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A Project Report on Growth and Rise in Indian Telecom Sector Submitted By: Mr. Akash Shanbhag Roll no: 09 (M.com Part-2) Project guide Prof.Hinduja SMT.Chandibai Himathmal Mansukhani College Ulhasnagar-421003 University of Mumbai (2013-2014)

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Smt. Chandibai Himathmal mansukhani College

Department of Post-Graduate Studies

Certificate
This is to certify that Mr.Akash Shanbhag, Roll no 09 of M.Com Part-2 has Successfully completed the project titled Growth And Rise in Telecom Sector In the subject Research Methodology Under my guidance for the academic year 2013-14. The Information submitted is true and original as per our knowledge.

(Prof)Gopichand Shamnani (M.Com Coordinator)

Prof. _________________ (External Guide)

(Prof.)Hinduja (Project Guide)

Dr.(Mrs).Bhavna Motwani (Principal) Prof. _______________ (External Examiner)

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Declaration I hereby declare that the project entitled Growth and Rise in Indian Telecom Sector submitted to University of Mumbai is an original work done by me under the guidance of _Prof. Hinduja , in the subject of research Methodology, from Smt.CHM College, Ulhasnagar-3. This project has not been performed on the basis for award of any Degree or Diploma/associate or fellowship and similar project if any.

_________________ (Akash Shanbhag)

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Acknowledgement
It gives me immense pleasure to present my research on Growth and rise in telecom sector. This project has been helpful to me in studying the ideas, policies and strategies relating to the growth and rise in the Indian telecom sector.

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Index
SR. NO 1 CONTENTS Introduction PAGE NO. 19-27

Recent Government Policies and Targets

28-31

3 4 5 6 7

Telephone Statistics Findings and analysis Conclusion Annexure Bibliography

32 36-37 38-40 41 42

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Abstract
My research related to growth and rise in Indian Telecom Sector outlines or focuses on these key aspects: The telecom industry has been divided into two major segments, that is, fixed and wireless cellular services for this report. Besides, internet services, VAS, PMRTS and VSAT also have been discussed in brief in the report. In todays information age, the telecommunication industry has a vital role to play. Considered as the backbone of industrial and economic development, the industry has been aiding delivery of voice and data services at rapidly increasing speeds, and thus, has been revolutionising human communication. Although the Indian telecom industry is one of the fastest-growing industries in the world, the current teledensity or telecom penetration is extremely low when compared with global standards. Indias teledensity of 36.98% in FY09 is amongst the lowest in the world. Further, the urban teledensity is over 80%, while rural teledensity is less than 20%, and this gap is increasing. As majority of the population resides in rural areas, it is important that the government takes steps to improve rural teledensity. No doubt the government has taken certain policy initiatives, which include the creation of the Universal Service Obligation Fund, for improving rural telephony. These measures are expected to improve the rural tele-density and bridge the rural-urban gap in tele-density.

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Background - 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 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.

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Brief Introduction
India's telecommunication network is the second largest in the world based on the total number of telephone users (both fixed and mobile phone). It has one of the lowest call tariffs in the world enabled by the mega telephone networks and hyper-competition among them. It has the world's third-largest Internet user-base with over 137 million as of June 2012. Major sectors of the Indian telecommunication industry are telephony, internet and television broadcasting. The total revenue of the Indian telecom sector grew by 7% to 283207 crore (US$43 billion) for 201011 financial year, while revenues from telecom equipment segment stood at 117039 crore (US$18 billion). Telecommunication has supported the socioeconomic development of India and has played a significant role to narrow down the rural-urban digital divide to some extent. It also has helped to increase the transparency of governance with the introduction of e-governance in India. The government has pragmatically used modern telecommunication facilities to deliver mass education programmes for the rural folk of India. Telephone Industry in the country which is in an ongoing process of transforming into next generation network, employs an extensive system of modern network elements such as digital telephone, mobile switching centers, media gateways and signaling gateways at the core, interconnected by a wide variety of transmission systems using fiber-optics or Microwave radio relay networks. The access network, which connects the subscriber to the core, is highly diversified with different copper-pair, optic-fiber and wireless

technologies. DTH, a relatively new broadcasting technology has attained significant popularity in the Television segment. The introduction of private FM has given a fillip to the radio broadcasting in India. Telecommunication in India has greatly been supported by the INSAT system of the country, one of the largest domestic satellite systems in the world. India possesses a diversified communications system, which links all parts of the country by telephone, Internet, radio, television and satellite.

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OBJECTIVE
Research is on Formulation of certain strategies and execution of the same, which is done by me to focus on growth of telecom companies in India. At the base of this strategy formulation lie various processes and the effectiveness of the former lies in the meticulous design of these processes.
Formulation of strategies for the industry 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.

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

2. 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. 3. In the 2004-05 Budget, the government raised the FDI limit from 49% to 74% in the telecom services segment subject to retention of local management control. According to the new norms, 26% share out of the 74% should be held by an Indian company or an Indian citizen with Indian management. Further, 100% FDI is permitted in telecom manufacturing, category I infrastructure providers, ISPs without gateway, call centres and IT-enabled services. Further, direct or indirect FDI up to 74% is permitted subject to licensing and security requirements for ISPs with gateways, radio paging operators and category II infrastructure providers.

