EXECUTIVE SUMMARY:

Indian Telecom Industry

Under the D&B Sectoral Round Table Conferences series, highlights the growth and
performance of the telecom industry over the past few years. Over the years, the telecom
industry has contributed significantly towards Indias economic as well as social development.
The publication has covered the following trends, which would be of particular interest:

The size of the telecom industry in terms of subscriber base has grown by more than 5
times in a span of 5 years. The subscriber base has increased from 77.64 mn in FY04 to
429.72 mn in FY09, which can be largely attributed to the significant reduction in tariffs
during the last few years on account of intense competition.

A significant proportion of growth in the subscriber base was due to a surge in wireless
communication. It is interesting to note that while the wireless subscriber base has
registered an annual average growth of 63.89% between FY04-FY09, the wireline
segment has seen a decline in its subscriber base from 40.02 mn in FY04 to 37.96 mn in
FY09.

Teledensity in India has also witnessed substantial improvement backed by robust

growth in subscriber base. While the teledensity has improved substantially to 36.98%
by end of FY09 from just above 2% in FY99, there still exists a huge digital divide
between the urban and rural areas. On one hand the urban teledensity at 89% indicates a
rapidly saturating urban market and on the other hand teledensity of less than 20% in
rural areas points to a huge potential for growth in the telecom industry.

Despite the Indian economy witnessing a significant slowdown in growth on account of

the global economic crisis, the Indian telecom industry has shown resilient performance with revenue growth of approximately 18% (y-o-y) during FY09.

Page 1 of 40

Introduction - Evolution
Indian telecom sector is more than 165 years old. Telecommunications was first introduced in
India in 1851 when the first operational land lines were laid by the government near Kolkata
(then Calcutta), although telephone services were formally introduced in India much later in
1881. Further, in 1883, telephone services were merged with the postal system. In 1947, after
India attained independence, all foreign telecommunication companies were nationalised to
form the Posts, Telephone and Telegraph (PTT), a body that was governed by the Ministry of
Communication. The Indian telecom sector was entirely under government ownership until
1984, when the private sector was allowed in telecommunication equipment manufacturing
only. The government concretised its earlier efforts towards developing R&D in the sector by
setting up an autonomous body Centre for Development of Telematics (C-DOT) in 1984 to
develop state-of-the-art telecommunication technology to meet the growing needs of the Indian
telecommunication network. The actual evolution of the industry started after the Government
separated the Department of Post and Telegraph in 1985 by setting up the Department of Posts
and the Department of Telecommunications (DoT).
The entire evolution of the telecom industry can be classified into three distinct phases.

Phase I- Pre-Libralisation Era (1980-89)

Phase II- Post Libralisation Era (1990-99)

Phase III- Post 2000

Until the late 90s the Government of India held a monopoly on all types of communications as
a result of the Telegraph Act of 1885. As mentioned earlier in the chapter, until the industry was
liberalised in the early nineties, it was a heavily government-controlled and small-sized market,
Government policies have played a key role in shaping the structure and size of the Telecom
industry in India. As a result, the Indian telecom market is one of the most liberalised market in
Page 2 of 40

the world with private participation in almost all of its segments. The New Telecom Policy
(NTP-99) provided the much needed impetus to the growth of this industry and set the trend for
libralisation in the industry.

Role in Indias Development

Contribution to GDP
According to the UNCTAD, there is a direct correlation between the growth in mobile tele
density and the growth in GDP per capita in developing countries, which tend to have a high
percentage of rural population. The share of the telecom services industry in the total GDP has
been rising over the past few years (the telecom sector contribution in GDP went up from 2.52%
in FY05 to 2.83% in FY07).

Page 3 of 40

Employment
The Indian telecommunication industry employs over 400,000 direct employees and about 85%
of these employees are from government-owned companies. The ratio of number of subscribers
to employees, an indication of efficiency and profitability, is much higher for private companies
than for government companies.

Foreign Direct Investment (FDI)

Foreign direct investment has been one of the major contributors in the growth of the Indian
economy, and therefore, the need for higher FDI is felt across sectors in the Indian economy.
The telecom sector has played a crucial role in attracting FDI in India. The share of telecom
sector in the total FDI inflows in India has gone up to 10% in FY09 as compared with just 3%
in FY05.
The telecom sector requires huge investments for its expansion as it is capital-intensive and FDI
plays a vital role in meeting the fund requirements for expansion of the telecom sector. Telecom
accounts for almost 10% of the total FDI inflows in the country and has been the third-largest
Page 4 of 40

sector to attract FDI in India in the post-liberalisation era

The Indian telecom industry has been an attractive avenue for foreign investors over the years.
As per DIPP figures, the cumulative FDI inflow during August 1991 to June 2009 period, in the
telecommunication sector amounted to US$ 113 bn. FDI calculation takes into account radio
paging, cellular mobile and basic telephone services in the telecommunication sector.

