architect of India’s capital markets, the champion of shareholder interest.

But the role Dhirubhai cherished most was perhaps that of India’s greatest wealth creator. In
one lifetime, he built, starting from the proverbial scratch, India’s largest private sector
enterprise.

When Dhirubhai embarked on his first business venture, he had a seed capital of barely US$
300 (around Rs 14,000). Over the next three and a half decades, he converted this fledgling
enterprise into a Rs 60,000 crore colossus—an achievement which earned Reliance a place on
the global Fortune 500 list, the first ever Indian private company to do so.

Dhirubhai is widely regarded as the father of India’s capital markets. In 1977, when Reliance
Textile Industries Limited first went public, the Indian stock market was a place patronised
by a small club of elite investors which dabbled in a handful of stocks.

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Undaunted, Dhirubhai managed to convince a large number of first-time retail investors to
participate in the unfolding Reliance story and put their hard-earned money in the Reliance
Textile IPO, promising them, in exchange for their trust, substantial return on their
investments. It was to be the start of one of great stories of mutual respect and reciprocal gain
in the Indian markets.

Under Dhirubhai’s extraordinary vision and leadership, Reliance scripted one of the greatest
growth stories in corporate history anywhere in the world, and went on to become India’s
largest private sector enterprise.

Through out this amazing journey, Dhirubhai always kept the interests of the ordinary
shareholder uppermost in mind, in the process making millionaires out of many of the initial
investors in the Reliance stock, and creating one of the world’s largest shareholder families.

6.3 A dream come true
The late Dhirubhai Ambani dreamt of a
digital India — an India where the common man
would have access to affordable means of information
and communication. Dhirubhai, who single-handedly
built India’s largest private sector company virtually
from scratch, had stated as early as 1999: “Make the
tools of information and communication available to
people at an affordable cost. They will overcome the
handicaps of illiteracy and lack of mobility.”
It was with this belief in mind that Reliance
Communications (formerly Reliance Infocomm) started laying 60,000 route kilometres of a
pan-India fibre optic backbone. This backbone was commissioned on 28 December 2002, the
auspicious occasion of Dhirubhai’s 70th birthday, though sadly after his unexpected demise
on 6 July 2002.

Reliance Communications has a reliable, high-capacity, integrated (both wireless and
wireline) and convergent (voice, data and video) digital network. It is capable of delivering a
range of services spanning the entire infocomm (information and communication) value
chain, including infrastructure and services — for enterprises as well as individuals,
applications, and consulting.

Today, Reliance Communications is revolutionising the way India communicates and
networks, truly bringing about a new way of life.

6.4 Think big. Think different. Think
ahead.
Dhirubhai preached — and personally practised — one
mantra throughout his life: Dream with conviction.
He built the Reliance empire from scratch and, in a short span
of 25 years, it catapulted to become one of the top Fortune
500 corporations of the world — an achievement unparalleled

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in history.

He was deeply rooted in traditional Indian values, and at the same time, Dhirubhai possessed
a very modern outlook - truly that of a 21st century person. His corporate philosophy was
short, simple and incredibly effective: “Think big. Think different. Think fast. Think ahead.
Aim for the best.” This was clearly reflected in his passion for mega-sized projects, as well as
his fascination for cutting-edge technology and desire to always achieve the highest possible
productivity. At Reliance, Dhirubhai was a pillar of inspiration for one and all. By practicing
what he preached, he inspired and encouraged everyone to surpass the best in the world.

Dhirubhai fully realised that true empowerment of the people is possible only through
education. Being an effective communicator, he continued to inspire, guide, educate and
motivate everyone through his communications. He was a firm believer in the power of
information and communication, and how it can be utilised and turned to the advantage of
one and all, by making time and distance irrelevant.
He would always say that if a telephone call could be made cheaper than a postcard, it would
transform every home, empower every Indian, remove every obstacle to opportunity and
growth, and tear apart every barrier that divides Indian society. He was convinced that
infocom could energise enterprises, drive governance, and render learning an interesting
experience, apart from making life exciting.

Keeping his conviction as our credo, Reliance Communications is committed to transform
Dhirubhai’s dream into a reality.

6.5 Vision
“We will leverage our strengths to execute complex global-scale projects to facilitate leading-
edge information and communication services affordable to all individual consumers and
businesses in India.

We will offer unparalleled value to create customer delight and enhance business
productivity.

We will also generate value for our capabilities beyond Indian borders and enable millions of
India's knowledge workers to deliver their services globally.”

6.6 Chairman’s Profile
Anil D. Ambani

Regarded as one of the foremost corporate leaders of
contemporary India, Shri Anil D Ambani, 50, is the
chairman of all listed companies of the Reliance ADA
Group, namely, Reliance Communications, Reliance
Capital, Reliance Energy and Reliance Natural Resources
limited.

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He is also Chairman of the Board of Governors of Dhirubhai Ambani Institute of Information
and Communication Technology, Gandhi Nagar, Gujarat.

Till recently, he also held the post of Vice Chairman and Managing Director of Reliance
Industries Limited (RIL), India’s largest private sector enterprise.

Anil D Ambani joined Reliance in 1983 as Co-Chief Executive Officer, and has been
centrally involved in every aspect of the company's management.

He is credited with having pioneered a number of path-breaking financial innovations in the
Indian capital markets. He spearheaded the country’s first forays into the overseas capital
markets with international public offerings of global depositary receipts, convertibles and
bonds. Starting in 1991, he directed Reliance Industries in its efforts to raise over US$ 2
billion. He also steered the 100-year Yankee bond issue for the company in January 1997.

He is a member of:

Wharton Board of Overseers, The Wharton School, USA
Central Advisory Committee, Central Electricity Regulatory Commission
Board of Governors, Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad
Board of Governors Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur

In June 2004, he was elected for a six-year term as an independent member of the Rajya
Sabha, Upper House of India’s Parliament a position he chose to resign voluntarily on March
25, 2006.

Awards and Achievements:

Conferred the ‘CEO of the Year 2004’ in the Platts Global Energy Awards
Rated as one of ‘India’s Most Admired CEOs’ for the sixth consecutive year in the
Business Barons – TNS Mode opinion poll, 2004
Conferred ‘The Entrepreneur of the Decade Award’ by the Bombay Management
Association, October 2002
Awarded the First Wharton Indian Alumni Award by the Wharton India Economic Forum
(WIEF) in recognition of his contribution to the establishment of Reliance as a global
leader in many of its business areas, December 2001
Selected by Asiaweek magazine for its list of ‘Leaders of the Millennium in Business and
Finance’ and was introduced as the only ‘new hero’ in Business and Finance from India,
June 1999.

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6.7 Board of Directors

Shri Anil D. Ambani - Chairman
Promoter, non-executive and non-independent Director

Prof. J Ramachandran
Independent Director

Shri S.P. Talwar

Shri Deepak Shourie

Shri A.K.Purwar

6.8 Why RCom
Network infrastructure

• PAN India convergence ready broadband network
• Largest scalable and restorable global NGN footprint
• Largest MPLS enabled CORE data network
• Integrated BSS-OSS to support complex suite of services
• Largest MEN network - with services certified by MEF forum
• Only provider of end-to-end connectivity on fiber
• Largest data centre service provider in India - 48% of total market share
• Only data centre to have all the three ISO 9001:2005, ISO 20000-1, and ISO 27001
certification
• Ability to offer end to end solutions in voice and data services to enterprise
customers, helping them to outsource all their telecom services and infrastructure
needs.

Customer experience and account management

• Customer experience management - Is covered under 3 extensively organised
programmes: Program Management (for Customer Life Cycle Management), Tech
Check (for complete health check of customer's network) and CNMS ( a tool which
gives Network view tool for SLA based customers).

• Tech Check - Periodic sharing of customer specific/ circuit specific service
uptimes, number of faults, action plan for repeat faults, advise on improving
customer’s network infrastructure.

