INDEX

CHAPTERS CHAPTER 1 CHAPTER 2 CHAPTER 3 CHAPTER - 4 &5 CHAPTER 6 TOPICS

INTRODUCTION LITERATURE REVIEW COMPANY DATA ANALYSIS & INFERENCES SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS BIBLIOGRAPHY

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CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION
Revenue Assurance is about billing all transactions for all events without losing revenue. It extends its functionality to include collection of bad debts and outstanding revenues. Revenue Assurance is a business activity most commonly undertaken within telecommunications service providers. The activity is the use of data quality and process improvement methods that improve profits, revenues and cash flows without influencing demand. In the majority of telecommunications service providers this activity is led by a dedicated Revenue Assurance function.

One possible definition of Revenue Assurance is: "To assure the correct billing of all transactions, products and services provided by the telecom operator according to established agreements and the applied tariffs and to assure minimum loss due to bad debt and fraud."

Telecom companies face the problem of revenue leakage due to various reasons like telecom fraud, incorrect billing, interconnect disputes, network errors, switching errors etc. Telecom fraud is the single largest factor. According to industry estimates, the top 20 telecom companies in the world having combined revenue of US $ 1 trillion face a telecom fraud leakage of around 4% or US$ 40 billion. Overall the studies estimate revenue leakage to be around 6-10% of total revenues.

NEED FOR THE STUDY

This project helps us to know how efficiently telecom companies operating in todays world.

To study how telecom companies regularly miss out billing 5% of their revenues. This study is conducted to know about Revenue Assurance strategies and how they help in monitoring the causes of customer dissatisfaction and controlling them methodically and quite effectively.

This study helps in identifying the source of these leakages. And also focuses on how revenue assurance can make a significant contribution to financial performance and strategic positioning.

OBJECTIVES

To obtain complete information of various sources of revenue leakages. To study and understand revenue assurance as a means to identify and to prevent problems that result in financial underperformance, without seeking to generate additional sales.

To study the methods to recover "lost" revenues or costs (through issuing additional bills, chasing uncollected payments, renegotiating with suppliers a refund of costs etc).

To study what factors affect revenue assurance strategies. To know various methods that was used for identifying leakages.

SCOPE
The main scope of the project is, it contains the complete information about

revenue assurance, and how revenue assurance will bill all the transactions for all the events without losing revenue.
Another scope of the project is, it is a new concept which has came into focus, and

had got much importance in telecom sector, and the tools it uses are Customer Relationship Management (CRM), Home Location Register (HLR) etc.
The project creates awareness that how well the revenue assurance department

controlling the leakages of the company profits. The term Revenue Assurance has gained much importance in recent years, as it is only the business activity most commonly undertaken within

telecommunications. Another important aspect of this study is how well they are changing technology with the changing environment in controlling leakages.

Limitation of the study:

Complex classification of data. No Benchmark process or system for prevention. Methods used by other players are not available for study. Methods of frauds and leakages change from time to time. Co-ordination of various department are involved which sometimes leads to delays. High level of technicality involved

METHODOLOGY
Primary data is collected from company sources like records, accounts,

reports and personal interactions with the employees.

Secondary data is collected with the help of websites and journals and other

related books. Sample design, sample tools.

Chapter 2 LITERATURE REVIEW

Revenue Assurance these two words are being mentioned more and more by telecommunications company executives around the world. Although revenue assurance has always played an important role in Telecoms management, several factors have brought it to the forefront: The new wave of regulatory interest in how Telecoms monitor and report on their revenues (i.e. Sarbanes-Oxley) Increasing pressure to show more profit and reduced operating budgets, making it critical for management to exploit all areas of potential revenue realization. The struggle of existing revenue management systems to keep up with the continuing breakneck pace of technological and marketing innovation. Any one of these factors is enough reason for managers to examine how their companies handle revenue assurance. Together, they create an undeniable need for managers to revisit how revenue assurance should be improved to meet the demands of the next generation of telecommunications. A Significant Challenge Revenue assurance (revenue assurance ) has been an issue for telecom operators for as long as telephones have existed. But revenue assurance has had to change dramatically to keep up with the many other changes in the

telecom industry. At first glance, revenue assurance seems like a relatively straightforward topic. It would be easy to assume that tracking something as fundamental as revenue generation would be simple for sophisticated, technologically advanced organizations such as telecom operators. In fact, the truth is quite the opposite. The reality is that the more telecommunications companies try to keep up with the latest changes in market conditions and technological innovations, the more they lag in their revenue assurance capabilities.