Growth of IT-ITeS and Financial Sector

India has entered the league of countries with the most-advanced telecommunication
infrastructure after the industry was deregulated. Furthermore, deregulation has stimulated
Indias economic growth through industry growth and through rise in investments. It is evident
that a well-developed communication sector improves access to social networks, lowers
transaction costs, increases economic opportunities, widens markets, and provides better access
to information, healthcare and educational services. The growth in Indian telecom sector has
been concomitant with overall growth in GDP, government revenue, employment et al. Besides,
telecommunication has increased efficiency, reduced transaction costs, attracted investments
and has created new opportunities for business and employment.

Page 5 of 40

Factors Facilitating Growth of the Sector

The phenomenal growth in the Indian telecom industry was brought about by the wireless
revolution that began in the nineties. Besides this, the following factors also aided the growth of
the industry.

Libralisation
The relaxation of telecom regulations has played a major role in the development of the Indian
telecom industry. The liberalisation policies of 1991 and the consequent influx of private
players have led the industry on a high growth trajectory and have increased the level of
competition. Post-liberalisation, the telecom industry has received more investments and has
implemented higher technology.

Increasing Affordability of Handsets

The phenomenal growth in the Indian telecom industry was predominantly aided by the
meteoric rise in wireless subscribers, which encouraged mobile handset manufacturers to enter
the market and to cater to the growing demand. Further, the manufacturers introduced lowerpriced handsets with add-on facilities to cater to the increasing number of subscribers from
different strata of the society. Now even entry-level handsets come with features like coloured
display and FM radio. Thus, the falling handset prices and the add-on features have triggered
growth of the Indian telecom industry.

Prepaid Cards Bring in More Subscribers

In the late nineties, India was introduced to prepaid cards, which was yet another milestone for
the wireless sector. Prepaid cards lured more subscribers into the industry besides lowering the
credit risk of service providers due to its upfront payment concept. Prepaid cards were quite a
phenomenon among first-time users who wanted to control their bills and students who had
Page 6 of 40

limited resources but greater need to be connected. Pre-paid cards greatly helped the cellular
market to grow rapidly and cater to the untapped market. Further, the introduction of innovative
schemes like recharge coupons of smaller denominations and life time incoming free cards has
led to an exponential growth in the subscriber base.

Increased Competition & Declining Tariffs

Liberalisation of the telecom industry has fuelled intense competition, especially in the cellular
segment. The ever-increasing competition has led to high growth of subscribers and has put
pressure on tariffs, which have seen a sharp drop over the years. When the cellular phones were
introduced, call rates were at a peak of Rs 16 per minute and there were charges for incoming
calls too. Today, however, incoming calls are no longer charged and outgoing calls are charged
at less than a rupee per minute. Thus, the tariff war has come a long way indeed. Increased
competition and the subsequent tariff war has acted as a major catalyst for attracting more
subscribers. Apart from these major growth drivers, an improved network coverage, entry of
CDMA players, growth of value-added services (VAS), advancement in technology, and
growing data services have also driven the growth of the industry.

Page 7 of 40

INDUSTRY STRUCTURE:
The Indian telecom industry has undergone significant structural transformation since its
liberalisation in the 1990s. During the last decade, the Indian telecom industry has evolved into
a multi-segment, competitive market from a small supplier-dominated market having public
sector monopoly. Coherent Government policies have played a crucial role in shaping the
structure of the Indian telecom sector.

Structural Evolution of the Indian Telecom Industry:

Telecom Sector in the Pre-liberalisation Era (1980-1990):
Before liberalisation, the public sector held a monopoly in provision of telecom services. The
entire telecom services operation in the country was carried out by the Department of
Telecommunication (DoT), a public sector entity established in 1985. It managed the planning,
engineering, installation, maintenance, management, and operations of telecom services for the
whole of India. In order to ease out its operations, two new public sector corporations viz.
MTNL and VSNL were set up under the DoT in 1986. Thus, before the entry of the private
players, the telecom services were provided by three public entities viz. DoT, MTNL and
VSNL. While MTNL primarily looked after the operation of basic telephony services in Delhi
and Mumbai, VSNL provided international telecom services in India. DoT looked after basic
telephony operations in regions other than Delhi and Mumbai. Prior to liberalisation the telecom
services were broadly classified as domestic basic (which included basic telephony, telex and
fax), domestic value-added services (VAS) which covered all other services such as paging,
cellular, data services, VSAT and international basic and VAS.