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• Managed Solutions - To enable you to focus on your core area, the service covers
Monitoring & Alarm Management, Service Management, Fault Management,
Configuration Management, Change Management, Performance Management and
Network Engineering Service (Network Planning & Design, Network Optimisation,
Network Migration Service & Network Implementation & Integration Service).

Innovative solutions

• Reliance has been always on the forefront of cutting edge technology and has been a
pioneer in bringing products and services to its customers. Some of the unique firsts
that came from us to India:-

• Speed Select – First time in India, an Internet consumer can select his bandwidth
while surfing.

• OneOffice Duo - India’s first fixed mobile convergence solution, offering a
nationwide VPN across Reliance Landline, Fixed Wireless and Reliance Mobile
services.

• Tech Check – Another first from Reliance, part of Reliance’s three pronged Customer
Experience Management. It is done to check the complete health of the customer‘s
network.

• Aggregated Internet – Optimal utilisation of bandwidth across multiple locations in a
city is done by aggregating the bandwidth at one central location.

• Remote wireless based access to corporate VPN - Using a 3G1XCDMA wireless data
solution, remote site users can access a secure VPN access without any exposure to
Internet

• Smart PRI – Introduced for the first time in India by Reliance, to provide better
visibility and control to customer. It not only provides extension wise bill for each
DID number but also eliminates the need for additional investment in PBX billing
software and PC.

• Another first in India, use of Ethernet-based circuits eliminating the need for routers

System and process efficient

• Automated processes throughout the lifecycle of product.
• The systems and processes ensure uniform service experience across the country.
• Centralized NOC that monitors the services round the clock, ensuring proactive
actions in the area of change management, performance management, fault
notifications and resolutions and SLA monitoring.

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6.9 Company Roadmap
Full range of managed service offerings

Businesses are becoming increasingly competitive and demands complete focus. Reliance
Managed Services portfolio enables the organisations to get optimal performance from the
resources, yet focusing on their core activities. Reliance Communications has a wide
portfolio of managed services like Managed WAN service, managed firewall, Managed
Security, managed voice. It is the endeavors of RCOM to extend this all the products and
services across voice, video, data and collaborative services to achieve managed
communications for customer.

Convergence solutions for the need of tomorrow

Today, Enterprises are using multiple disjointed tools for business, these include email, desk
phones, email, mobile phones etc.. . With the advent of IP communications and its increasing
adoption, it is possible to have a common synergized platform for delivery of all these
services. This will not only result in simplified operations and service from service provider
side, but will lead to next generation of Enterprise tools, enhancing the productivity multiple
times.

Launching of new data center to other major cities

Reliance data centres are specialized IT infrastructure facilities that house mission-critical
applications and business data of enterprises which need extraordinary security, availability,
reliability, scalability and manageability. Currently we are operating with four world class
Level-3+ data centres at Mumbai and Bangalore, aggregating to over 200,000 sq. ft. of
facility space. More facilities are being built in other prominent cities namely Delhi, Chennai,
Hyderabad and Kolkatta, that would result in aggregate facility space of over 500,000 sq. ft.

6.10 Milestones

2009
• RCOM launches pan India roll out of GSM
• Reliance Mobile and Microsoft to launch fourth edition of National Digital Elocution
Contest(NDEC) in India
• RCOM ties up with Swanbaytech , UK to bring ad-funded videos on Reliance Mobile
Phones
• Reliance Mobile launches GSM service in Delhi
• RCOM announces a record of five million news subscribers in January 2009
• ICRA assigns LAAA rating to RCOM’s NCD Program and enhanced Bank Lines;
existing rating reaffirmed.
• RCOM ties up with FLYTXT, implements new mobile marketing platform

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• Reliance Communications launches Netconnect Broadband Plus- India’s fastest
wireless internet service
• Reliance Communications announces adding a record of 3.3 million wireless
customers in February 2009
• Reliance Communications clocks 11.3 million subscribers in January- March 2009
• Reliance Mobile to go LIVE with all ICC World Cup T 20 matches on R World VAS
Deck
• RCOM shareholders approve scheme of arrangement of demerge of fiber optic
division
• Reliance BIG TV expands channel bouquet with ten new channels
• Reliance BIG TV can get live in-stadia experience on interactive cricket
• RCOM Infrastructure & KRIBHCO forge rural marketing joint venture
• Reliance Mobile offers BlackBerry service for Rs. 299 per month
• Reliance Mobile in alliance with Aaj Tak to offer video news alerts.
• Alcatel Lucent, Reliance Communications Managed Network Services Joint Venture
completes One year
• Reliance BIG TV launches iStock India’s first portfolio tracking service on a DTH
platform
• Etisalat DB Telecom & Reliance Communications Announce A Long-Term Strategic
Telecom Infrastructure Sharing Agreement
• Reliance Mobile in pact with US-based Gameloft for Paris Hilton’s exclusive game
• Good Response to Five PG Certificate Programs Offered By Reliance World & XLRI
Jamshedpur
• Reliance Communications Signs Strategic Tie-up With Kodiak Networks For
Nationwide Roll-out Of Mobile Conferencing Service
• Reliance Mobile introduces Antakshari service on GSM & CDMA networks
• Reliance Mobile plans unique contest based on ICC Champions Trophy
• RCOM targets rural customers with new services & sachet pricing for mobile Internet
access
• Department of Telecommunications allots 8055 series to Reliance Communications
for Maharashtra & Goa
• Reliance Mobile launches BIGMaps on GSM Network
• Reliance Mobile introduces job-search service for blue-collar employment seekers
• Reliance Communications redefines Telecom Industry benchmarks
• Reliance Webstore signs strategic distribution agreement with Coolpad
Communications
• Reliance Mobile offers personalized Call Manager service on GSM network
• Reliance Communications expands its ‘Simply Reliance’ Initiative

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2008

• Reliance Communications receives start-up GSM Spectrum.
• Yahoo partners with Reliance Communications to provide Yahoo One Search for its
CDMA and GSM customers.
• RCOM's Q 3 net profit increases by 48.5% and revenues up by 29.8 %. Remains the
most profitable telecom company in India.
• Reliance Communications offers Lifetime Validity at Rs 199.
RCOM’s subsidiary Infratel files Draft Red Herring Prospectus with SEBI.
• Reliance Mobile strengthens its religious content portfolio on mobile by tie-up with
Sadhana TV.
• RCOM in partnership with CanvasM, launches Mulitplayer Mobile Games.
• HDFC Bank ties up with RCOM, turns every Reliance Mobile into a credit card.
• Reliance Communications consolidates Global Telecom Business under ‘Business
Globalcom’.
Reliance Communications forays into International Mobile Market with GSM licence
in Uganda.
• Reliance Communications drops prices of Internet data cards.
• Reliance Communications announces ESOPs for over 20,000 employees.
• Reliance Communications and HTC forge strategic alliance.
• Corporation Bank launches banking services on Reliance Mobile World.
• Reliance Communications forays into IT space, launches Reliance Technology
Services Company.
• RCOM launches educational portal on Reliance Mobile phones.
• Reliance Globalcom unit Reliance Infocom BV, Netherlands acquires Global
WiMAX Operator eWave World.
• Reliance Communications announces unlimited free STD calls.
• Reliance Globalcom launches Passport Global SIM.
RCOM's net profit up by 70.8% to Rs 5,401 crore.
• Reliance Communications’ net profit up by 70.8% to Rs 5,401 crore (US$ 1,350
million), revenues higher by 31.8% to Rs.19, 068 crore (US$ 4,765 million) and
EBIDTA increases by 43.3% to Rs.8, 199 crore (US$ 2049 million).
• Reliance Communications and Alcatel form joint venture to offer Managed Network
Services to telcos across the globe.
• Reliance Globalcom acquires UK based VANCO Group Limited.
• Reliance Globalcom, Stealth Communications forge strategic alliance to extend VOIP
Network across 50 countries.
• CA exam results on Reliance Mobile.
• Reliance Communications Mobile subscriber base crosses 50 Million.
• CA professional exam results on Reliance Mobile.
• Reliance Communications (RCOM) announces its financial results for the first quarter
ended June 30, 2008. Net profit up by 23.9% to Rs. 1,512 crore (US$ 352 million).
• Reliance Communications Launches BIG TV DTH Service.
• Reliance Mobile World Brings ‘Janmaashtami’
Celebrations.
• Reliance Mobile Launches Prepaid Blackberry Services in India.
RCOM & BBC News Enter A Strategic Agreement For Mobile Content
• Reliance Mobile Brings ‘Navratri’ & ‘Durga Pooja’ Celebrations