The New Revenue Assurance Imperative It is more important than ever for telecom executives and managers to better understand their current revenue assurance capabilities, and to develop effective strategies for tightening up gaps in coverage. A person who attempts to get a quick understanding of revenue assurance will quickly learn it is a daunting and challenging task.

Understanding Telecom Revenue Assurance Today Its difficult to get any kind of useful perspective on telecom revenue assurance because the subject is both broad (covering a wide range of technical and business disciplines and operational areas) and deep (requiring the revenue assurance analyst to be familiar with telecommunications switch programming and behaviours, the operational parameters for dozens of computer business support systems, and the operation, policies and procedures of dozens of highly specialized departments). Because of this challenge,

the researchers will find few reliable sources of information about the discipline and the supporting processes.

Understanding Revenue Leakage

Today, nearly all service providers are focusing on revenue assurance: todays economic pressure to maximize profitability and reduce costs may be the primary reasons. Another reason may be the diminished emphasis on capturing new market share3G deployments are being delayed; new killer applications in the wire line space are not fully available either. This shifts the focus to optimising profitability within the providers existing market. Whether the concentration on revenue assurance is driven by economics or technology, one thing is clear: the potential benefits are huge, and advanced solutions are available that provide return on investment in months.

INVOICING

L E A K A G E S
MEDIATION RATING

SOCIAL NETWORK

CORE NETWORK

WHERE LEAKAGE OCCURS

Another survey, conducted by the Phillips Group indicates losses could be attributed to:
CDRs(CALL DETAILS RECORD) late to Mediation

Corrupt CDRs Failure to create CDRs CDRs lost CDRs late to billing Fraud Rating incorrectly Bad debt write-off Incorrect customer data

Specific Sources of Leakage While generalities and surveys can provide an overview of the leakage situation, an indepth understanding of different leakage scenarios is critical to addressing revenue

assurance problems. The following list represents a small sample of possible leakage points identified for carriers around the world.

Network-Related Leakage Signaling errors on switches Call records not passed from switches Call records not processed correctly by Mediation Call records not processed correctly by billing system Incorrect metering System errors Data corruption System capacity mismatches (for example, overflows) Misaligned processing or logic rules Failure to activate or provision the customer properly Failure to track customer activity properly Discord between operations and systems Improper registration and management of network inventory

Mediation-Related Leakage

 Failure to filter records correctly Failure to balance batches (in = out) Failure to clear suspense files Incorrect application of customer identifiers Incorrect application of policies Incorrect formatting of call detail records (CDR) to forward Dropped records Duplicated records

Billing-Related Leakage Confusion over who bills what Usage beyond billing stop Incorrect call plans Incorrect pricing tables or pricing plans Over-discounting Billing errors Poor suspense management Incorrect billing set-up

 Correct amounts, wrong currency Late billing Billing the wrong elements (for example, volume rather than duration)

Fraud-Related Leakage Internal fraud Theft of minutes Theft of customer revenues

External fraud Identity fraud Usage fraud Billing fraud

Collections- and Dunning-Related Leakage Failure to track old accounts Misapplication of credits Inefficient dunning policies Ineffective dunning practices

 Failure to feed back dunning lessons to Marketing, Sales, and Product Planning Credit policy management Errors on transfer from Billing to A/R, G/L

Provisioning and Customer-Service-Related Leakage Physical circuits not ceased when account terminated Over-provisioning Provisioning without notification of billing start Over-budget provisioning Abuse of shortcut or fast-track processes Improper update of customer status Improper update of systems based on change in customer status

Product-Development-Related Leakage Failure to plan for rate-plan updates to billing Failure to build transaction collection mechanisms into the start-up phase of product rollout