Telecom Sector in the Post-liberalisation Era:

Page 8 of 40

Private sector participation in the Indian telecom sector has been a gradual process, wherein the
government initially permitted players from the private sector to provide Value Added Services
(VAS) such as Paging Services and Cellular Mobile Telephone Services (CMTS), followed by
the Fixed Telephony Services (FTS) or Basic services. Eventually the private sector has been
allowed to provide almost all telecom services. Liberalisation process in the telecom services
market began in 1992, with the unbundling of the domestic basic services and the domestic VAS
and entry of private players for providing the VAS such as cellular and paging services. During
this period, the government provided licenses to private players according to the services that
were to be provided in the specified areas of service provision. The country was divided into
circles (or categories) on the basis of economic potential. Thus, primarily these divisions were
mostly adjoining the states of India. Such demarcations were primarily responsible for existence
of various regional players in provision of telecom services. During 1994, through a competitive
bidding process, licenses were granted to 8 CMTS operators in four metros, 14 CMTS operators
in 18 state circles, paging operators in 27 cities and 18 state circles.
After the domestic VAS, the basic services were opened up to private players. The National
Telecom Policy (NTP) 1994, which endeavoured to build world-class telephone services in
India and aimed at providing telephones on demand, enabled the entry of private players in the
provision of basic services. Given the need for resources in addition to government sources for
achieving the targets of NTP-94, private investments and involvement of the private sector was
considered inevitable to bridge the resource gap. Thus, the private operators were allowed to
render basic services in the local loop. Initially, the provision of basic services had been
deliberated as a duopoly between a selected service provider and the DoT. In line with this,
policy licences were awarded to 6 BTS operators in 6 state circles.

Current Structure of the Indian Telecom Industry:

Currently, both public sector players as well as the private sector players are actively catering to
the rapidly growing telecommunication needs in India. Private participation is permitted in all
segments of the telecom industry, including ILD, DLD, basic cellular, internet, radio paging, et
al. The broad structure of the telecom industry (in terms of service providers) is depicted in the
diagram below:
Page 9 of 40

Public Sector:
After the privatisation of VSNL in 2002, only two premier PSUs, MTNL and BSNL operate in
India and provide various telecom services. As noted earlier, MTNL operates in Delhi and
Mumbai and BSNL provides services to the remaining country. In the post-liberalisation era,
these PSUs not only have made significant progress but also have provided stiff competition to
their private counterparts.

Private Sector:
Private operators have played a very crucial role in the growth of the telecommunication
industry, primarily in the mobile services. With the liberalisation of the telecom industry, the
private sector has been increasing its foothold in the telecom services space. After the
introduction of NTP-99, the contribution of private players towards telecom services has
witnessed rapid strides. While the private sector is instrumental in providing both fixed line as
well as wireless services, it is mainly active in the wireless segment. The fixed lines account for
only about 2% of private sector's total subscriber base. While some private players have a panIndia presence, there are many regional players that cater to only certain service areas.

Page 10 of 40

STRATEGIES ADOPTED TO PROMOTE THE

TELECOMMUNICATION
1) Broadband Strategy: Since the announcement of broadband Policy in 2004, several
measures have been taken to promote broadband penetration in the country. As a result,
there were over 23 million internet subscribers including nearly 15 million broadband
subscribers by the end of October 2012.
Special efforts are being made to increase the penetration of broadband, especially in
rural areas and remote areas. The government has approved a project at a cost of 20,000
crore for creating a Natinal Optical Fiber Network(NOFN) Which will provide bradband
connectivity to 2.5 lakh gram panchayats for various applications like e-health, eeducation, and e-governance. The project is being funded under the Universal aUniversal
service Obligation Fund (USOF).
2) Rural Telephony Strategy: With the objective of promoting rural telephony, the
government formed a Universal Service Obligation Fund (USOP). Under the Shared
Mobile Infratruture Scheme of USOF over 7,300 towers were set up by the end of
November 2012 and 15,971 base transceiver stations commissioned by service providers
at these towers for providing mobile services.
Under another scheme for Village Public Telephones (VPTs), at the end of November
2012 atotal of over 5.8 lakh villages had been covered. VPTs are likely to be provided in
the remaining inhabited revenue villages by March 2013 through the ongoing USOF
scheme for provision of VTPs in newly identifies uncovered villages as per Census 2011.
3) Increase in FDI: In July 2013, the Govt of India has increased FDI intelecom sector
from 74% to 100. The main pupose is to encourage foreign investors to invest in the
telecom sector, thereby, promoting this sector. FDI brings certain benefits such as:
Capital inflows for expansion and modernization.
Skills development through training by foreing firms.
Transfer of latest technology.