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• RCOM’s Festival Bonanza For Desktop & Laptop Computer Users
• Reliance Mobile Offers A Lifetime of Attractive Call Rates
• Reliance Mobile –ICC ODI Women’s Rankings Launched In Mumbai
• BIG TV Gains 500,000 Subscribers Within Two Months Of Launch To Emerge As
The Fastest Growing DTH Players In India
• RCOM Joins Hands With Intel, Acer, Asus, HCL And Lenovo To Offer Free Laptop
With Reliance Netconnect-Internet Data Cards.
• RCOM-HTC Corporation Launch HTC Touch Diamond CDMA In India
• RELIANCE MOBILE WORLD Launches ‘JEEVANSATHI on MOBILE’SERVICE
• RCOM launches ‘Quick Search’ service on Reliance Mobile World.
• Reliance BIG TV DTH Service clocks one million subscribers in 85 days.
• RCOM Ties Up with ZMQ to develop mobile games based on UN’s themes.
• Reliance Mobile launches Text News Service in Nine Regional Languages.
• RCOM launches GSM service across India

2007

•
Reliance Communications adds a record 1.4 million subscribers in December ’06.
• Reliance Communication launches unique "Simply 2030" plan on Reliance Hello.
• Reliance Communications promotes Roger Waters music concert.
• RCOM shareholders approve tower business demerger with a 99.99% overwhelming
majority.
• Overwhelming response to Reliance World’s national digital elocution competition.
• Reliance joins Lenovo and Intel for ‘Internet on the Move’.
• Reliance Communications’ market capitalisation tops Rs 1 lakh crore ( 1 trillion
rupees or 24.39 billion US dollars) on Bombay Stock Exchange.
• Reliance Communications offers best value on roaming.
• Search jobs & classified ads from Reliance Mobile World - Reliance Communications
ties up with Naukri.com.
• Reliance Communications ushers in ‘Virtual Global Conference Network’.
• DHIRUBHAI AMBANI – THE MAN I KNEW By KOKILABEN
Book on Founder Chairman launched.
• Reliance Communications launches ‘Roam Jamaica’ on Reliance Mobile.
• Reliance Mobile launches ' Suno Zee’.
• Demerger of Passive Infrastructure division Reliance Communications & Reliance
Telecom approved by the Bombay High Court.
• Reliance World offers programme to help students ’Crack Admissions in Colleges
Abroad’.
• Govt’s Rural Telephone Scheme (RDEL)through Reliance Communications
successfully closes by March 31,2007.
• Booking train ticket from Reliance Mobile Phones becomes more easy now… with
ITZ Cash Cards.
• Reliance Communications unleashes the power of mobile advertising.
• Reliance Communications acquires 1.2 million subscribers in March 2007.
• Sunny days and nights for Reliance Mobile subscribers as
Reliance Communications ties up with SUN TV to offer video streaming of all SUN

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TV programs online 24x7.
• Reliance World launches summer e-camp for school kids.
• RCOM first listed Indian telecom company to reward shareholders.
• A Classic Bonanza – Reliance Communications unveils handsets @ Rs 777.
• RCOM bags West Bengal e-governance project.
• Reliance sets a new record, one million classic handsets sold in just one
• Reliance Communications slashes rate to US and Canada. It's now just Rs 1.99 per
minute.
• Reliance Communications launches Classic Colour Bonanza - Colour handsets @ Rs
1234.
• RCOM kick starts world's fastest and largest rural infrastructure rollout on World
Telecom Day.
• Reliance Communications Launches Lifetime Validity Recharge @ Just Rs.499.
• RCOM slashes roaming rates by as much as 70 percent.
• Reliance Communications launches unlimited calling.
• RCOM hosts seminar on ‘Emerging Trends in Mobile Applications Development’.
• Reliance Communications adds 1.4 million new mobile subscribers in May2007.
• Reliance Classic' Makes Music - FM Radio Phones Launched at just Rs.1888.
• Reliance World, BIMTECH & Philadelphia University unveil executive program in
retail management (EPRM).
• Reliance Communications ties up with Cisco to launch Business Internet Services for
SMEs in Pune.
• Bengali movie ‘Anuranan’ on Reliance Mobile World.
• RCOM and QUALCOMM Collaborate on CDMA2000 Expansion.
• Reliance Communications awards Alcatel-Lucent a Next-Gen network expansion
contract.
• Reliance Communications awards Huawei all IP Next-Gen network expansion
contract.
• RCOM announces sale of equity stake in its Tower Company-Reliance Telecom
Infrastructure Limited.
• RCOM's AGM on Reliance Mobile World.
• Reliance Communications launches Passport Calling Solutions.
• RCOM join hands with Yatra.com for air and hotel bookings.
• RCOM offers 'Live Mandi Prices' on Reliance Mobile World.
• Reliance Communications , the official global partner for the first edition of ICC
Twenty 20 World Cup Championship 2007 in South Africa unveils the coveted
Trophy in Mumbai and announces Dhoni - Dhanadan Pack.
• Reliance Communications launches money transfer on Reliance Mobile phones.
• RCOM launches BlackBerry 8830 World Edition Smartphone.
'Bloomberg Professional' now on Reliance Mobile.
• Reliance Communications ties up with Sulekha.com to offer local search on Reliance
Mobile World.
• Strategic partnership with Vanco.
• Reliance Communications announces Classic Celebrations- Classic Handset sales top
10 million- Colour Handset @ Rs.999.
• Reliance Communications to launch nationwide GSM Services under existing Unified
Access Service Licences.
• Reliance Communications brings 'Durgotsav Live' videocast on mobile.
• Reliance Communications Launches 'Diwali Dhamaka'.

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• RCOM launches Rural Mobile Application Contest.
• Fair & Lovely Scholarship on Reliance Mobile World is winner at the MMA awards,
USA.
• FLAG and GlassHouse ink landmark partnership.
• Reliance Communications adjudged World’s Top CDMA Operator at the Global
CDMA Industry Achievements Awards Fete.
• Reliance Communications completes Yipes’ acquisition.
• RCOM announces special offers for Christmas and New Year.

2006

• Reliance Infocomm launches "One Nation, One Tariff" to enable Reliance
IndiaMobile prepaid users to call anywhere in India at Re one per minute.
• Reliance Demerger adds record Rs.55, 000 Crore to shareholder wealth.
• TIMES NOW launched on Reliance Mobile Phones, making it the world’s first TV
channel to be launched on a mobile phone.
• Reliance Communications Ventures Ltd. (RCVL), India's leading integrated
telecommunications company, a member of the Reliance - Anil Dhirubhai Ambani
group, lists on the Bombay Stock Exchange and National Stock Exchange.
• Reliance Infocomm introduces R World in Hindi to become the world's first operator
to offer mobile data services in more than one language on the same handset. This
will make it possible for millions of Indians to access the popular R World with
hundreds of every-day-use applications in the national language.
• Reliance-Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group signs up Indian cricket's whiz kid and
heartthrob of millions Mahendra Singh Dhoni as the brand ambassador for Reliance
Communications Ventures Ltd.
• Reliance Infocomm becomes India’s first telecom operator to launch seamless inter-
standard international roaming service - 1World.1Number, with single number on
international CDMA and GSM networks.
• Reliance Communications launches India’s first Talking Message Service (TMS)
enabling its mobile users to send voice messages to not only other mobiles but also
fixed wireless phones (FWP) and landlines.
• Reliance Communications ties up with Disney to offer on Reliance Mobile World
India's first 3D animation on mobile.
• Reliance Communications launches 'Hello Capital Plan' to enable its subscribers in 19
state capitals to call each other at the local call rate of 40 paise per minute.
• Reliance Communications slashes ILD rates by up to 66%.
• T-Com signs contract with FLAG Telecom for Europe-US bandwidth.
• Union Communications & IT Minister Thiru Dayanidhi Maran inaugurates Reliance
Communications’ FALCON Cable System.
• Reliance Communications launches Free Group Term Life Cover for its CDMA
subscribers.
• Reliance Communications’ FLAG Telecom announces FLAG Next Gen to cover 60
countries.