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4. The relaxation in FDI norms has attracted many foreign telecom majors to the sector. The presence of foreign players has not only encouraged faster infrastructure development and upgradation but also has opened up the domestic industry to foreign competition. Since 2004, there has been a large inflow of FDI in the sector. During 200405 and 2005-06, a period during which the FDI norms were relaxed, the FDI inflow grew by an astounding 300% to US$ 624 mn in 2005-06 from merely US$ 125 mn in 2004-05. The inflow of FDI has provided tremendous impetus to the sector in the past few years and the attractiveness of the sector has kept the FDI inflows growing steadily. During FY09 the FDI in the telecom sector at US$ 2,558 mn was 103% higher than that seen in FY08 at US$ 1,261 mn. Further, the FDI in the sector has already reached US$ 2010 mn for a six month period of FY10 (Apr-Sep 09) and is expected to surpass the total FDI for FY09. 5. The governments liberalised FDI policies have resulted in several foreign companies entering into the Indian markets. The influx of foreign players in the Indian telecom industry has led to capacity creation, and better infrastructure, which in turn has bettered the network quality. The rise in FDI has also enabled technology transfer, market access and has improved organisational skills; going forward, FDI could be used for providing telecom services to rural areas, where teledensity is still very low. 6. The change in FDI policy that has raised the FDI limit from 49% to 74% for the sector has made it more attractive for foreign players. In the long run the growth prospects of telecom players that have foreign partners will improve and other players will get new avenues to raise capital. 2. To view the future of industry 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,

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telecommunication has increased efficiency, reduced transaction costs, attracted investments and has created new opportunities for business and employment. The NTP-99 was particularly helpful for the ITeS-BPO industry as it ended the government monopoly in international calling by introducing IP telephony. After the introduction of IP telephony, there was rapid growth in the number of data processing centres and inbound/outbound call centres, which ultimately led to the outsourcing revolution in India. The telecom sector has been instrumental in creating jobs for a vast pool of talented and knowledge professionals in the IT and ITeS-BPO industry, which thrives on reliable telecommunication infrastructure. India has become an important outsourcing destination for the world and the boom in this sector also has transformed Indias economic dynamics. The evolution of telecom sector has brought about a revolutionary change in the way some businesses operate. Another beneficiary of the telecom revolution is the financial services industry, which has been on a growth trajectory. The progress and quality of the financial sector has been a key factor that has driven the pace and diversity of the real economy. India has an extensive and welldeveloped financial sector with wide and sophisticated banking network. Banking in India has become service-oriented, and has matured greatly from the days of walk-in customers to the present situation when banks have migrated to a 24-hour banking platform to attract customers; however, this disintermediation in the business has led banks to be extremely prudent in terms of their internal operations and has led them to adopt newer products and delivery channels. Further, with introduction of internet & mobile banking the long ques at the banks are slowly becoming a thing of the past. Both the financial and the IT-ITeS segments rely on good domestic as well as international network connectivity; therefore, there is a need for a sound telecommunication network. 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

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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 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. 3. To provide the solutions for various problems of industry The CPP regime was introduced in India in 2003 and under this regime, the calling party who initiated the call was to bear the entire cost of the call. This regime came to be applicable for mobile to mobile calls as well as fixed line to mobile calls. So far India had followed the Receiving Party Pays (RPP) system where the subscriber used to pay for incoming calls from both mobile as well as fixedline networks. Shifting to the CPP system has greatly fuelled the subscriber growth in the sector. Changing Demographic Profile The changing demographic profile of India has also played an important role in subscriber growth. The changed profile is characterised by a large young population, a burgeoning middle class with growing disposable income, urbanisation, increasing literacy levels and higher adaptability to technology. These new features have multiplied the need to be connected always and to own a wireless phone and therefore, in present times mobiles are perceived as a utility

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rather than a luxury. 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 4. To evaluate the efficacy of the application of strategies: The telecom industry in India has experienced exponential growth over the past few years and has been an important contributor to economic growth; however, the cut-throat competition and intense tariff wars have had a negative impact on the revenue of players. Despite the challenges, the Indian telecom industry will thrive because of the immense potential in terms of new users. India is one of the most-attractive telecom markets because it is still one of the lowest penetrated markets. The government is keen on developing rural telecom infrastructure and is also set to roll out next generation or 3G services in the country. Operators are on an expansion mode and are investing heavily on telecom infrastructure. Foreign telecom companies are acquiring considerable stakes in Indian companies. Burgeoning middle class and increasing spending power, the governments thrust on increasing rural telecom coverage; favorable investment climate and positive reforms will ensure that Indias high potential is indeed realized.

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Methodology For this project, I have used primary data. My target audience has been mainly youngsters of college. I selected my target audience due to their active involvement with mobile phones. Mainly private players like Airtel, Idea, and Vodafone attract a lot of youngsters by introducing convenient offer packs, survey method is useful because: Survey methodology as a scientific field seeks to identify principles about the sample design, data collection instruments, statistical adjustment of data, and data processing, and final data analysis that can create systematic and random survey errors. Survey errors are sometimes analyzed in connection with survey cost. Cost constraints are sometimes framed as improving quality within cost constraints, or alternatively, reducing costs for a fixed level of quality. Survey methodology is both a scientific field and a profession, meaning that some professionals in the field focus on survey errors empirically and others design surveys to reduce them. I have enclosed my survey in the Annexure.