Page 11 of 40

4) Right to Broadband Strategy: The National Telecom Policy 2012 recognizes

telecom sector including broadband connectivity, as a basic necessity like education and
health and therefore, this policy has introduced the concept of Right to Broadband.
Therefore, the Govt of India makes every possible effort to increase the broadband
connectivity in urban and rural India. This policy stats the Govt will make efforts to
provide affordable and reliable broadband-on-demand by the year 2015 and to achieve
175 million broadband connections by the year 2017 and 600 million by the year 2020 (at
minimum 2 Mbps download speed and make available higher speeds of at least 100Mbps
on demand).
5) Technology Strategy: Advancements and innovations are being made in all sectors
of

telecommunications

industry,

wireless

technology,

internet,

and

satellite

communications being the forerunners. So are changing the needs, demands and
expectations of global consumers and industry need to keep pace by creating products
and sevices meeting these demands.
Many cellular providers are investing heavily to upgrade their infrastructure to 3G and
4G. Infrastructure demand in telecom sector is growing at fast pace along with the
volume of the traffic.
6) One Nation-Free Roaming Strategy: The Govt. of India has initiated the move
towards one nation free roaming strategy. The National Telecom Policy 2012 states one
of the objectives -To achieve One-Full Mobile Number Portability and work towards One
Nation Free Roaming. This measures on the part of the Govt of India would benefit the
mobile customers, and consequently expand the telecom sector.
7) Green Policy for Telecom Sector: The Govt. of India strives for enhanced and
continued adoption of green policy in telecom and incentivize use of renewable resources
for sustainability. The NTP 2012 also mandates an ecosystem for ensuring setting up of a
common platform for inter-connection of various networks for providing non-exclusive
and non-discriminatory access.
8) Takeover Strategy: Firms operating in the telecom sector have mergers and
acquisitions in the Telecom Sector that are happening throughout the world. The aim
behind such mergers is to attain competitive benefits in the telecommunications industry.
Page 12 of 40

For instance, in 2010, Bharti Airtel signed a deal with Kuwait-based Zain Telecom to buy
its African business for $10.7 billion. The acquisition, the second largest by an Indian
entity after Tatas Corus deal has made Sunil Mittal-led Bharti the worlds seventh
largest mobile operator.

HDB FINANCIAL SERVICE LTD

HDB Financial Service LTD was incorporated in Ahemdabad on 4th June 2007 as a non deposit
taking Non Banking Finance Corporation (NBFC) as defined under section45-1Aof RBI Act
1934 and is engaged in the business of financing. The company achieved total income of Rs
179.36 Crores and net profit of Rs.16.06 crores in FY 11 with a total net worth of Rs.
Page 13 of 40

719.26crores as at March 31, 2011. The Company is promoted by HDFC Bank Ltd which has
97.5% shareholding in the as on 31st march 2011. The company has been rated AAA by CARE
for long term loans from banks. The companys capital adequacy ratio as on 31st March 2011 was
55.20% as against minimum regulatory requirement of 15% for non deposit accepting NBFCs.
The asset quality of the company remains healthy with Gross NPAs at 0.33% and NET NPAs at
0.18% as on 31st March 2011. During FY 11, the company has disbursed loans amounting to Rs.
1208 crores.
The Company caters to the growing needs of the Indias increasingly affluent middle market. The
requirements of medium, small and micro business enterprises that are too small to be serviced
by corporate lending institutions are also addressed by HDB through suitable product and
services. These segments are typically underserviced by the larger commercial banks thus
creating a profitable niche for the company to address. More than half of the present book is
lending toward this sector.
HDB Financial Services Limited, a non banking financial company, provides financing, BPO,
and insurance services in India. The company operates through Lending Business and BPO
Services segments. It offers unsecured loans, including personal loans and business loans;
secured loans against property/auto refinance, ESOP and shares, securities, mutual funds, and
gold, as well as car loans, commercial vehicle loans, and construction equipment loans. The
company also provides various life insurance products; and general insurance products, such as
motor, health, critical illness, travel, home, and personal accident insurance, as well as end to end
collection services through collection call centre.
Business Activity: HDBs primary focus is on small borrowers whose credit requirements are
under R. 2 Crores. It has the following products and services:
Loans HDB offers arrange of loans int the unsecured and secured loans space the fulfill all the
financial needs of its target segment.
Unsecured personal loans The loans are in the range of Rs 100,000 to Rs 20,00,000/-. These
loans are offered as terms loan with the maximum tenure at 48 months. Interest rates on these
loans will be higher than the rates on Secured loans.