 Failure to include the cost of billing into the estimate of cost of product introduction

Location Switches CDR mediation Voice call billing Voice call settlement Voice roaming Pre-paid calling & roaming SMS handling E-mail usage billing File transfer billing Micro payment billing Micro payment settlement M-commerce settlement Micro payments while roaming Push advertising invoicing Credit card settlements

Main Leakage Type Data loss Data corruption Rating errors Statement errors Data loss Fraud Data loss Data loss QoS errors Fraud Statement errors Statement errors Fraud Statement errors Transaction repudiation

Clearing house charges

Statement errors

VAT collection & settlement

over payment

Causes for Revenue Leakage

Lack of Co-Ordination among different units in same organization

Co-ordination among the different functions of the organization is essential for Revenue Assurance. One function acting independently without taking into effect the limitation and capabilities of the other function will result in a loss of revenue.

Complexity in the products/services definition

With increasing completion, custom contracted or multiple rating schemes are also increasing which creates huge chances of errors in billing. According to a industry study, around 20% of revenue leakage occur due to rating and billing difficulties.

Mismatch between services (de) activation on network and billing (de)activation

Seamless integration between services provisioning system and billing system ins important to plug revenue leakages. Around 20% of the revenue leakages occur due to provisioning errors. Improper functioning of switch components.

Data transfer between the network and billing systems must be fail proof. Loss of data generally leads to lass of revenue. Mediation and data collection account for 45% of revenue leakages. Rating complexity

Complex rating structures just like complex promotions leads to numerous changes for errors. Bill production and bill delivery

Call details records used for bill production must be approved before any bill runs. Bills produced need to be checked before being send to customer. Business process weakness

Uncontrolled business process violations cause chain effects that often results in revenue loss. Business processes must be designed to cope with all emerging contingencies situations.

Data centre process weakness

Processing and transfer of data should be done carefully to protect critical files, which might result in both over billing and under billing.

Wrong rounding definitions

Rounding principles should be clearly configured throughout all systems consistently. Inconsistent or wrong rounding can cause companies to lose millions in lost revenues.

This lost revenue derives from many sources at different stages of the end-to-end revenue assurance process as detailed below:

CUSTOMER ACQUISITIO N

NETWORK ASSURANCE

BILLING INTEGRITY

INTERCONNECT RECONCILIATION

CUSTOMER MANAGEMENT

METHODS FOR STOPPING LEAKAGES Revenue assurance is much more comprehensive than most people realize, involving dozens of operations, organizations and systems and delivery of a wide range of services and capabilities in response to the different demands of the business. We have identified the six core operations that drive all revenue assurance activities, and we have developed a set of disciplines, procedures and practices to drive their efficient delivery.

Monitoring tracking the performance of each of the systems in the

Revenue Assurance chain, assuring their efficient and accurate operation Base lining assessing the overall risk of leakage across the organization

and identifying the revenue flow and leakage consequences. Auditing formally conducting systematic and repeatable scrutiny of a

particular system, process or operation and assuring its accuracy. Synchronization making sure that disparate systems are working with the

same accurate and timely reference data.

Investigation ad hoc analysis of suspected leakage areas and their

resolution. Correction repairing leakage areas that have been uncovered.

T E C H N Finance & Accountin g O L O G Y IT General Controls

P R O C E S S Carrier Manageme nt

People Order Collectio n Manageme nt

REVENUE ASSURANC E

Network Rating Fraud Management Operations

Why is Revenue Assurance required?

Safeguard against loss of revenue

Collecting revenue due to a company is one of the easiest ways for company to grow. It has been found that telecom companies regularly miss out billing 5% of their revenues.

Reducing customer churn

Revenue Assurance strategies help in monitoring the causes of customer dissatisfaction and controlling them methodically and quite effectively.

Maintaining billing accuracy standard

Both under-billing and over billing is a cause of worry for the company.While under billing results in loss of revenue, over billing results in loss of reputation.

Complying with regulatory requirements

In most countries regulatory bodies impose certain standards to retain the licenses, which might include customer complaints, compliance to service levels and billing accuracy.

