Mobile-Net

Indian Telecom industry key milestones

Introduction

The telecommunications system in India is the 2nd largest in the world. The country is divided into several zones, called circles (roughly along state boundaries).  Government and several private operators run local and long distance telephone services. It was thrown open to private operators in the 1990s. Competition has caused prices to drop and calls across India are one of the cheapest in the world. Teledensity which was 2% during 1999 has now reached 54% in 2010.   The growth of Indian telecommunication sector reflects the success of the government initiatives including the liberalization of this sector.

Key Milestones

1851

• First operational landlines were laid between kolkotta and Diamond Harbour.

1881

• Telephone service introduced in India

1882

• First telephone exchange was opened in Kolkotta, Chennai and Mumbai

1883

• Merger telecommunication with postal system

1923

• Formation of Indian Radio Telegraph Company

1947

• Nationalization of all foreign telecommunication companies to form the Post, Telephone and Telegraph under Government's Ministry of Communications.
• Total number of telephone in the country was around 80000

1960

• First Subscriber Trunk Dialing (STD) was commissioned  between Kanpur and Lucknow

1975

• Department of Telecommunication (DOT) was established, separating from the postal system

1985

• Mobile service was commissioned in Delhi on non commercial basis

1994

• Government announced National Telecom Policy in 1994
• Licence issued for providing Mobile Phone services in 4 metros.  2 operators were given licence per circle for 10 years under a fixed licence fee regime.

1995

• Cellular service was commercially launched in India
• Mobile licences issued for 19 more circles.

1997

• Telecom Regulatory Authority was created

1999

• The new telecom policy (NTP 1999) was introduced.
• The Government replaced the fixed annual licence fee with  revenue share regime
• Teledensity 2%

2000

• The national long distance market (NLD) was opened up to the private sector with no ceiling on the number of players.
• BSNL  was hived off to form a separate corporate entity
• Wireless Planning and Coordination wing of DoT was created to review and enforce the spectrum allocation policy.
• The Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT)  was created
• BSNL and MTNL were allowed to offer cellular services

2001

• A fourth cellular operator from the private sector was allowed in each circle to launch mobile services

2002

• A subscriber linked spectrum allotment procedure was introduced.
• USO fund established to improve the telecom services in the rural sector
• ILD was opened up to private sector without any ceiling on the number of players
• Bharati Airtel got listed in BSE & NSE
• VSNL was privatized

 2003

• Access deficit charges (ADC) was introduced to compensate BSNL for losses incurred in providing services in rural areas.
• The Calling Party Pays regime was introduced where by subscribers no longer had to pay for incoming calls.
• The Unified Access License (UASL) Regime was implemented allowing subscribers to offer fixed / mobile services using any technology.
• RCom rolled out CDMA services which resulted in a tariff war.
• Internet and GPRS were allowed through cellular service providers

2004

• Broadband policy 2004 was unveiled

2005

• The foreign direct investment limit in telecom was raised from 49% to 74%
• Motorola started manufacturing mobile phone in India
• Pure-play tower companies like GTL, Quippo and Essar entered the tower market.
• The trend of recharge coupons with denomination values ranging from Rs 10 to Rs 200 for low end prepaid users.
• Introduction of lifetime validity schemes on prepaid.
• Aircel was acquired by Maxis 

2006

• The Government launched ‘Project Most' (Mobile Operators Shared Towers) to promote passive infrastructure sharing.
• Demerger of tower operations by RCom into Reliance Infratel
• BSNL and MTNL launched te 'One India Tariff' whereby the calls anywhere in the country were charged at a flat rate of Re 1.
• India became the 5th country in the world to join the 100 million mobile subscribers' club.
• In Aug 2006 India added 5 million subscribers and overtook China to become the fastest telecom market in the world.

2007

• Roaming rental was reduced to zero
• Dual technology was allowed enabling service providers to offer both GSM and CDMA under the same licence subject to entry fee of 1651 cr (US $ 366 million)
• Vodafone acquired 67% stake in Hutchison Essar for US $10.9 billion
• Indus Towers was formed by Airtel, Vodafone and Idea.
• 570 applications received for telecom UASL licence and spectrum allocation
• DoT delinked spectrum from the telecom licence and introduced first come first served basis.

2008

• DoT issued 121 letters of intent for UAS licences.
• Government awarded licence to 6 new players - Datacom,Loop Telecom, Shyam Sistema, STel, Unitech Wireless and Swan Telecom.
• Active infrastructure sharing permitted, whereby the operators are allowed access to common antenna, feeder cables, radio access network.
• Teledensity reached 26%

2009

• Bharati Airtel crossed 100 million subscriber mark
• Mobile subscribers in India crossed 500 million mark

2010

• Aircel sold its portfolio of 17500 towers to GTL
• 3G and BWA spectrum auctioned through a open and transparent auction process.  Government earned Rs 67719 cr (US $ 15.05 billion) for 3G spectrum and Rs 38543 cr (US $ 8.6 billion) for BWA spectrum
• Mobile subscriber numbers crossed 650 million
• 3G spectrum allocated to Vodafone, Tata teleservicess, Bharti Airtel, RCom,Idea, Aircel and STel.

 Indian Government Acts for Regulation of Telecom Industry

•  Indian Telegraph Act 1885
•  Indian Telegraph Amendment Rules 2004
•  Indian Wireless Act 1993
•  Information Technology Act 2000
•  Communication Convergence Bill 2001
•  Telecom Regulatory Authority Act 1997

IndianTelecom statistics

Telecom operators in India added 17 million subscribers during July 2010 taking the total of mobile subscribers in the country to 652.42 million registering a growth of 2.66%.  However the total number of telephone subscribers (both mobile and landline) in India increased to 688.38 million. With this the overall tele-density in India touched 58.17% in July 2010.

The wireline base declined from 36.18 million in June 2010 to 35.96 million in July 2010. State run telcos like BSNL and MTNL enjoy 84% of the wireline market share.

The total broadband subscriber base in India increased by 3.39% to reach 9.77 million in July 2010.

The subscriber base of various mobile operators as on 31st July 2010 is as follows.

Operator             Total base           July 2010 addition

Airtel                     139.2 million       2.6 million

RCom                   113.3 million       2.5 milllion

Vodafone              111.4 million       2.4 million

Idea                                                 1.8 million

Aircel                                               1.6 million

Tatatele                 74.85 million      2.3 million

BSNL                     73.78 million      1.08 million

MTNL                                              0.05 million

 

 

About the Author

The author can be reached at vsmoni@hotmail.com. Visit indiatelecomonline.com for more articles

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