Page 14 of 40

Secured Loans Secured Loans are offered to customers to address lager loan requirement or
longer repayment requirements. Secured loans are in the range of Rs. 100,00 to 200,00,000.
These loans are offered as term loans with the maximum tenure at 120 months. These loans are
normally offered on a floating rate basis.HDB provides loan against the following collaterals as
Security for the Loans
Commercial / Residential Property, Cars / Automobiles, Marketable Securities such as Bonds,
Gold jewellery.
Keys strength of the Company
Access to Cost Effective Funding: The Company has access to cost effective because of its AAA
rating from CARE, its strong parentage and conservative risk management policies. The Company
maintains relationships with several banks and financial institutions.
Experienced Management Team: The Company has an experienced management team which is
supported by efficient and capable employee pool. The Board Company of senior professionals of
HDFC Bank who have is depth experience in the financial services industry and in banking. The
senior management is composed of professional who have deep understanding of the industry and
have extensive experience in financial service sector.
Business Prospects: The company is confident that the year 2011-12 will bring reasonable growth.
The lead indicators of economic performance across sectors and GDP growth rate of 8% projected
for FY 12 suggest that economic economic rival would sustain and this would give the right
opportunities to the NBFC sector to grow. The Company continues to focus on Product / Customers
segments that are likely to give the Company advantage over the long term. Futhermore, the
Company is having a Capital adequacy ratio of 55.2% against regulatory requirement of 15% which
would enable is growth plan.

COLLECTION OF ANALSYS DATA:

1)Are you a Mobile user?
Sources

Number of Responses

Percentage

YES

49

98%
Page 15 of 40

NO

2%

TOTAL

50

100%

Chart Title

YES
NO

98% of people uses mobile phone and 2% of people do not use because of
landline.

2)What type of connection do you use for your cell phone?

Sources

Number of Responses

Percentage

PRE-PAID

35

70%

POST-PAID

15

30%

Page 16 of 40

TOTAL

50

100%

40
35
30
25
20
15
10
5
0
PRE-PAID

POST-PAID

70% of user use pre-paid connection and 30% of user use post-paid connection.

3)Which operators service do you use?

Sources

Number of Responses

Percentage

MTNL

6%
Page 17 of 40

AIRTEL
RELIANCE

8
6

16%
12%

COMMUNICATION
TATA INDICOM
VODAFONE
OTHER
IDEA
AIRCEL
TOTAL

6
10
2
9
6
50

12%
20%
4%
18%
12%
100%

10
9
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
0

6% of mobile use 6% of MTNL service, 16% of AIRTEL service, 12% RELIANCE

COMMUNICATION, 12% of TATA INDICOM 20% of VODAFONE, 4% of OTHER
service, 18% of IDEA network and rest of the people use 12% of AIRCEL service.

4)Who/What influenced your buying decision?

Sources

Number of Responses

Percentage

FRIENDS
FAMILY
ADVERTISEMENT

20
15
5

40%
30%
10%

Page 18 of 40

ALL OF THE ABOVE

TOTAL

10
50

20%
100%

20
18
16
14
12
10
8
6
4
2
0

90% of people use Internet in there cell phone and 10% of people do not use Internet in
their cell phone.

5)Are you satisfied with your current service providers Network Coverage?
Sources

Number of Responses

Percentage

YES

35

70%

NO

15

30%

TOTAL

50

100%

Page 19 of 40

40
35
30
25
20
15
10
5
0
YES

NO

70% of customers are satisfied with their Coverage Network and 30% of customers are
not satisfied with their Coverage Network.

6)Do you think that telecommunication is the fastest technology adopted in the
industry?
Sources

Number of Responses

Percentage

YES

48

96%

NO

4%

TOTAL

50

100%

Page 20 of 40

60

50

40

30

20

10

0
YES

NO

96% of people think Telecommunication is the fastest technology adopted in the market
and 4% of people says it is not adopted fastly in the market.

7)Can any work is done without telecommunication in competitive world?

Sources

Number of Responses

Percentage

YES

15

30%

NO

35

70%

TOTAL

50

100%

Page 21 of 40

35
30
25
20
15
10
5
0
YES
NO

30% of users say without telecomm work is impossible to do and 70% of users say most
of the work is done without telecomm.