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Limitations
1) Vague answers: Since, the target audience was mainly youngsters the answers given by some people were vague. 2) Less reliable Majority of sample focused on schemes of their service provider and not the customer service. 3) Constructive feedback Majority of people did not help by providing constructive feedback which would have helped to provide constructive analysis. 4) Time constraints Since the samples were mostly in hurry to attend their respective classes, majority filled the survey in a haste. 5) Government rules In the month of Feb. 2013, Uninor Mumbai circle license were cancelled as a result the subscribers had to face a lot of issues in MNP. The government or the telecom companies neither bothered to refund customer money nor did they serve any kind of notification. This issue has certainly raised questions on governments ability to regulate telecom and adding to common mans plight.

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INTRODUCTION
Telephone Industry in the country which is in an ongoing process of transforming into next generation network, employs an extensive system of modern network elements such as digital telephone, mobile switching centers, media gateways and signaling gateways at the core, interconnected by a wide variety of transmission systems using fiber-optics or Microwave radio relay networks. The access network, which connects the subscriber to the core, is highly diversified with different copper-pair, optic-fiber and wireless technologies. DTH, a relatively new broadcasting technology has attained significant popularity in the Television segment. The introduction of private FM has given a fillip to the radio broadcasting in India. Telecommunication in India has greatly been supported by the INSAT system of the country, one of the largest domestic satellite systems in the world. India possesses a diversified communications system, which links all parts of the country by telephone, Internet, radio, television and satellite.

Indian telecom industry underwent a high pace of market liberalization and growth since 1990s and now has become the world's most competitive and one of the fastest growing telecom markets. The Industry has grown over twenty times in just ten years, from under 37 million subscribers in the year 2001 to over 846 million subscribers in the year 2011. India has the world's second-largest mobile phone user base with over 929.37 million users as of May 2012. It has the world's third-largest Internet user-base with over 137 million as of June 2012. The history of Indian telecom can be started with the introduction of telegraph. The Indian postal and telecom sectors are one of the worlds oldest. In 1850, the first experimental electric telegraph line was started between Calcutta and Diamond Harbor. In 1851, it was opened for the use of the British East India Company. The Posts and Telegraphs department occupied a small corner of the Public Works Department, at that time. Subsequently, the construction of 4,000 miles (6,400 km) of telegraph lines connecting Kolkata (then Calcutta) and Peshawar in the north along with Agra, Mumbai (then Bombay) through Sindwa Ghats, and Chennai (then Madras) in the south, as well

as Ootacamund and Bangalore was started in November 1853. William O'Shaughnessy, who

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pioneered the telegraph and telephone in India, belonged to the Public Works Department, and worked towards the development of telecom throughout this period. A separate department was opened in 1854 when telegraph facilities were opened to the public. In 1890, two telephone companies namely The Oriental Telephone Company Ltd. and The Anglo-Indian Telephone Company Ltd. approached the Government of India to

establish telephone exchanges in India. The permission was refused on the grounds that the establishment of telephones was a Government monopoly and that the Government itself would undertake the work. In 1891, the Government later reversed its earlier decision and a licence was granted to the Oriental Telephone Company Limited of England for opening telephone exchanges at Calcutta, Bombay, Madras and Ahmadabad and the first formal telephone service was established in the country. On 28 January 1892, Major E. Baring, Member of the Governor General of India's Council declared open the Telephone Exchanges in Calcutta, Bombay and Madras. The exchange in Calcutta named the "Central Exchange" had a total of 93 subscribers in its early stage. Later that year, Bombay also witnessed the opening of a telephone exchange. The telephone segment is dominated by private-sector and two state-run businesses. Most companies were formed by a recent revolution and restructuring launched within a decade, directed by Ministry of Communications of Finance. Since and then, IT, Department most of

Telecommunications and Minister

companies

gained 2G, 3G and 4G licences and engaged fixed-line, mobile and internet business in India. On landlines, intra-circle calls are considered local calls while inter-circle are considered long distance calls. Foreign Direct Investment policy which increased the foreign ownership cap from 49% to 74%. Currently Government is working to integrate the whole country in one telecom circle. For long distance calls, the area code prefixed with a zero is dialled first which is then followed by the number (i.e. To call Delhi, 011 would be dialled first followed by the phone number). For international calls, "00" must be dialled first followed by thecountry code, area code and local phone number. The country code for India is 91. Several international fibre-optic links include those to Japan, South Korea, Hong Kong, Russia, and Germany. Some major telecom operators in India include Airtel, Vodafone, Idea, Aircel, BSNL, MTNL, Reliance Communications, TATA Teleservices, Infotel, MTS, Uninor, TATA DoCoMo, Videocon, Augere, Tikona Digital.

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What led to the path of the rise of telecom sector?

The demand for telephones was ever increasing and in 1990s Indian government was under increasing pressure to open up the telecom sector for private investment as a part of Liberalization -Privatisation-Globalisation policies that the government had to accept to overcome the severe fiscal crisis and resultant balance of payments issue in 1991. Consequently, private investment in the sector of Value Added Services (VAS) was allowed and cellular telecom sector were opened up for competition from private investments. It was during this period that the Narsimha Rao-led government introduced the National Telecommunications policy (NTP) in 1994 which brought changes in the following areas: ownership, service and regulation of telecommunications infrastructure. The policy introduced the concept of telecommunication for all and its vision was to expand the telecommunication facilities to all the villages in India. Liberalisation in the basic telecom sector was also envisaged in this policy. They were also successful in establishing joint ventures between state owned telecom companies and international players. Foreign firms were eligible to 49% of the total stake. The multi-nationals were just involved in technology transfer, and not policy makers. Fixed Telephony Until the New Telecom Policy was announced in 1999, only the Governmentowned BSNL and MTNL were allowed to provide land-line phone services through copper wire in India with MTNLoperating in Delhi and Mumbai and BSNL servicing all other areas of the country. Due to the rapid growth of the cellular phone industry in India, landlines are facing stiff competition from cellular operators. This has forced land-line service providers to become more efficient and improve their quality of service. Land-line connexions are now also available on demand, even in high density urban areas. India has over 31 million main line customers..