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2005

• Reliance introduces first e-recharge facility in CDMA in India.
• Reliance IndiaMobile announces mega rural plan to cover 4 lakh villages and 65 crore
Indians by December 2005.
• Anil Ambani appointed Chairman of Reliance Infocomm.
• Air Deccan and Reliance WebWorld join hands to offer air ticket booking facility at
Reliance WebWorld .
• XLRI's Post-Graduate Certificate programme in Logistics Supply Chain Management
(PGCLSCM) launched on Reliance WebWorld's virtual classroom platform. first of
its kind e-learning programme in India.
• Reliance Infocomm rolls out international roaming facility across several countries to
become the first Indian CDMA operator to offer its customers such a service.
• Reliance Infocomm tied-up with the Bombay Stock Exchange to make available live
stock quotes on its mobile phones.
• Reliance Communications, UK launched Reliance IndiaCall service in England and
Wales enabling callers to make high-quality calls to India from any landline or mobile
phone at economical rates.
• Apollo Hospital and Reliance Infocomm join hands to provide top class healthcare
service to millions of Indians in over a hundred Indian cities.
• Reliance WebWorld wins Frost & Sullivan Market Leadership Award for Video
Conferencing services.
• Reliance Infocomm hosts the 4th global CDMA Operators Summit.
• Reliance Infocomm joins hands with Indian Airlines to offer India's first mobile
booking of domestic airline ticket.
• Reliance Infocomm introduces MOREbile, redefines customer rewarding with 33 %
more talk time on prepaid recharges of Rs 315 denomination and above and much
more.
• Reliance Infocomm and China Telecom sign agreement for telecom services to
provide direct telecommunication service, including a global hubbing service, to
subscribers in the two countries.

2004

• International wholesale telecommunications service provider, FLAG Telecom
amalgamates with Reliance Gateway, a wholly owned subsidiary of Reliance
Infocomm
• Launches RIM Prepaid with attractive offer - For Rs 3500 get a Motorola C131
mobile phone and Rs 3240 worth of recharge vouchers instantly and stay connected
for 1 year.
• Reliance subsidiary Flag Telecom announces FALCON Project - a major new Middle
East Loop Terabits Submarine Cable System with links to Egypt and Hong Kong via
India.
• Reliance Infocomm launches multi-player gaming on RIM handsets - a first in India.
• Reliance IndiaMobile introduces International Roaming facility to 172 countries, 300
networks.

45

• Reliance Infocomm introduces first ever auction facility on Mobile phones through R
World.
• Reliance Infocomm receives the Most Promising Service Provider of the Year 2003
(Asia Pacific) award at the Asia Pacific Technology Awards instituted by Frost &
Sullivan.
• Reliance Infocomm introduces World Card - a Prepaid International calling card for
affordable and convenient ISD calls from India.
• Announces India's First MPLS Global VPN Solution in partnership with MCI.
• Launches the first regional customer contact centre in Chennai.
• Mukesh D. Ambani, Chairman, Reliance Infocomm, receives Voice & Data ‘Telecom
Man of the Year’ award.
• Introduces railway ticket booking from R World data applications suite of Reliance
IndiaMobile.
• Mukesh Ambani voted the world’s most influential telecom person by UK-based
publication Total Telecom.
• Reliance Infocomm bags the CDMA Development Group's 3G CDMA Industry
Achievement Award for International Leadership.

2003

• Introduces Dhirubhai Ambani pioneer offer for Reliance IndiaMobile service.
• Launches Reliance WebWorld in top 16 cities.
• Launches International Long Distance Services.
• Commissions all backbone rings.
• Introduces colour handsets.
• Launches Reliance IndiaMobile Service commercially in top 92 cities
with one million customers.
• Launches India's first wireless Point of Sale (POS).
• Introduces "Monsoon Hungama" Offer: Instant multimedia mobile phone and
connection for just Rs 501.
• Sets world record - acquires one million customers in 10 days.
• Launches R Connect Internet connection cable.
• Introduces Reliance IndiaPhone Fixed Wireless Phone and Terminal.
• "Navratri" a data service in R-World posts a world record of 10 million downloads on
the first day of the launch.
• R World clocks a phenomenal 1 billion hits in 1 month.
• Launches integrated broadband centre at Reliance WebWorld, Bangalore.
• Deploys pilot of Home Netway in Mumbai.
• Reliance becomes India's largest mobile service provider within 7 months of
commercial launch.
• Customer base touches 5 million.
• Migrates to Unified License Regime.
• Launches national roaming.
• Launches international SMS to 159 countries.
• Adds 4500th Contact Centre Executive.

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Contact Centre becomes the largest such facility deployed by any single Indian
Service Provider

2002

• First Base Transceiver Station (BTS) made ‘Ready for Electronics’.
• Obtains international long distance licence from Govt. of India.
• Commissions 1st Optic Fibre backbone ring.
• Establishes 1st Point of Interconnect (POI) in New Delhi.
• Hon'ble Prime Minister of India, Atal Behari Vajpayee e-inaugurates Reliance
Infocomm Hon'ble Union Minister for Parliamentary Affairs, Information Technology
and Communications, Pramod Mahajan, inaugurates NNOC.

2001

• First Media Convergence Node made ‘Ready for Electronics’ at Jaipur.

2000

• Optic fibre laying process commences in Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh & Maharashtra.

1999

• The Dream: "Make a phone call cheaper than a postcard and you will usher in a
revolutionary transformation in the lives of millions of Indians" - Dhirubhai Ambani
• The Reality: Reliance Infocomm begins project planning.

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6.11 Voice Solutions
1. Office Centrex

Hassle-free, flexible telephone exchange

Your office can now get the digital PBX functionality without having to invest in and
maintain any equipment. Introducing the Reliance SmartOffice - a Business-class Centrex -
which offers carrier grade reliability and scalability coupled with the benefits of outsourcing.

Features

Call Management - You can keep an ongoing call on hold or transfer it as you wish. For
better call management you can also forward your incoming calls to any Reliance number or
to the Voice Mail Service:

• Call Forward on Busy
• Call Forward on No reply
• Forward all incoming calls

Voice Mail – Voice mailbox for every user - with an option to personalize the welcome
greeting. And you can access your voice mail even when you are not in the office.

Absentee Subscriber Service - If you are out of office, this facility will play a pre
recorded message to indicate that you are not present on your desk - & give the reason for the
absence as chosen by you.

10-party conference - Conferencing is not limited to 3 or 5 parties anymore. Up to 10-
party conferencing is possible with the Reliance SmartOffice.

Manager-Secretary Working - Allows a secretary to screen the calls for managers
before transferring.

Call Pick up groups - With this feature, a ringing phone on any desk can be picked up from
any other extension in the same department just by dialling a simple code.

PC based Attendant Console - You can also opt for a PC based Attendant console to
receive the calls coming on your Board number.

All this comes with the Superior Reliance Phone experience

NextGen Caller ID - The Reliance FLP displays the name of waiting caller (for calls
coming from outside the SmartOffice group) during an ongoing conversation. If the name of
the caller is not stored in the phonebook, then it displays the caller's number.