8)Do you prefer texting or calling?

Sources

Number of Responses

Percentage

TEXTING
CALLING
BOTH
TOTAL

8
15
27
50

16%
30%
54%
100%

Page 22 of 40

Chart Title

TEXTING; 8

TEXTING
CALLING
BOTH

BOTH; 27
CALLING; 15

16% of mobile user mostly prefer Texting and 30% of users use to prefer Calling and
54% use Both texting and calling according to their preference.

9)Has telecommunication opened up new kind of avenues for jobs in allied

industries like BPO, Telecalling in Back Office etc ?
Sources

Number of Responses

Percentage

YES
NO
TOTAL

50
0
50

100%
0%
100%

Page 23 of 40

60

50

40

30

20

10

0
YES

NO

100% people says because of telecommunication some low education student gets the
job in industry.

10)What is your main form of communication?

Sources

Number of

Percentage

Responses
SOCIAL

16%

NETWORKING
TEXTING
E-MAIL
LETTER

10
9
1

20%
18%
2%
Page 24 of 40

WEBCAM
PHONE
TOTAL

6
16
50

12 %
32%
100%

16
14
12
10
8
6
4
2
0
SOCIAL NETWORKING

E-MAIL

WEBCAM

Some of the people communicate by 16% with social networking, 20% with texting, 18%
with e-mails, 2% with Letter, 12% with webcam, and 32% with phone call.

11)Do you use Internet in your Cell Phone?

Sources

Number of Responses

Percentage

YES

45

90%

NO

10%

TOTAL

50

100%

Page 25 of 40

NO; 5

YES
NO

YES; 45

90% of people use Internet in there cell phone and 10% of people do not use Internet in
their cell phone.

12)Which company provides the cheapest service, as per you?

Sources

Number of Responses

Percentage

MTNL

14

28%

AIRTEL

0%

RELIANCE

18%

COMMUNICATION
TATA INDICOM

10

20%

VODAFONE

0%

OTHER

8%

IDEA

2%

AIRCEL

12

24%
Page 26 of 40

TOTAL

50

AIRCEL; 12
MTNL; 14
IDEA; 1
RELIANCE
COMMUNICATION; 9
OTHER;
4
TATA INDICOM; 10

100%

MTNL

AIRTEL

RELIANCE
COMMUNICATION

TATA INDICOM

VODAFONE

OTHER

IDEA

AIRCEL

According to the customer MTNL provides cheapest service by 28%, Reliance provides
18%, TATA Indicom provides 20%, Others provides 8%, IDEA provides 2%, and
AIRCEL provides 24%.

13)What attracted you to take that companies SIM/Network ?

Sources

Number of Responses

Percentage

PRICE

17

34%

NETWORK

19

38%

SCHEMES

18%

CUSTOMER CARE

10%

SERVICE
TOTAL

50

100%

Page 27 of 40

20
18
16
14
12
10
8
6
4
2
0

Some of the customers get attracted to the SIM/Network by the prices with 34%, other
got attracted by Network with 38% and some people attracted by Schemes with 18% and
some people got attracted by Customer Care Service.

14)Did your expectation meet from your using Network?

Sources

Number of Responses

Percentage

YES

37

74%

NO

13

26%

TOTAL

50

100%

Page 28 of 40

40
35
30
25
20
15
10
5
0
YES

NO

74% of people got the expectation from their using Network and 26% of people do not
got the expectations.

15)What purpose do you use Internet for?

Sources

Number of Responses

Percentage

BUSINESS
EDUCATION
PERSONAL
ALL OF THE ABOVE
TOTAL

14
9
16
19
50

28%
18%
32%
38%
100%

Page 29 of 40

20
18
16
14
12
10
8
6
4
2
0
BUSINESS

EDUCATION

PERSONAL

ALL OF THE ABOVE

Some people uses Internet for business purpose with 28%, some use for education
purpose with 18%, some use for personal purpose with 32% and rest of the people use all
of the above with 38%.

16)Would you like to recommend your using card to others?

Sources

Number of Responses

Percentage

YES

31

62%

NO

19

38%

TOTAL

50

100%

Page 30 of 40

35
30
25
20
15
10
5
0
YES

NO

62% of user says Yes to recommend their cards and 38% of users says No to recommend
their cards.

17)Which company connection would you like to prefer next time?