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Mobile Telephony

Cellular phone tower atop the roof of a building.

AIR Radio Tower

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In August 1995, Chief Minister of West Bengal, Shri Jyoti Basu ushered in the cell phone revolution in India by making the first call to Union Telecom Minister Sukhram.Sixteen years later 4th generation services were launched in Kolkata. With a subscriber base of more than 929 million, the Mobile telecommunications system in India is the second largest in the world and it was thrown open to private players in the 1990s. GSM was comfortably maintaining its position as the dominant mobile technology with 80% of the mobile subscriber market, but CDMA seemed to have stabilised its market share at 20% for the time being. By May 2012 the country had 929 million mobile subscribers, up from 350 million just 40 months earlier. The mobile market was continuing to expand at an annual rate in excess of 40% coming into 2010. According to data provided by Minister of State for Communications and IT Milind Deora, as of 30 November 2012, India has 736,654 base transceiver stations (2G GSM & CDMA, and 3G). Of those, 96,212 base transceiver stations provide 3G mobile and data services. Out of India's 640 districts, 610 districts are covered by 3G services as of 30 November 2012. The country is divided into multiple zones, called circles (roughly along state boundaries). Government and several private players run local and long distance telephone services. Competition has caused prices to drop and calls across India are one of the cheapest in the world. The rates are supposed to go down further with new measures to be taken by the Information Ministry. In September 2004, the number of mobile phone connexions crossed the number of fixed-line conations and presently dwarfs the wireline segment by a ratio of around 20:1. The mobile subscriber base has grown by a factor of over a hundred and thirty, from 5 million subscribers in 2001 to over 929 million subscribers as of May 2012. India primarily follows the GSMmobile system, in the 900 MHz band. Recent operators also operate in the 1800 MHz bands. The dominant players are Airtel, Reliance Infocomm, Vodafone, Idea cellular and BSNL/MTNL. There are many smaller players, with operations in only a few states.

International roaming agreements exist between most operators and many foreign carriers. The government allowed Mobile number portability (MNP) which enables mobile telephone users to retain their mobile telephone numbers when changing from one mobile network operator to another. India is divided into 22 telecom circles.

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Rise and growth of Internet The history of the Internet in India started with launch of services by VSNL on 15 August 1995. They were able to add about 10,000 Internet users within 6 months. However, for the next 10 years the Internet experience in the country remained less attractive with narrow-band connections having speeds less than 56 kbit/s (dial-up). In 2004, the government formulated its broadband policy which defined broadband as "an always-on Internet connection with download speed of 256 kbit/s or above." From 2005 onward the growth of the broadband sector in the country accelerated, but remained below the growth estimates of the government and related agencies due to resource issues in last-mile access which were predominantly wired-line technologies. This bottleneck was removed in 2010 when the government

auctioned 3G spectrum followed by an equally high profile auction of 4G spectrum that set the scene for a competitive and invigorated wireless broadband market. Now Internet access in India is provided by both public and private companies using a variety of technologies and media including dial-up (PSTN), xDSL, coaxial cable, Ethernet, FTTH, ISDN, HSDPA (3G), WiFi, WiMAX, etc. at a wide range of speeds and costs. The country has the world's third largest number of Internet users with over 121 million users (59% of whom only access the Internet via mobile devices) in December 2011. As of December 2011, total Internet connections stood at 22.39 million, with estimated users exceeding 121 million. The number of broadband subscribers at the end of May 2013 was 15.13 million. Cumulative Annual Growth rate (CAGR) of broadband during the five-year period between 2005 and 2010 was about 117 per cent. DSL, while holding slightly more than 75% of the local broadband market, was steadily losing market share to other non-DSL broadband platforms, especially to wireless broadband. There were 161 Internet Service Providers (ISPs) offering broadband services in India as of 31 May 2013. The top five ISPs in terms subscriber base were BSNL (9.96 million), Bharti Airtel (1.40 million), MTNL (1.09 million), Hathway (0.36 million) and You Broadband (0.31 million). Cyber cafes remain the major source of Internet access. In 2009, about 37 per cent of the users access the Internet from cyber cafes, 30 per cent from an office, and 23 per cent from home. However, the number of mobile Internet users increased rapidly from 2009 on and there were about 274 million mobile users at the end of September 2010, with a majority using 2G

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mobile networks. Mobile Internet subscriptions as reported by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India(TRAI) in March 2011 increased to 381 million. One of the major issues facing the Internet segment in India is the lower average bandwidth of broadband connections compared to that of developed countries. According to 2007 statistics, the average download speed in India hovered at about 40 KB per second (256 kbit/s), the minimum speed set by TRAI, whereas the international average was 5.6 Mbit/s during the same period. In order to attend this infrastructure issue the government declared 2007 as "the year of broadband". To compete with international standards of defining broadband speed the Indian Government has taken the aggressive step of proposing a $13 billion national broadband network to connect all cities, towns and villages with a population of more than 500 in two phases targeted for completion by 2012 and 2013. The network was supposed to provide speeds up to 10 Mbit/s in 63 metropolitan areas and 4 Mbit/s in an additional 352 cities. Also, the Internet penetration rate in India is one of the lowest in the world and only accounts for 8.4% of the population compared to the rate in OECD counties, where the average is over 50%. Another issue is the digital divide where growth is biased in favour of urban areas; according to 2010 statistics, more than 75 per cent of the broadband connections in the country are in the top 30 cities. Regulators have tried to boost the growth of broadband in rural areas by promoting higher investment in rural infrastructure and establishing subsidized tariffs for rural subscribers under the Universal service obligation scheme of the Indian government.