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SpeakerPhone – Lets you talk and work during a phone call. Also two or more people can
talk simultaneously.

Mobile Phone Features - Phone Book, Call History, Dial back from Caller ID, Missed
Calls, etc are easy to use phone features now available on a landline.

Delayed Hotline - Automatically connects to a number of your choice within 7 seconds
after the handset is picked up or when the speaker is put "ON".

Quick Dialling - Enjoy the convenience of calling up to 10 frequently called numbers by
pressing two keys on your Reliance Phone.

Line Locking - Secure your phone from unauthorised usage.

2. E1-DID

A direct line for every user

The Reliance E1 DID service gives you 30 digital channels over a 4-wire system. Each
channel can be configured as incoming, outgoing or two-way, allowing highly effective
management of voice traffic.

BENEFITS

Direct Line for every user

Each extension on your EPABX is assigned a unique telephone number by virtue of the
Direct Inward Dialling (DID) feature. This means every employee gets a direct line on which
he/she can be contacted from anywhere, without having to go through any operator.

Digital quality

You can enjoy the benefits of digital voice quality, that's clear and distortion-free. Moreover,
a digital service means that your line is tamper proof and hence unauthorised people cannot
tap it.

Saving on recurring costs

You get a direct line for every employee, without paying regular rentals for every line. Since
callers can now reach the employees directly on their extensions, lesser number of operators
are required.

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Lesser wires, higher uptime

Hassles associated with managing a complicated jungle of wires (as in analogue trunking) are
a thing of the past. Now with E1 DID solution, you get only four wires for every 30 channels.
So, the wiring at your EPABX becomes simple, clean and easy to manage, leading to higher
uptime as outages reduce significantly.

Direct Line Number Display (DLND)

Today when you call from your EPABX, the CLI that goes out is your board number, thus
making it difficult for the called party to identify you. E1 DID service comes pre-enabled
with DNLD feature so that your direct phone number is displayed to the caller.

Enhanced service Availability

Performance and availability is no longer a cause for concern. Reliance Communications has
invested in the state of the art fibre optic network with ring architecture right up to the
building, to provide automatic recovery of traffic, in case of failures.

No congestion or busy signals

No congestion or busy signals for your callers. E1 DID ensures that a call will be connected
through the first available free channel from a group of channels. You also get the reports of
the voice traffic helping you to plan for resources early.

3. OneOffice Duo

50

Features and Benefits

Converged Voice Solution: Reliance OneOffice Duo offers a nationwide
VPN across Reliance Landline, Fixed wireless and Reliance Mobile
services. Benefits include:

OneOffice Experience - Users across the country experience as if they work at

One Office, as in case of a IP communications solution

One Bill - A single bill for the OneOffice Duo VPN helps in reducing overhead costs
associated with multiple bill payments and provides visibility of spend on total inter-office
calls. Enterprises can avail bulk spend benefits and preferential rates for both Short Digit
Dialing (SDD) & Long Digit Dialing (LDD) calls

One Number - Same short digit number with a different prefix works across landline and
Mobile. Moreover, this short digit number can remain unchanged even if the Reliance
Landline or Mobile number changes ensuring SDD number portability

Free of Capex

Save on large capex required for networking voice across offices.
Eliminate separate investment in PBX/IP communication solution for setting up voice VPN.

Administration Convenience

An online self- service portal allows enterprise administrators to manage the OneOffice Duo
VPN for addition, deletion or modification of VPN member service profiles. Offers unified
and integrated administration as against the distributed administration today, thus reducing
the overhead cost and bringing in standardization.

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4. Audio Conferencing

Enterprise are going global. A given task needs skill sets that are not available at one place
and in one company. Travel is expensive, time consuming and tiring. Collaboration across
time zones has become a necessity.

No matter what type of meeting an enterprise needs to hold,Reliance's Audio Conferencing
Service offers you a plethora of features supported by expert service from our conference
managers.From having to access an instant anytime conference to working with our
knowledgeable staff who help you conduct a global investor relations call, you can count on
our feature rich audio conferencing solutions.

Own a Virtual Audio Bridge

Every functional owner in an enterprise can own a virtual conference bridge. The owner gets
a permanent Conference Code and Dial In Number which gives him the convenience of
conducting a conference for project updates, partner meetings and other such applications
anytime, anywhere without any prior reservation. Some other capabilities of this service
include:

Separate access codes for chairperson & participant - Ensures exclusive rights
to the chairperson to control the conference using commands like conference lock, lecture
mode among others. This feature also helps maintain safety & security of conferences and
allows the chairperson to change passwords as well.

Conference Lock – To prevent the admission of new or unknown participants; a
chairperson can lock the conference.

Lecture Mode – Giving training or addressing all participants is very easy now! With a
simple command the chairperson can mute all participants & get into a lecture mode..

No conference without chairperson – The conference will start only when the
chairperson joins alternatively you can opt for the ‘quick start’ feature which enables you to
start the conference with out the chairperson.

Private Roll Call – Allows checking attendance of participants in a conference
Other Features –
Conference Record
Chair Hang
Mute – Group/Participant
Private Participant Count

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Operator Assistance during Conference

Reservation based conference

Whenever enterprise users need to conduct a meeting which is prescheduled then they can
avail reservation based conference service. This service come in two variants namely
automated & operator assisted .Focus group discussions like project reviews can be well
addressed by automated conferencing whereas product launches or roll outs can be well
managed under operator assisted service. This feature rich service comes with:

Encore – Enterprises can digitally record or edit conferences and access them anytime in
future through a simple dial in just like a conference call.

Question & Answer – How does one address a situation wherein participants ask
questions simultaneously to the chairperson? Our experienced operators facilitate these
questions in a sequence to the chairperson and these questions and answers are heard by all in
the conference.

Polling – Conducting an opinion poll for e.g. taking feedback of a recently launched
product is very easy now. DTMF commands available to participants make this happen
online & results are made available immediately

Other Features
Call transcription
Custom scripting
Participant Report
Operator Monitoring Throughout

Global Event Call Service

The Global event call service can be availed by enterprises wanting to conduct high profile
conferences that are chaired by CXOs or say for an Investor Relations Call. Since such
conferences carry a message of high importance it is critical that they are executed smoothly.
The following features of our Global Event Call Service help in this regard.

Walk Through – Do a complete dress rehearsal of the conference along with the custom
script well before the actual event.

Sub Conference – Allow Senior Management to strategies thoughts well before the main
conference call.

Communication Line – Hotline which enables a lead speaker to be in touch with an
operator without disturbing the main course of the discussion

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5. Toll Free Services
Experience the power of having Reliance Toll Free Service for your customers to reach you:

Reliance Communications introduces “Reliance Toll Free Service” (RTF) for your needs in
two flavors:

Toll-Free Service (1-800): A single, nation-wide number to enable customers to reach you
free of cost.

Local Call Service (1-860): A single, nation-wide number to enable customers to reach you
at local call rates.

6. ITFS

Unleash your business potential globally with Reliance ITFS

Reliance International Toll-Free Service (ITFS) allows you to reach out to your customers
from around the world. Reliance ITFS offers a single unique number in an international
location, through which your caller can reach you in India free of charge. With Reliance
ITFS, there are no barriers for doing business.

54

How does Reliance International Toll Free Service Works?

Access
Reliance has tied up with all leading international carrier to provide ITFS number in more
than 70 countries

Processing (network)
With the state of art IN platform deployed serves all the business critical needs of enterprise
like near 100% uptime, fully scalable & completely tailorable solution.