Controlling financial losses (compensation lost business)

Revenue Assurance can make a significant contribution to financial performance and strategic positioning.

Service activation involves interaction among the order entry, order management and billing systems. Revenue leakage is caused most commonly by the manual handoff of

information among systems or if systems are not correctly synchronized. As a result, a service might be ordered and provisioned but never entered into the billing system.

The networks incorrect representation in the inventory system is another major cause of revenue leakage that can result in stranded assets or network resources being assigned to services that no longer exist.

Leakage in billing processes most commonly occurs when inaccurate information is entered in the rating engine, which causes calls to be rated and billed incorrectly.

Revenue leakage related to usage typically occurs in the mediation and billing processes. Causes include incorrect information being transmitted from the switch to the mediation system and usage detail records that are misrouted, corrupt or incorrectly identified.

Revenue leakage in these three primary categories is caused most frequently by human error and errors in processes, compounded by the disaggregated nature of many carriers systems.

There are many ways to defraud telecom networks, irrespective of wire line or wireless service. Frauds can be classified as two types technical frauds and non-technical frauds.

Technical frauds are frauds like cloning etc. and the typical frauds that one comes across in wire lines. However, technical frauds are possible only in analogue networks. Telecom companies nowadays use digital networks and hence are subject to only non-technical frauds.

Prepaid users There is a general belief that prepaid users have zero risk as they pay upfront for their usage. However this is not the case as frauds are also possible in case of prepaid users.

Some of the frauds seen in prepaid users are: Manipulation of CDRs: Normally in the network there is a flag for identification of a pre paid caller. By tampering with the systems, these flags can be removed. As a result, Call Detail Records (CDRs) are forwarded to the post paid billing system. These charges will not be adjusted, as the details of customers will not be there in the Post-paid system.

SIM based Systems: In case of SIM based systems, the communication from the mobile switching centre is not encrypted and it is easy to tamper with credit information stored in the SIM. Manipulation of Tariff Plans: This is the manipulation of databases that has information about the credit available, top ups, and tariff plan, free numbers etc. This will lead to inaccurate CDRs.

Last Call Manipulation: Some pre paid systems have a system where the CDR is generated only after the call is terminated. In case the credit is low and the last call is long, the difference between the credit and the cost of the call is a bad debt for the operator. Apart from these there can be internal frauds where employees can manipulate customer accounts, or illegally leak voucher numbers of refills etc.

In the era of rate-of-return regulation, in which carriers were guaranteed a certain profit regardless of their operational expenditures, operators could afford high-cost processes, or processes that included revenue leakages, and still make money.

Today, most carriers are regulated under price caps or are not regulated at all, which provides them with an incentive to lower their operational costs to maximize their profits.

Drives fraud management. Four types of prepaid systems are widely in use. These are

Advice of Charge based system Hot Billing based system

 Service Node based system Wireless Intelligent Network (WIN) based system

Advice of Charge In an Advice of Charge (AoC or handset based) based pre-paid system, credit information of subscribers is stored in the mobile station (hand set SIM). So when a call is initiated, MSC sends the advice of charge parameters to the hand set, based on the call details (like destination, tariff applicable, etc). When the usage (accumulated call meter) reaches a user-defined threshold (say 80% of Accumulated Call Meter Maximum or total credit available) or the called party releases the call, the handset terminates the call. In hand set based pre-paid system, account adjustment takes place (decrementing of credit) while the call is on.

Hot Billing Approach In this system, pre-paid credit adjustment is done based on the information provided by the CDR. Which means that the activity of call charging takes place only when the call is terminated and the CDR is generated. When a pre-paid customer makes a call, MSC does the HLR interrogation (to check whether it is a pre-paid subscriber or a post paid subscriber). When the call is terminated, MSC generates CDR and these CDRs are

forwarded to the pre-paid billing system instead of the post paid billing system. Credit adjustment takes place based on the data extracted by the pre-paid system from the CDRs.

Service Node Based Approach In this system service node is co-located with the MSC and is connected to the MSC with standard E1/ T1 trunks, which are assigned to a particular block of pre-paid numbers (subscribers). In this approach also all the billing related and subscriber related information are stored in the service node.