Broadcasting
Television broadcasting began in India in 1959 by Doordarshan, a state run medium of communication, and had slow expansion for more than two decades. The policy reforms of the government in 1990s attracted private initiatives in this sector, and since then, satellite television has increasingly shaped popular culture and Indian society. However, still, only the government owned Doordarshan has the licence for terrestrial television broadcast. Private companies reach the public using satellite channels; both cable television as well as DTH has obtained a wide subscriber base in India. In 2012, India had about 148 million TV homes of which 126 million has access to cable and satellite services. Following the economic reforms in 1990s, satellite television channels from around the world BBC, CNN, CNBC, and other private television channels gained a foothold in the country. There

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are no regulations to control the ownership of satellite dish antennas and also for operating cable television systems in India, which in turn has helped for an impressive growth in the viewership. The growth in the number of satellite channels was triggered by corporate business houses such as Star TV group and Zee TV. Initially restricted to music and entertainment channels, viewership grew, giving rise to several channels in regional languages, especially Hindi. The main news channels available were CNN and BBC World. In the late 1990s, many current affairs and news channels sprouted, becoming immensely popular because of the alternative viewpoint they offered compared to Doordarshan. Some of the notable ones are Aaj Tak (run by the India Todaygroup) and STAR News, CNN-IBN, Times Now, initially run by the NDTV group and their lead anchor, Prannoy Roy (NDTV now has its own channels, NDTV 24x7, NDTV Profit and NDTV India). Over the years, Doordarshan services also have grown from a single national channel to six national and eleven regional channels. Nonetheless, it has lost the leadership in market, though it underwent many phases of modernization in order to contain tough competition from private channels. Today, television is the most penetrative media in India with industry estimates indicating that there are over 554 million TV consumers, 462 million with satellite connexions, compared to other forms of mass media such as radio or internet. Government of India has used the popularity of TV and radio among rural people for the implementation of many social-programmes including that of mass-education. On 16 November 2006, the Government of India released the community radio policy which allowed agricultural centres, educational institutions and civil society organisations to apply for community based FM broadcasting licence. Community Radio is allowed 100 Watt Effective Radiated Power (ERP) with a maximum tower height of 30 metres. The licence is valid for five years and one organisation can only get one licence, which is non-transferable and to be used for community development purposes. Next-generation networks (NGN) Historically, the role of telecommunication has evolved from that of plain information exchange to a multi-service field, with Value Added Services (VAS) integrated with various discrete networks like PSTN, PLMN, Internet Backbone etc. However, with decreasing ARPU and increasing demand for VAS has become a compelling reason for the service providers to think of the convergence of these parallel networks into a single core network with service layers

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separated from network layer. Next-generation networking is such a convergence concept which according to ITU-T is: A next-generation network (NGN) is a packet-based network which can provide services including Telecommunication Services and able to make use of multiple broadband, quality of Service-enabled transport technologies and in which service-related functions are independent from underlying transport-related technologies. It offers unrestricted access by users to different service providers. It supports generalized mobility which will allow consistent and ubiquitous provision of services to users. Access network: The user can connect to the IP-core of NGN in various ways, most of which use the standard Internet Protocol (IP). User terminals such as mobile phones, personal digital assistants (PDAs) and computers can register directly on NGN-core, even when they are roaming in another network or country. The only requirement is that they can use IP and Session Initiation Protocol (SIP). Fixed access (e.g., Digital Subscriber Line (DSL), cable modems,Ethernet), mobile access (e.g. W-CDMA, CDMA2000, GSM, GPRS) and wireless access (e.g.WLAN, WiMAX) are all supported. Other phone systems like plain old telephone service and non-compatible VoIP systems, are supported through gateways. With the

deployment of the NGN, users may subscribe to many simultaneous access-providers providing telephony, internet or entertainment services. This may provide end-users with virtually unlimited options to choose between service providers for these services in NGN environment. The hyper-competition in telecom market, which was effectively caused by the introduction of Universal Access Service (UAS) licence in 2003 became much tougher after 3G and 4G competitive auction. About 670,000 route-kilometer (419,000 mile) of optical fibres has been laid in India by the major operators, including in the financially nonviable rural areas and the process continues.[citation needed] Keeping in mind the viability of providing services in rural areas, the government of India also took a proactive role to promote the NGN implementation in the country; an expert committee called NGN eCO was constituted in order to deliberate on the licensing, interconnection and Quality of Service (QoS) issues related to NGN and it submitted its report on 24 August 2007. Telecom operators found the NGN model advantageous, but huge investment requirements have prompted them to adopt a multi-phase migration and they have already started the migration process to NGN with the implementation of IP-based core-network.