Carriage (Core)
Reliance Global Network
Route-diverse global path
Riding on FLAG and Falcon networks
High-capacity under-sea fiber backbone
Reliance NLD network
NLD network with intelligent “multi-cut-not-out” protection
NLD network offers unparalleled high-cap scalability advantage

Last mile Delivery
Ring protection up to access network layer (DLC)

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7. Unified Communications

One Stop shop as all the building blocks – Network Connectivity, voice
connectivity and hosted Unified service apart from all other telecom services

• Pay as you grow. You need not invest up-front in new technologies and infrastructure.
The model allows you to start small and scale up as per your needs

• Application hosted in the most secured and reliable data centre environment providing
you peace of mind

• No specialized skills needed as application offered on hosted mode. RCOM manages
the platform

• Predictable and controlled costs

6.12 Data Solutions
1. Business Broadband Internet

In today’s competitive environment, mere connectivity is not enough. It has to be
uninterrupted, error free ,secure and efficient connectivity. Which is why, when it comes to
IT networking for growing companies and discerning customers like you, Reliance Wirefree
Broadband Internet is the right choice.

Reliance Wirefree Internet offers superior broadband experience and unmatched features like
capex free subscription based service, complete network and PC security solution, ease of
management for services subscribed over the web, and round-the-clock helpdesk for support.
In short it is one stop solution for all your communication & IT needs.

Choice of plans to suit your requirements
o Home Broadband (Single user) plans
o Business Broadband (Multi user) Plans
o
Reliance Wirefree Broadband is now available in the following major Indian cities viz.
Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Chennai, Delhi, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Mumbai, Pune, Surat,
Vadodara.

Engineered for Uptime

Reliance broadband Internet service is based on dual ring fiber architecture with FTTB
(Fiber-to-the-building), giving exceptional uptime and access speeds. Combined with a
wholly-owned 10 Gbps data backbone that is monitored 24x7x365, this gives the customer an
extremely reliable service, backed by industry leading service level agreements (SLAs).

56

Growth Unlimited

Our service is highly scalable, allowing bandwidths from 64 kbps to 100 Mbps without
making any change in the last mile copper. For enterprise customers, we also offer the option
of Metro Ethernet as the last mile port, substantially decreasing the capex cost of high
bandwidth circuits.

An integrated telecom service provider

Reliance is India's most integrated Telecom service provider. It owns the entire end-to-end
architecture, including access systems, the national fiber-optic backbone, the international
cable systems, Internet gateways, and nearly 40,000 sq ft of data centre space.

We provide a single, unified interface that brings you the complete spectrum of e–solutions,
including broadband Internet bandwidth, domain registration, mailing solutions and data
centre services.

2. Leased Line

Enterprises use Leased Lines to interconnect their important nodal centres such as primary
data centre, back up site, call centre and regional hubs. Hence circuit uptime and scalability-
on-demand becomes most important.

Leased Line is the oldest and most basic data connectivity service but is still popular among
Enterprises. Reliance Leased Line service suite not only provides the traditional version of
leased line but also some of the more advanced flavours that are required by enterprises for
different business applications.

57

The advanced flavours of Leased Lines include,
The High-Availability Leased Line variant that is suitable for business critical application. It
is built on HDX-a new multi-path restoration technology.
The over-the-wire upgradable Ethernet Leased Line suitable for inter-node connectivity that
is expected to require regular bandwidth scaling.
The virtual fibre or dedicated lambda (wavelength) variant suitable for DR implementation
requiring synchronous mirroring capabilities.

3. Ethernet Leased Line: ELL

Ease of Ethernet

Reliance Ethernet Leased Line services can be used for the interconnection of Ethernet
networks between two or more Enterprise offices.

WAN bandwidth requirements are growing at rates exceeding 30% per year fuelled by
bandwidth hungry real time network applications and business growth. Ethernet Leased Line
services offer the ease and scalability of Ethernet LAN technology across a wide area
communication network that makes them the right choice for building WANs of growing
businesses. Scalability is unmatched compared to traditional access technologies. Bandwidth
is easily scalable from 64 Kbps to 1Gbps on the same interface. With standard LAN
interfaces, Ethernet Leased Line services enable customers to link their sites together with the
same equipment and solutions they use in their local networks. Ethernet Leased Line services
support both Point-to-Point and Point-to-Multipoint links.

4. IPLC
A Reliance international private line is a dedicated, leased point-to-point digital circuit for the
bulk transport of data, voice and video. It allows simultaneous two-way transmissions of
digital signals at speeds ranging from 64 Kbps to 155 Mbps.

Product variants

Half circuit: In partnership with Reliance Communications Inc.

Full circuit: End-to-End connectivity in partnership with all major international carriers. A
full circuit, it has one point in India and other point in a foreign country.

Reliance Globalcom: The leader in global business communications

Reliance Globalcom, a division of Reliance Communications, spearheads the Global
Telecom operations of India's largest Integrated Telecom Service Provider. Reliance
Globalcom brings together the synergies of Reliance Communications Global Business
encompassing Enterprise Services, Capacity Sales, Managed Services and a highly successful

58

bouquet of Retail products & services comprising of Global Voice, Internet Solutions and
Value Added Services. The company serves over 1400 enterprises, 200 carriers and 2 million
retail customers in 163 countries across 6 continents.

Reliance Globalcom owns the worlds largest private undersea cable system spanning 65,000
kms seamlessly integrated with Reliance Communications over 110,000 kms of domestic
optic fiber provides a robust Global Service Delivery Platform connecting 40 key business
markets in India, the Middle East, Asia, Europe, and the U.S. With its recent acquisition of
eWave World, a pioneer in the global Wimax space, Reliance Globalcom has the capability
to launch 4G services in over 50 countries. It has also acquired Vanco Group, enabling the
company to provide managed services to over 230 countries and territories across the globe.
(www.relianceglobalcom.com)

5. VPN: Virtual Private Network
Enterprise CIO’s are mandated to extend IT automation to every site and office and
regardless of size and geography to increase productivity,serve customers better and reduce
inventory and other costs.

The CIO’s role has become more important than before, to induct new technology and IT
systems that are inevitable for achieving the business goals of reducing cost, reducing time to
market new products, serving more customers and increasing productivity. It is equally
important for the CIO to reach out the benefits of IT automation to every site and office of the
enterprise regardless of geography and on a 24x7 basis.

Reliance Communications empowers the CIO’s with a network

• that is available at all places where his company does business
• supports the bandwidth required by IT applications
• can scale in bandwidth and coverage with the growing business demands

59

• can extend to remote workers, distributors, biz partners or even customers
• homes of senior executives
• is available 24x7 with near 100% uptime
• has provisions for disaster recovery
• is consistent in performance with an online visibility of the same
• has options of managed services
• and is backed up by SLA’s

In the past CIO’s were required to build and manage such networks all by themselves,
dealing with several vendors and service providers and were literally forced to run a mini
telecom company. CIO’s today however, can outsource the building and running of such
networks and stay focused on their core IT responsibilities.

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7. ISSUES AND CHALLENGES
FACED BY THE ORGANIZATION

61

7.0 ISSUES AND CHALLENGES FACED BY THE
ORGANIZATION

Apart from facing competition, the major issue the organization is facing is Customer
Assurance, i.e. Customer acquiring and retention. This is because enterprise customers need
100% uptime on their internet, leased lines and other services. Even if they face a downtime
of 15 minutes, can my lose business, suffer from loss as this could act as a hurdle in their
process instead of complementing their business.

So, if customers face these kinds of issues with Reliance Communications, they tend to
switch to other service providers.

Following are the few practical issues our Service Assurance Team faced during my course
of summer training:

• Problem: Links to be shifted. So, link would be down while shifting. The customer
doesn’t want his business to suffer during this downtime. So, he wants the Reliance
Team to shift his link during odd hours, i.e. between 10:30 pm to 1:30 am.
Engineer says that no team is available at night odd hours, the site is not local and is
around 45 kms far.

Solution: The customer is big. He gives a reasonable amount of revenue to Reliance
Communications. So, our team will have to arrange and compel our engineer and
technical team to get the job done anyhow.

• Problem: There was a PAN India Internet server down on 23rd June 2010, around 4:00
pm for 15 minutes due to multiple fibre-cut. All customers got impatient and stated
calling Customer Care, NOC(Network Operations Center)

Solution: Our Service Assurance Team had to co-ordinate with NOC, Customer care
and customer by acting as an intermediary as the customer has already filed a
complaint and no action has further been taken.