Sources

Number of Responses

Percentage

MTNL
AIRTEL
RELIANCE

6
8
5

12%
16%
10%

COMMUNICATION
TATA INDICOM

8%

VODAFONE

18%

OTHER

2%

IDEA

18%

AIRCEL

16%
Page 31 of 40

TOTAL

50

100%

9
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
0

Some users are like to prefer MTNL by 12%, some prefer AIRTEL by 16%, some prefer
RELIANCE by 10%, some Prefer TATA INDICOM by 8%, some prefer VODAFONE
18%, and some prefer OTHER by 2%, some people prefer IDEA by 18%, and other
people prefer AIRCEL by 16%.

18)Which company is having poor quality of service from your past

experience?
Sources

Number of Responses

Percentage

MTNL

18%

AIRTEL

2%

RELIANCE

18

36%

COMMUNICATION
TATA INDICOM

16%

VODAFONE

2%

OTHER

8%

IDEA

4%
Page 32 of 40

AIRCEL

14%

TOTAL

50

100%

18
16
14
12
10
8
6
4
2
0

According to customer MTNL having poor quality of service by 18%, AIRTEL by 2%,
RELIANCE by 36%, TATA INDICOM by 16%, VODAFONE by 2%, OTHER by 8%,
IDEA by 4% and AICEL by 14%.

INTERPRETATION OF DATA
98% of people uses mobile phone and 2% of people do not use because of
landline.

70% of user use pre-paid connection and 30% of user use post-paid connection.

6% of mobile use 6% of MTNL service, 16% of AIRTEL service, 12% RELIANCE

COMMUNICATION, 12% of TATA INDICOM 20% of VODAFONE, 4% of OTHER
service, 18% of IDEA network and rest of the people use 12% of AIRCEL service.

90% of people use Internet in there cell phone and 10% of people do not use Internet in
their cell phone.

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70% of customers are satisfied with their Coverage Network and 30% of customers are
not satisfied with their Coverage Network.

96% of people think Telecommunication is the fastest technology adopted in the market
and 4% of people says it is not adopted fastly in the market.

30% of users say without telecomm work is impossible to do and 70% of users say most
of the work is done without telecomm.

16% of mobile user mostly prefer Texting and 30% of users use to prefer Calling and
54% use Both texting and calling according to their preference.

100% people says because of telecommunication some low education student gets the
job in industry.

Some of the people communicate by 16% with social networking, 20% with texting, 18%
with e-mails, 2% with Letter, 12% with webcam, and 32% with phone call.

90% of people use Internet in there cell phone and 10% of people do not use Internet in
their cell phone.

According to the customer MTNL provides cheapest service by 28%, Reliance provides
18%, TATA Indicom provides 20%, Others provides 8%, IDEA provides 2%, and
AIRCEL provides 24%.

Some of the customers get attracted to the SIM/Network by the prices with 34%, other
got attracted by Network with 38% and some people attracted by Schemes with 18% and
some people got attracted by Customer Care Service.

74% of people got the expectation from their using Network and 26% of people do not
got the expectations.

Some people uses Internet for business purpose with 28%, some use for education
purpose with 18%, some use for personal purpose with 32% and rest of the people use all
of the above with 38%.

62% of user says Yes to recommend their cards and 38% of users says No to recommend
their cards.
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Some users are like to prefer MTNL by 12%, some prefer AIRTEL by 16%, some prefer
RELIANCE by 10%, some Prefer TATA INDICOM by 8%, some prefer VODAFONE
18%, and some prefer OTHER by 2%, some people prefer IDEA by 18%, and other
people prefer AIRCEL by 16%.

According to customer MTNL having poor quality of service by 18%, AIRTEL by 2%,
RELIANCE by 36%, TATA INDICOM by 16%, VODAFONE by 2%, OTHER by 8%,
IDEA by 4% and AICEL by 14%.