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Recent government policies and growth target

The International Long Distance Services (ILDS) have been opened to competition The basic services are open to competition In addition to the existing three, a fourth cellular operator, one each in four metros and thirteen circles, has been permitted. Cellular operators have been permitted to provide all types of mobile services including voice and non-voice messages, data services and PCOs utilising any type of network equipment, including circuit and/or package switches that meet certain required standards.

Policies allowing private participation have been announced as per the New Telecom Policy (NTP), 1999 in several new services, which include Global Mobile Personal Communication by Satellite (GMPCS) Service, digital Public Mobile Radio Trunked Service (PMRTS) and Voice Mail/ Audiotex/ Unified Messaging Services.

Wireless Local Loop (WLL) has been introduced to provide telephone connections in urban, semi-urban and rural areas promptly

Two telecom PSUs, VSNL and HTL have been disinvested Steps are being taken to fulfill Universal Service Obligation (USO), funding, and administration

A decision to permit Community Phone Service has been announced. Multiple Fixed Service Providers (FSPs) licensing guidelines were announced Internet Service Providers (ISPs) have been allowed to set up International Internet Gateways, both Satellite and Landing stations for submarine optical fibre cables.

Two categories of infrastructure providers have been allowed to provide end-to-end bandwidth and dark fibre, right of way, towers, duct space etc

Guidelines have been issued by the Government to open up Internet telephony (IP). National Optical Fibre Network (NOFN), a project aimed to ensure broadband connectivity to over two lakh (200,000) gram panchayats of India by 2016.

Regulatory environment LIRNEasia's Telecommunications Regulatory Environment (TRE) index, which summarises stakeholders' perception on certain TRE dimensions, provides insight into how conducive the

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environment is for further development and progress. The most recent survey was conducted in July 2008 in eight Asian countries, including Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Maldives, Pakistan, Thailand, and the Philippines. The tool measured seven dimensions: i) market entry; ii) access to scarce resources; iii) interconnection; iv) tariff regulation; v) anti-competitive practices; and vi) universal services; vii) quality of service, for the fixed, mobile and broadband sectors. The results for India, point out to the fact that the stakeholders perceive the TRE to be most conducive for the mobile sector followed by fixed and then broadband. Other than for Access to Scarce Resources the fixed sector lags behind the mobile sector. The fixed and mobile sectors have the highest scores for Tariff Regulation. Market entry also scores well for the mobile sector as competition is well entrenched with most of the circles with 45 mobile service providers. The broadband sector has the lowest score in the aggregate. The low penetration of broadband of mere 3.87 against the policy objective of 9 million at the end of 2007 clearly indicates that the regulatory environment is not very conducive. In 2013 the home ministry stated that legislation must ensure that law enforcement agencies are empowered to intercept communications

Revenue
The total revenue in the telecom service sector was 86720 crore (US$13.3 billion) in 200506 as against 71674 crore (US$11.0 billion) in 20042005, registering a growth of 21% with estimated revenue of FY'2011 of 835 crore (US$130 million). The total investment in the telecom services sector reached 200660 crore (US$30.7 billion) in 200506, up from 178831 crore (US$27.4 billion) in the previous fiscal Telecommunication is the lifeline of the rapidly growing Information Technology industry. Internet subscriber base has risen to more than a 121 million in 2011.Out of this 11.47 million were broadband connexions. More than a billion people use the Internet globally. Under the Bharat Nirman Programme, the Government of India will ensure that 66,822 revenue villages in the country, which have not yet been provided with a Village Public Telephone (VPT), will be connected. However doubts have been raised about what it would mean for the poor in the country.

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It is difficult to ascertain fully the employment potential of the telecom sector but the enormity of the opportunities can be gauged from the fact that there were 3.7 million Public Call Offices in December 2005, up from 2.3 million in December 2004.

The Total Revenue of Indian Telecom Services company is likely to exceed 200000 crore (US$31 billion) ( US$ 44 Bn approx) for FY 1112 based on FY 1011 nos and latest quarterly results. These are consolidated numbers including foreign operation of Bharti Airtel. The major contributions to this revenue are as follows:

Airtel 65060 (US$1,000) Reliance Communications 31468 (US$480) Idea 16936 (US$260) Tata Communications 11931 (US$180) MTNL 4380 (US$67) TTML 2248 (US$34) BSNL 32045 (US$490) Vodafone India 18376 (US$280) TataTeleservice 9200 (US$140) Aircel 7968 (US$120) SSTL 600 (US$9.20) Uninor 660 (US$10) Loop 560 (US$8.60) Stel 60 (92 US) HFCL 204 (US$3.10) Videocon Telecom 254 (US$3.90) DB Etisalat/ Allianz 47 (72 US) Grand Total 201997 crore (US$31 billion)

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TRAI(Telecom Regulatory Authority of India)