Wireless Intelligent Network (WIN pre-paid system) WIN platforms have gained a lot of popularity as it is a more secure method to have prepaid systems on. These platforms do have in-built security like last call protection, generation of HRN by the system etc. In pre-paid systems based on IN, the SIM is used only for authentication of the subscribers to the network. In principle WIN based systems are the most secure as these are extremely difficult for a fraudster to attack, assuming that internal mechanisms are in place to control misuse and to detect for fraudulent activities by staff. However chances of some fraudulent activities, which are discussed in this document, cannot be ruled out.

Tools to Stop Revenue Leakage

There are several approaches to the challenges of finding and stopping revenue leakage. These approaches combine physical processes, automated systems and skilled people.

Previously, the focus on solving revenue loss problems centered on establishing a small, reactionary team of subject matter experts dedicated to tracing one specific problem out of many. This very costly investment with limited savings potential concentrated on one problem area only and did not address the prevention of new areas of leakage. Employing permanent teams of dedicated processes may also bring improvements, but drastic decreases of revenue leakage will still require more sophisticated, automated and adaptive testing and analysis tools.

A number of toolssuitable for supporting revenue assurance projectsare available today. They can be grouped into three main categories: reporting, testing and analysis tools.

Reporting Tools All service providers use revenue-reporting tools of some sort to generate daily, weekly, or monthly financial and usage reports. Reporting tools are very useful for tracking service usage over a given period of time, total usage by account, etc. To a certain extent, reporting tools can also help detect revenue leakage, but only when they have reports designed for this purpose. To a large extent, only a limited set of the network-related issues can be uncovered by these reports based on the data that is typically tracked.

Testing Tools

Testing tools are designed to verify that a new service is correctly billed prior to launching the service on the network. These tools, while able to verify billing performance in a controlled trial environment, are insufficient to guarantee minimal revenue loss in a fully operational environment. Trials only permit you to see the results of the specific test cases operational leakage, such as provisioning and activation errors that can lead to leakage can be missed and left uncorrected when the services go live.

Analysis Tools There is a clear difference between tools that help you analyze data and tools that generate reports. When seeking an analysis tool, you may really get an explanation about the capabilities of a reporting tool. However, there is a clear difference between tools that help you analyze data and tools that generate reports. Analysis tools are interactive, and enhance and clarify the data visually while you point and click. Reporting tools are not interactive. They just show you a set of pre-defined reports, or generate a new report after you define the new output you want. It is much easier and faster using analysis tools to find revenue leakage.

A Robust Tool Set is required: While taking a holistic approach is an integral step in ensuring an effective revenue assurance program, the access to relevant data and the resources to monitor, analyze and act on the information derived from that data is also essential. While manual approaches have been attempted with limited success, the key to working with the massive amounts of

data relevant to revenue assurance is an effective tool set that to-date has been generally unavailable. A few vendors make the claim, but on examination their solutions are not comprehensive enough to support a holistic approach. In reality there just are not many vendors offering revenue assurance products beyond consulting, and most of those who are have focused solely on reactive revenue assurance. Furthermore, internal IT attempts to build one-off revenue assurance tools and solutions have been expensive and time consuming. The lack of a robust set of revenue assurance tools is a difficult problem to overcome. To better understand the problem, it helps to look at what issues need to be solved, and then at what characteristics the tools need to have in order to address those issues. There are four common issues most revenue assurance organizations are faced with today. An effective tool set should help with all four: 1. Budget constraints 2. Limited staff or resources 3. Limited or no access to relevant data 4. Never-ending list of revenue assurance initiatives to be worked.

An efficient Revenue Assurance System provides:

1.

Flexible & Configurable Workflow

Every operators operational environment is unique. While the elements of a network are broadly the same, each operator chooses to implement procedures, policies and workflow in line with its unique business requirements. This workflow usually has evolved over a period of time and reflects organizational learning. An revenue assurance system that mandates a predefined workflow that aims to change an operators existing workflow is destined for disaster. Operator must thus look for revenue assurance systems that have an ability to build a workflow that reflects its existing procedures and also has the flexibility to configure new workflows as it evolves and improves.