SUGGESTION AND RECOMMENDATION

1) A customer complaint system for customers, not telcos: The consumer complaint redressal
system is skewed in favour of the telecom companies. The telecom regulator has set up a two-tier
complaint redress mechanism, comprising the call centre at the first level and an appellate
authority at the next. The problem is that TRAI has allowed operators to set up the entire system.
In other major telecom markets, there are independent agencies to deal with telecom consumer
complaints. For example, the telecom ombudsman in the UK known as the Otelo has been
operating since January 2003. TRAI itself had suggested setting up such an agency way back in
2004, but this never got implemented because the Department of Telecom thought it wasn't
feasible. Perhaps, it is time now to revisit that proposal.
2) Take the consumers consent before starting a service: Imagine walking down a street and
all the shop owners forced you to buy their wares irrespective of whether you want it or not. This
may not happen anywhere but in telecom this happens every day. Some two crore subscribers
have have complained to the telecom regulator. An audit by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of
India through independent agencies found that 60 lakh Airtel subscribers have complained in the
past 15 months that value-added services had been activated without their consent. As many as
40 lakh Idea Cellular subscribers network were unhappy with the way value-added services had
been being forced on them. Value-added services (VAS) include caller ring-back tones, music
downloads for which operators collect a monthly fee.
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3) Classification of customer service: Telecom companies should learn from other services
industries such as aviation and hotel industry. When you book a flight ticket or a hotel room you
are given the option to decide what type of service you want. For instance, flight seats are
allocated according to class. Those paying higher fares for executive class or business class get
the best facilities, in terms of access to lounge areas at airports, special check-in counters, bigger
comfortable seats and an unlimited supply of drinks. Those who opt for economy class seats
board the flight knowing that there will be lesser leg room. Similarly, when you check into a
five-star hotel, you have the option of picking a luxury suite which comes with king size bed,
personal Jacuzzi and with the best view or you can settle for an ordinary no frills room.

CONCLUSION
Advancements and innovations are being made in all sectors of telecommunications industry,
wireless technology, internet, and satellite communications being the forerunners. So are
changing the needs, demands and expectations of global consumers and industry need to keep
pace by creating products and sevices meeting these demands.
The Govt. of India strives for enhanced and continued adoption of green policy in telecom and
incentivize use of renewable resources for sustainability.
The telecom industry has fuelled intense competition, especially in the cellular segment. The
ever-increasing competition has led to high growth of subscribers and has put pressure on tariffs,
which have seen a sharp drop over the years.
India was introduced to prepaid cards, which was yet another milestone for the wireless sector.
Prepaid cards lured more subscribers into the industry besides lowering the credit risk of service
providers due to its upfront payment concept.
The Indian telecommunication industry employs over 400,000 direct employees and about 85%
of these employees are from government-owned companies.

Page 36 of 40

APPENDICES
PERSONAL DETAILS:
Age Group:
a)
b)
c)
d)

18-22 years
23-28 years
29-35 years
36 and above

Occupation:
a) Government Service
b) Private Sector

c) Self Employed
d) Unemployed

QUESTIONNAIRES:
1)Are you a Mobile user?
i)Yes

ii) No

2)What type of connection do you use for your cell phone?

i) Pre-paid

ii) Post-Paid

3)Which operators service do you use?

i) MTNL
iii) Airtel
v) Vodafone
vii) Idea

ii) Reliance communication

iv) Tata Indicom
vi) Others
viii) Aircel

4)Who/What influenced your buying decision?

i) Friends

ii) Advertisement
Page 37 of 40

iii) Family

iv) All of the above

5)Are you satisfied with your current service providers Network

Coverage?
i) Yes

ii) No

6)Do you think that telecommunication is the fastest technology adopted

in the industry?
i) Yes

ii) No

7)Can any work is done without telecommunication in competitive

world?
i) Yes

ii) No

8)Do you prefer texting or calling?

i) Texting
iii) Both

ii) Calling

9)Has telecommunication has opened up new kind of avenues for jobs in

allied industries like BPO, Tele-calling in Back Office etc ?
i) Yes

ii) No

10)What is your main form of communication?

i) Social Networking
iii) Texting
v) E-mail

ii) Letter
iv) Webcam
vi)Phone

11)Do you use Internet in your Cell Phone?

i) Yes

ii) No

12)Which company provides the cheapest service, as per you?

i) MTNL
iii) Airtel
v) Vodafone
vii) Idea

ii) Reliance communication

iv) Tata Indicom
vi) Others
viii) Aircel

13)What attracted you to take that companies SIM/Network ?

i) Price
iii) Network

ii) Schemes
iv) Customer Care Service
Page 38 of 40

14)Did your expectation meet from your using Network?

i) Yes

ii) No

15)What purpose do you use Internet for?

i) Business
iii) Personal

ii) Education
iv) All of the above

16)Would you like to recommend your using card to others?

i) Yes

ii) No

17) Which company connection would you like to prefer next time?
i) MTNL
iii) Airtel
v) Vodafone
vii) Idea

ii) Reliance communication

iv) Tata Indicom
vi) Others
viii) Aircel

18)Which company is having poor quality of service from your past

experience?
i) MTNL
iii) Airtel
v) Vodafone
vii) Idea

ii) Reliance communication

iv) Tata Indicom
vi) Others
viii) Aircel

Page 39 of 40

BIBLOGRAPHY

Manan Prakashan
Magazines
En.wikipedia.org
www.google.com
Mozilla Firefox

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