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) is the independent regulator of

the telecommunications business in India. The policy of liberalisation that was embarked by Prime Minister P. V. Narasimha Rao in the 1990s helped the Indian Telecom sector to grow rapidly. The government gradually allowed the entry of the private sectors into telecom equipment manufacturing, value added services, radio paging and cellular mobile services. In 1994, the government formed the National Telecom Policy (NTP) which helped to attract Foreign direct investments and domestic investments. The entry of private and international players resulted in need of independent regulatory body. As a result, The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India was established on 20 February 1997 by an act of parliament called "Telecom Regulatory Authority of India Act 1997". The mission of TRAI is to create and nurture an environment which will enable the quick growth of the telecommunication sector in the country. One of the major objectives of TRAI is to provide a transparent policy environment. TRAI has regularly issued orders and directions on various subjects like tariff, interconnections, Direct To Home (DTH) services and mobile number portability. In 2000, the Telecom Disputes Settlement Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT) was constituted through an amendment of the 1997 act, through an ordinance. The primary objective of TDSAT's establishment was to release TRAI from adjudicatory and dispute settlement functions in order to strengthen the regulatory framework. Any dispute involving parties like licensor, licensee, service provider and consumers are resolved by TDSAT. Also, any direction, order or decision of TRAI can be challenged by appealing in TDSA. TRAI functions through a Secretariat headed by a Secretary. All proposals for considerations are processed via Secretary, which organizes the agenda for Authority meetings (consulting with the Chairman), organizes preparation of minutes and issues regulations etc. in accordance to the meetings. The secretary is assisted by Advisors, namely Mobile Network, Interconnection & Fixed Network, BroadBand and Policy Analysis, Quality of Service, Broadcasting & Cable Services, Economic Regulation, Financial Analysis & IFA, Legal, Consumer Affairs & International Relation and RE & Administration & Personnel.Officers are selected from the

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premier Indian Administrative Service and Indian Revenue Service and also from the Indian Telecom Service.

Telephone statistics

Telephone subscribers (wireless and landline): 995.9 million (May 2012) Land lines: 31.53 million (May 2012) Cell phones: 929.37 million (May 2012) Monthly cell phone addition: 8.35 million (May 2012) Teledensity: 79.28% (May 2012) Annual cell phone addition: 227.27 million (March 2010 - 2011) Projected teledensity: 1.159 billion, 97% of population by 2013. Telephone system: 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. The rates are supposed to go down further with new measures to be taken by the Information Ministry.

Landlines: In India landline service is firstly run by BSNL/MTNL and after there are several other private players too, such as Airtel, Reliance Infocomm, Tata Teleservices and Touchtel. Landlines are facing stiff competition from mobile telephones. The competition has forced the landline services to become more efficient. The landline network quality has improved and landline connections are now usually available on demand, even in high density urban areas.

Mobile cellular: The mobile telephone network has aggrandized greatly since 2000. The number of mobile phone connections crossed fixed-line connections in Sept 2004 and currently there are an estimated 929.37 million mobile phone users in India compared to 31.53 million fixed line subscribers. India primarily follows the GSM mobile system, in the 900 MHz band. Recent operators also operate in the 1800 MHz band. The dominant players

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are Aircel, Vodafone, Airtel, Tata Indicom, Tata Teleservices, MTS, Uninor, Reliance Infocomm, Idea Cellular and BSNL/MTNL. There are many smaller players, with operations in only a few states. International roaming agreements exist between most operators and many foreign carriers.

Dialing system: On landlines system, intra circle calls are considered local calls while inter circle are considered long distance calls. Government is now working to integrate the whole country in one telecom circle. For long distance calls, you dial the area code prefixed with a zero (e.g. for Delhi, you would dial 011-XXXX XXXX). For international calls, you would dial "00" or + and the country code+area code+number. The country code for India is 91.

Call rates cutting blows: The rates of communication in India were one of the highest in the world, till a few years back. The rates could not be justified by the fact that rupee is cheaper. In fact the Indian sub continent had shown a calm tolerance towards the high rate in even in telecom. The rates were also justified as the government has to feel the high cost involved in the one-time developments like satellite and telephone tower related charges. But now owing to better technologies the telecom rates in India are on the verge of becoming cheaper.

Visitor Location Register(VLR):

Out of the total 929.37 million mobile subscribers, 689.33 Million subscribers were active subscribers in VLR on the last working day of the month i.e., May 31, 2012. The total active VLR number excludes the CDMA VLR figure of BSNL, as the service provider has not provided the VLR figures corresponding to their total CDMA subscriber base of 3.59 million. The proportion of VLR subscribers is 74.17% of the total wireless subscriber base reported by the service providers.

Internet users: Number of Internet users in India is the 3rd largest in the world next only to China and the United States of America.Though the number of internet users is high, internet penetration is still much lower than most countries across the globe. As per TechCircle reports from Aug 2013, India reported 165 million Internet connections (as of March 2013) of which over 140 million were mobile internet connections.

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Broadband subscribers: Broadband in India is defined as 512kbit/s and above by the government regulator. Total subscribers were 14.31 million (May 2012).

Internet service providers (ISPs) & hosts: 86,571 (2004) source: CIA World Fact Book Country code (Top-level domain): IN Radios: 116 million (1997)

Radio broadcast stations: 153- AM (Amplitude Modulation), 91- FM (Frequency Modulation), 68 (1998) - Shortwave

Televisions: 116,438,938(2011 Census)