2.

Hands-off Integration with Network Elements An end-to-end revenue assurance system plugs into various network elements, from

SWITCH probes all the way up to the billing system. It must have an ability to interface with a variety of support systems and network elements that enables it to process usage information, track discrepancies and identify potential revenue leakages. However it is important to remember that it is the revenue assurance system that is the new comer to the OSS/BSS chain. It is crucial that the revenue assurance system can integrate with other elements without the need to make changes to these elements configurations and set-ups or compromising their integrity. An revenue assurance system that provides for hands-off integration is therefore an obvious choice. Hands-off integration through creation of element-specific data sources is the recommended approach for revenue assurance systems to integrate into an existing OSS/BSS chain.

3.

Invoice Verification It is important that a revenue assurance system provides a subscriber billing verification capability to ensure that the operator is billing its subscribers accurately for all billable usage. The revenue assurance system must collect, collate, rate and reconcile subscriber usage data across billing, rating, mediation, network switches, SWITCH and gateways. By automatically rating and reconciling usage data taken from the network, SWITCH or mediation with the actual invoices available from the retail billing system or even the printer output the carrier is guaranteed that all billable usage is indeed billed. For maximum flexibility, the revenue assurance system must provide for an ability to drilldown capability to isolate a problem from the invoice level down to the usage (CDR) level. Additionally the revenue assurance system must provide for a sophisticated rating engine.

a. Sophisticated Rating Engine An effective revenue assurance system not only tracks and identifies the discrepancies in usage as reported by OSS systems but also ensures that usage is billed at appropriate rates. The revenue assurance system must be able to validate charges against rates and inventory of installed/activated equipment, leased facilities and circuits. This requires a sophisticated rating engine that is able to accommodate a wide variety of charging models. Operators must demand and verify that the revenue assurance system has an

independent and sophisticated rating engine that allows for configuration of all types of rate plans and charging models and do so with ease.

b. CDR Drill Down & Dispute Management

Identifying that there is a discrepancy between actual usage and usage billed is only half the battle. It is also important for operators to pin point what causes the discrepancy and therefore be able to fix it. Operators must be able to initiate disputes from identified invoice discrepancies and follow through by tracking and resolving them, thus allowing faster settlement of disputes and reducing time to cash.

4.

Inter-carrier Traffic Verification & Analysis An effective revenue assurance system will provide for Inter-carrier traffic verification to ensure that the operator pays only for actual traffic sent to the partners network (payables invoice) and at the same time ensure accuracy of data passing into the inter-carrier billing system so that the operator can accurately bill its interconnection partner (receivables invoice).

5.

Facilities Verification An end-to-end revenue assurance system verifies if each feature or service provisioned and activated for a customer, is used and is being billed for. This is usually achieved through the process of triangulation that uses data from services and features provisioned in the network, service usage data available from the network (including SWITCH) and those allocated to customers in the billing system. One primary benefit of such triangulation is identification of stranded infrastructure infrastructure that is deployed but is not used.

The schematic below presents the various systems in the BSS/OSS eco-system and how an effective revenue assurance system would impact each of them.

INTRA- CARRIER

INTER- CARRIER

Switch to Bill Reconcile all types of identified switch to bill discrepancies

Inter-carrier Billing Validate interconnect invoice for their integrity

Inventory Effective identify stranded assets and stop revenue losses Disputes Swiftly file the available information and resolve interconnect disputes

Network Enable switches to accurately record all billable events Inter- carrier Terms Enter into profitable agreements with interconnect partners Network Swiftly validate the need to expand existing facilities

Provisioning Synchronize switch, billing, ordering and provisioning systems

Billing & Rating Easily maintain complex price plans without losing revenues

OSS Verify operational information across multiple OSS system

Understanding the Costs Side of the Formula

Revenue Assurance has only one purpose, to help improve the Telcos financial position. The whole point of Revenue Assurance (revenue assurance) is to raise the amount of revenue that is being collected. Given this premise, it is critical that we figure out how to

make the best Revenue Assurance decisions so that those ends are met. Revenue Assurance decisions that make sound financial sense are actually much more difficult to make than one might assume. The problem, of course, is that every action taken to improve Revenue Assurance has its cost. We need to be sure, before we undertake any RM activity that we have examined both the costs and the potential benefits associated with it so that we can be sure that the decision is a financially reasonable one.