• Sometimes, when a new link is delivered, the enterprise customer wishes to get the
billing process started from next month or after a certain period of time. This is
because he wishes to try the service before he actually agrees to pay for it.

Solution: Enterprise customers are different from customers with personal plans,
residential customers. As they give a high and long-term revenue to the company, so
they are often been provided with such privileges. On the other hand, a non-enterprise
customer may never avail such offers.

• A link was down for customer’s new location. But, by mistake, the customer lodged a
complaint for service in old location. The engineer and his team made a visit and

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came to know that the location is different.

Solution: A call to customer was made, and address of new location was taken. This
was communicated to the engineer over the phone. He could not take his team to new
location as he needs to follow a proper process. So, for this, a fresh new ticket was
issued with customer’s consent to proceed with.

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8. DATA COLLECTION

64

8.0 DATA COLLECTION
After having chosen a research strategy, the researcher needs to decide what method to use
for data collecting . There are two types of data:-

• Primary data
• Secondary Data

8.1 Primary Data is data that a researcher collects on his/her own for a specific purpose.
Data that has already been collected by other researchers for another purpose is called
secondary data.

There are different sources for data collection; Documentation, Archival records, Interviews,
Direct Observations & Participant observation. All of these sources of evidence have both
strengths and weaknesses, but none is considered superior to the other. Therefore it is
recommended to use several of them while a good research should thereby include as many
sources as possible.

•Documentation: Documentary information includes written reports from events and
communication, administrative documents (proposals, progress reports, and internal
documents), formal studies/evaluations of the site under investigation, and articles from mass
media.

•Archival Records: Organizational records, maps and charts, lists of names, survey data
previous collected and personal records such as diaries and calendars.

•Interviews and questioner: There are different forms of interviews, such as open-ended
interview, focused interview, and survey.

•Direct Observation: Visits to the case study site which enables direct observations,
through attending at meetings, in classrooms, or by visiting the factory.

•Participant Observation: A special mode of observation where the observer can participate
in events being studied, such as being a resident in a neighborhood being studied.

In this study we have chosen to collect material form both primary and secondary data.

8.2 Secondary Data was collected and used form archival records, organizations
information, Books, Academic Journals, Businesses Magazines, internet Publications, general
comments of general managers, customer’s relationship departments, and consultants in guest
experience management and advising from different journals.

Our primary data was collected via interviews and questioners. A lot of necessary data (CRM
solutions and requirements) has been collected during the interviews preformed.

Our questionnaire was divided into 5 categories. These categories are Billing, Sales,
Delivery, After-sales, and overall. The questionnaire (as a tool for collecting data) was sent to
the customers through emails and sms.

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9. ANALYSIS OF
QUESTIONNAIRE

66

9.0 Analysis of Questionnaire
9.1 Billing
Graph showing customer satisfaction in terms of billing process.

Billing (in %)

Ease in Upgradation/Downgradation of
Plans

Accurate Bills
Billing (%)

Timely Bills

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80

On the basis of above graph, we can conclude that around 55% of customers are satisfied
with the billing process.

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9.2 Delivery
Graph showing customer satisfaction in terms of Delivery process.

Delivery (in %)
Approach to quality management

Delivery on time

Products & services regarding quality
and performance
Delivery (%)
Satisfaction with quality of installation

Ease in getting links shifted

Commitment in Delivery

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70

Here, it can be conclude that more than 60% of customers are satisfied with delivery process.

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9.3 Sales

Graph showing customer satisfaction in terms of Sales process.

Sales (in %)
Professionalism

Responsiveness

Current and updated information

Sales (%)
Clarity in explaining plans, tarrifs

Clarity in terms and conditions

Timely response to queries/doubts

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70

with the sales process.

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9.4 After-sales

Graph showing customer satisfaction in terms of After-Sales department.

After-sales/Assurance (in %)

Competitiveness of products

Technical competence of
engineers and response time After-sales/Assurance (%)

Privacy and security of data and
voice

62 64 66 68 70

Here, it can be conclude that around 68% of customers are satisfied with after-sales.

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9.5 Overall experience with Reliance Communications

Overall Experience with Rcom (in %)
Working as a team

Courtesy by Rcom
representatives
Innovation and
competitiveness in RCom…
Rating of Reliance
Overall Experience with Rcom
Infrastructure
(in %)
Would clients recommend
Rcom

Making customers comfortable

Satisfaction with Reliance

0 20 40 60 80

with reliance communications.

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10. REFLECTIONS ON WHAT HAS
BEEN LEARNED DURING THE
PLACEMENT EXPERIENCE

72

10.0 REFLECTIONS ON WHAT HAS BEEN LEARNED
DURING THE PLACEMENT EXPERIENCE

Reflections on what has been learned during the placement experience

• Maintaining healthy relationship with customers will lead to more business.

• Take complete ownership of the customer for all his issues.

• Always be proactive in providing updates to the customer queries and issues.

• A customer bringing good amount of revenue must be prioritized.

• Customer is King and Customer is God. Unlike residential customers, corporate
customers are given much more attention and priority as they require 100% uptime.
Taking care of customer’s demands, needs are considered as a good sign of
maintaining healthy relationship.

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11. RECOMMENDATIONS

74

11.0 RECOMMENDATIONS

Though Reliance Communications is leading India in a very innovative way, but on my part,
I would recommend the following to the company:

1. Have a harmony between ‘Customer Assurance Department’, ‘Customer Care’,
‘NOC(Network Operations Center’, and the ‘Customer’.

2. Fasten the process of ‘Issuing Tickets’ against any faults.

3. Make sure that there is a timely follow-up for each ticket issued.

4. Even after closing of a Ticket, contacting the customer personally and making sure that he
is receiving the expected service.

5. More priority should be given to After-sales department over sales and delivery department
as retaining old customers is more crucial for the company.

6. The accuracy of ‘Billing’ should be given more attention. As any minor errors in billing
can lead to huge loss by the company or loss of precious customers.

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12. BIBLIOGRAPHY

76

12.0 BIBLIOGRAPHY
Websites:
• Reliance Communications:
http://www.rcom.co.in

• TRAI - Telecom Regulatory Authority of India:
http://www.trai.gov.in

• DoT – Department of Telecom:
http://www.dot.gov.in/

Internal Sources:
• Interaction with various departments of organization
• A generic customer feedback form

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13. ANNEXURE

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13.0 ANNEXURE

13.1 Questionnaire:

Reliance Communications: Customer Feedback Form
We are conducting a feedback survey for our internal audit purposes. Please help us out
improve our services by filling the feedback form. Your feedback is valuable to us.
* Required

Name *

Company *

Email *

Billing Issues

Do you get Bills on time? *
1 2 3 4 5
Least Likely Most Likely

Do you get Inflated Bills? *
1 2 3 4 5

Do you get difficulty in Upgradation/Downgradation of plan? *
1 2 3 4 5

You prefer: *
• Zero-rental plan
• Rental plans with free pulses
• Other:

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Delivery

Do you face false commitment issues on Delivery? *
1 2 3 4 5

Do you face difficulty in getting the Links shifted? *
1 2 3 4 5

Are you satisfied with the quality of installation (cables, setup, neatness)? *
1 2 3 4 5

How do you rate our products and services and did they meet your needs and expectations
regarding quality and performance? *
1 2 3 4 5
Less More

How do you rate our delivery on time performance and our commitment to meet your
delivery expectations? *
1 2 3 4 5
Less More

How do your rate our approach to quality management to ensure complete customer
satisfaction? *
1 2 3 4 5
Less More