In India, only the government owned Doordarshan (Door = Distant = Tele, Darshan == Vision) is allowed to broadcast terrestrial television signals. It initially had one major National channel (also known as DD1) and a Metro channel in some of the larger cities (also known as DD2). Satellite/Cable television took off during the first Gulf War with CNN. There are no regulations against ownership of satellite dish antennas, or operation of cable television systems, which led to an explosion of viewer ship and channels, led by the Star TV group and Zee TV. Initially restricted to music and entertainment channels, viewer ship grew, giving rise to several channels in regional languages and many in the national language, Hindi. The main news channels available were CNN and BBC World. In the late 1990s, many current affairs and news channels sprouted, becoming immensely popular because of the alternative viewpoint they offered compared to Doordarshan. Some of the notable ones are Aaj Tak that means Till Today, owned by the India Today group and Star News, initially run by the NDTV group and their charismatic lead anchor, Prannoy Roy (NDTV now has its own channels, NDTV 24x7, NDTV Profit and NDTV India). Also Sahara (like Sahara Rastriya & some regional channel),Sun network,E nadu India TV & IBN 7(the TV 18 group) are some most popular channel. Television terrestrial broadcast stations: 562 (of which 82 stations have 1 kW or greater power and 480 stations have less than 1 kW of power) (1997). Telecom Enforcement Resource and Monitoring (TERM), formerly known as Vigilance Telecom Monitoring (VTM), is the vigilance and monitoring wing of the Indian Department of

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Telecommunications (DoT). TERM is made up of 34 Cells in India's 24 telecom circles and 10 large telecom districts, each headed by a Senior Administrative Grade (SAG) level officer, termed as Deputy Director General (DDG). The main functions of TERM Cells are vigilance, monitoring and security of the network. Apart from this, TERM Cells also operate the Central Monitoring System (CMS), a clandestine mass electronic surveillance program, and carry out other functions. The TERM Cells function as the subordinate offices of the DoT in the field. These Cells represent the Telegraph Authority and the Licensor. Vigilance Telecom Monitoring Cells (VTM) were created by the Government to control illegal/clandestine telecom operations. Three VTM Cells were set up in October 2004 at Delhi, Mumbai and Hyderabad, and a fourth cell was created at Chennai the following month. Nine more Cells were created in August 2006 Nadu, West

at Punjab, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Kerala, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Tamil

Bengal and Uttar Pradesh (East) and fifteen more were added in January 2007 at Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh (West), Andaman &

Nicobar, Assam, Chhattisgarh, Jammu and Kashmir, Jharkhand, Himachal Pradesh, North East-I, North East-II, Orissa and Uttaranchal (now Uttarakhand). Six additional Cells were added in March 2007 for Kolkata, Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Pune, Jaipur and Lucknow taking the total number of VTM Cells to 34. VTM Cells were renamed to Telecom Enforcement Resource and Monitoring (TERM) Cells, with effect from 5 August 2008. The change was due to the increase in the role and functions of VTM Cells since their formation, and the Government felt that the new name reflected "the entire gamut of functions assigned to the Cells" and "distinguished their role vis-vis staffvigilance activities

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Findings and analysis

This above analysis and findings are encrypted from the above questions asked in survey. This will help to find the data analysis and interpretation . the answers from respondents are as follows as: 1) 1) Which service provider do you currently use? Ans. 18 people said they use Airtel, 7 said TATA DOCOMO, 3 said Idea, 2 said Reliance. 60% people use Airtel.23% use Tata Docomo,10% Idea,0.06% use Reliance. 2)Are you Happy with your current service provider? Ans. 21 people said yes , 9 people said no. It means 70% people are happy with their Current service provider. 3) ) Are you Happy with your network Coverage? Ans. 19 said yes, 11 people said no. most of the people are happy with network coverage. 4) Hows your experience in terms of Customer Service? Ans. 17 people said good, 7 said better,6 said best. So majority of people are happy with customer service 5). Do you receive SMS surveys regarding the feedback from your end on customer service regularly ? Ans. 5 people said Yes, 25 people said No. So 83.3% people doesnt receive sms feedback.

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6) Would you recommend your service provider to other people? Ans. 18 people said Yes, 12 said No. So 60% people are happy and will recommend their service provider to other people . 7) On a rating scale parameter, from 1 to 5 rate your service provider? Ans. 8 people rated 2 points. 10 people rated 3 points. 5 rated 3.5 points. 7 rated 4 points.

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Generic Conclusion

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Telephone:

Telephone Subscribers (Total) (2012)

960.9 million (May 2012)

Fixed lines (May 2012)

31.53 million

Mobile phones (2012)

929.37 million

Monthly telephone additions (Net) (May 2012)

8.35 million

Teledensity (2012)

79.28 %

Rural Teledensity

33 %

[1]

Projected teledensity by 2012

84 %

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Internet & Broadcasting

Percent household access (total), 2012

10.2% of households (137 million)

Percent broadband household access

1.18% of households (14.31 million)

Broadband internet users

14.31 million (May 2012)

[2]

Internet Service Providers (2012)

155

country code top-level domain

.in

Broadcasting

Television broadcast stations (2009)

1,400

Radio broadcast stations (1997)

800

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Annexure: 1) Which service provider do you currently use? Ans._____________________________________ 2) Are you Happy with your current service provider?(Yes/No) Ans._____________________________________ 3) Are you Happy with your network Coverage? (Yes/No) Ans._____________________________________ 4) Hows your experience in terms of Customer Service?(Good/Better/Best) Ans._____________________________________ 5) Do you receive SMS surveys regarding the feedback from your end on customer service regularly? (Yes/No) Ans._____________________________________ 6) Would you recommend your service provider to other people? (Yes/No) Ans._____________________________________ 7) On a rating scale parameter, from 1 to 5 rate your service provider? Ans._____________________________________

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Bibliography 1) TRAI website. (29/9/2013) 2) Survey about telecom user. (02/10/2013) 3) Wikipedia- Indian Telecom Sector. (03/10/2013) 4) Images- Information and Communication & Broadcasting. (04/10/2013)