Sales

Does sales team take time to respond to your queries/doubts? *
1 2 3 4 5

Are you provided with all the terms and conditions clearly? *
1 2 3 4 5

80


Is our sales person able to explain the plans, tariffs clearly? *
1 2 3 4 5

Are you provided with the current and updated information? *
1 2 3 4 5

Do you think Reliance Communications is aggressive in selling plans? *
1 2 3 4 5

How do you rate our responsiveness in dealing with you? *
1 2 3 4 5
Less More

How do you rate our professionalism in dealing with you? *
1 2 3 4 5
Less More

In your most recent customer service experience, how did you contact the representative?*
• In Person
• By Telephone
• Internet
• Through a Dealer/Retailer/Broker
• Other:

After-Sales Support/Assurance

Are you satisfied with the security and privacy of data and voice provided by Reliance? *
1 2 3 4 5

81

How often is an inconvenience caused by Upgradation/Maintenance of Reliance systems?*
• Once a year
• Once a month
• Once a week
• More than once a week

Did our representative *(Select all that apply)
• Quickly identify the problem
• Appear knowledgeable and competent
• Help you understand the cause and solution to the problem
• Handle issues with courtesy and professionalism
• Other:

About how long did it take to get this problem resolved? *
• Immediate Resolution
• Less than a day
• Between 2 and 3 days
• Between 3 and 5 days
• More than a week
• The problem is still not resolved

How many times did you have to contact service before the problem was corrected? *
• Once
• Twice
• Three times
• More than three times

If you received any technical support, how do you rate the technical competence of our
engineers and their response time? *
1 2 3 4 5
Less More

How do you rate the competitiveness of our products? *
1 2 3 4 5

82

Less More

Over the next 12 months, how likely are you to replace your (product) with another (product
or brand)? *
• Certain
• High chance
• Equal chance
• Low chance
• Never

Overall experience with R Com.

Satisfaction with Reliance *
1 2 3 4 5

Making you comfortable *
1 2 3 4 5

Do you use Reliance Service as back up? *
• Yes
• No

Who are your most preferred service providers? *(top 3, and why?)

Do you recommend Reliance Service to any of your clients or partners(optional)
1 2 3 4 5

83

Rate Reliance Infrastructure *
1 2 3 4 5
Least Most

Do you find Reliance Communication Services Innovative and Competitive? *
1 2 3 4 5

Is Reliance Communications better in Data Products or Voice Products? *
• Data
• Voice
• Equal in Both

About how long did you have to wait before speaking to a representative? *
• I was taken care of immediately
• Within 3 months
• 3-5 minutes
• 5-10 minutes
• More than 10 minutes

Overall, how satisfied are you with the Customer Service Experience? *
• Very Satisfied
• Somewhat Satisfied
• Neutral
• Somewhat Dissatisfied
• Dissatisfied

The customer service representative is very courteous. *
1 2 3 4 5

Working as a team to best satisfy you *
1 2 3 4 5

84

Any detailed experiences/suggestions:

85

14. CASE STUDY

86

14. CASE STUDY

Project: New Site Deployment at Noida, due to Location Shifting of RT Outsourcing, from
Delhi Okhla Location to Noida Location.

Customer: RT Outsourcing engages as a partner to Fortune 500 companies in IT, Telecom
and CE space and manages end-to-end technical support, customer care, warranty services,
Helpdesk and managed services, repair and refurbishment, project roll - outs etc. which meet
strenuous service levels committed by the clients to their customers. RT’s single window
solutions to all the needs for warranty support ensures that clients can focus on their core
competence and increase customer satisfaction.

Timeline: 2 Months

Project Overview

• Installation of 8 PRI Lines, for Call Centre, Inbound and Out Bound Calling
• Internet Link for Data Hosting and Internal Net Surfing
• Lease Lines and VPN for Connectivity between Other Offices.
• 400 Centrex Lines for Company Staff

Project Kick off: Meeting Held with Stake holders, Program Manager, Sales Team and
RT Project Team.
Timelines were fixed, Feasibility was shared, with Scope of work.
Detailed Site Survey was done, for Inbuilding Fibre Route, Outside Fibre Route, Location
Finalization, for Equipment Installation at Site.

Project Updates Week 1: Project Updates were Sent to the Customer, with Service
Order Details
Details Furnished, with RCOM Responsibilities and Customer Responsibilities.
Requirements were Captured in Excel Format and shared with Customer and all Stake
Holders

87

Week 2
IBD Route Signed Off
Inbuilding Fibre Route and Equipment and Rack Installations were Proposed by Construction
Team
Drawing was signed of by RT Project Team, for RCOM to go ahead with Installation.
After the Permission Availability, ROW was applied, for RCOM to dig the Road, and
complete the Fibre Work, upto the RT Premises.
Material List was prepared and Business Approval for Capex expenditure was made

Week 3 & Week 4
Permission was cleared by Noida Authorities
Material Was arranged
Construction Team Deployed the Team, and Fibre Work was completed.
After Completion of Fibre Work, Equipment, Rack Installation was Started.
The Exchange for Centrex Lines was made at the Basement of the Building
Server Room for PRI Lines and Internet, Lease Lines and VPN was made at Ground Floor.
Equipments were Integrated, post Cabling and Fibre Work
After Integration of Equipment, Site was Handed over to the Circuit Provisioning Team, for
Link Provisioning
Cabling and Integration and Stability Test took almost 1 Week.

Week 5
Links were Provisioned and 24 Hrs Testing was done for Stability Checking.
Post Stability Test, Reports were Shared with RT Project Team, for Link Handover.

Week 6
Meeting was held between all Stake Holders for Fixing the Migration Schedule.
All Servers were to be Shifted and Migrated from Delhi to Noida
All Phone Lines were to be Checked, Desk to Desk Cabling was to be Checked.

Toll Free Nos, used for Different Outsourced Process were to be Mapped and Tested.
2 Days Mapping and Shifting Program Chart was made, all stake holders were informed.
As this Shifting required Downtime of Existing Services for Migration, Weekend was
chosen, to complete the migration activity.

88

Week 6
Links were Tested, Server Migration was done
All Toll Free Nos were Mapped, RT IT Team, tested the Mapping with Test Calls.
STD and ISD and VAS were Activated as per the Request shared by RT Team
After 2 Days of Testing the Handover of Links we done
All Links were put in production, RCOM Team, did NOC Handover of the Links for Further
Support.

Customer was Satisfied and Happy with Smooth Shifting at the New
Branch Office.

Challenges:
Coordination Between RT and RCOM Team, for meeting timelines and Customer
Expectations
Location Finalization for Equipment Installation
InBuilding Fibre Route Completion
ROW Permission from Noida Authority

Learnings
Proper Stake holders were Defined, with their Scope of Work
Permission Issues and Fibre Routes were discussed at Site Survey and Proper Construction
Drawing and Scope of Work was signed off by Customer.
Regular, Site Visits by team, and Customer Updates were done, thus to avoid and lags in
work completion.
All Activities were well Planned, with Defined stake holders and their Scope, thus to make
sure no confusion arises.
With Better Coordination and Customer Updation, Smoth Transition was completed.

89

15. SYNOPSIS OF THE PROJECT

90

15.0 SYNOPSIS OF THE PROJECT

“Comparative Study of Voice and Data
Reliance
Communications
Products of Reliance in India”
Student’s Name: Shrey Arora
Industry Guide: Mr. Navneet Rai
Faculty Guide: Mr. Roopak Kumar Gupta
The objective of the study was to know and improve
company's products and services in respect to Billing, Sales,
After-Sales, and Delivery.

The project focuses about finding out what actual issues are
faced by the customers. Then analyzing the urgency of
resolving issues leading to permanent resolution of issues.
This includes the following:

• Studying the products and services
• Customer meeting
• Customer feedbacks
• Understanding the importance of services
• Working towards increasing customer satisfaction
• Understanding feasibility and implementation of links
to be delivered
• 2 Para on the objective, findings, conclusions &
implications.

My industry guide is very understanding, practical and goal-
oriented person. He knows how to get the tasks done and get
success in his platter. In other words, he has all the qualities of
an efficient manager.

91

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