The Cost/Benefit Equation for Revenue Assurance To make this determination, therefore, the first thing we need is a better understanding of what the different cost and benefit factors are. We make use of a standard Revenue Assurance Cost/Benefit Equation to diagnose these factors and their relationship. In its simplest form, the cost/benefit equation for RM assures that the total of all of the costs associated with any activity is lower than the expected benefits.

(Optimum REVENUE ASSURANCE Solution =Expected Costs < Expected Benefits) To perform this calculation, we need a better understanding of exactly what the costs are and what kind of benefits we can expect.

REVENUE ASSURANCE Benefits Evaluation From an overly simplistic perspective, it is relatively easy to quantify the benefits that one expects to get from revenue assurance . In broad terms, over the long haul, we measure

the effectiveness of revenue assurance activities in terms of the lost revenues that are either recovered or prevented. In reality, however, the benefits of revenue assurance are a little bit more complicated than that. What one expects from Revenue Assurance activities include:

Discovery Finding places where revenue losses are occurring and making management aware of them. Correction Addressing and rectifying revenue loss areas that management is aware of. Prevention Putting procedures and mechanisms in place the help anticipate and prevent future leakage. Risk Assessment Establishing a certain level of confidence for management that the revenue realization process is working as it should (an evaluation of the risk that the revenue assurance process is maintaining adequate coverage).

It is very important to realize that management is looking for all four of these objectives. Too often, people get focused only on the first and second areas (leakage discovery and correction) without realizing that the third and fourth (leakage prevention and establishment of an acceptable level of confidence) can actually be much more important, and of much higher value in the long run.

Revenue Assurance is, First and Foremost Too often, people get swept up in the drama and excitement from discovery of a really big leakage point that saves the company millions of dollars in potentially lost revenues, and helps justify the existence of the Revenue Assurance group. While these stories of success are gratifying and deliver value, what managers who read about these Revenue Assurance victories should be asking is, How did this happen in the first place? and How could this be allowed to go undetected so long? and ultimately How many problems like this are hiding within our systems that we are unaware of? In other words, one of the major benefits of revenue assurance is the confidence that there are no

leakages to be repaired. Of course, the process of preventing leakage and increasing confidence is completely different from the process of finding existing leakage and correcting it (although it is possible to learn from the one to give direction and focus to the other).

Expanding the Benefits Side of the Formula The conclusion we can draw from these observations is straightforward. The benefits associated with revenue assurance activities come in four forms: discovery, correction, prevention, and risk assessment (establishment of a certain confidence level in the revenue assurance activities). Each activity performed by an revenue assurance group

addresses at least one of these objectives and, consequently, a cost can be associated with each.

REVENUE ASSURANCE Costs Evaluation The five principle disciplines that a Revenue Assurance group performs are: Base lining Creating and running standard, high level summary reports that provide end-to-end checkpoints for the accuracy of the entire revenue recognition, invoicing, and realization process Monitoring Creating and running standard, periodic reports that reveal the details about the operation of different systems Auditing Executing formally defined, systematic procedure which validate the integrity of a system or process Correction Making organizational, operational, procedural, or systems changes to recapture revenues that are being lost Investigation Exploring, evaluating, and uncovering revenue leakage areas that were previously unknown

Given our understanding of these processes, it is easy to take the next step and figure out exactly which disciplines are associated with which objectives.

Developing a clear and easy to use formula for the determination of optimum revenue assurance activities should be easy at this point. You simply use the associated discipline to figure out the cost of attaining the objective you are considering. Unfortunately, there is one other factor that we have yet to take into account, and that is the nature of the systems that are available to the Revenue Assurance analysts to perform their tasks. The right kind of Revenue Assurance systems and operational support are critical to the success of any Revenue Assurance activity and has a huge impact on the costs associated with those activities.

The Principle Components of RA Costs There are actually several components that make up the sum total of the cost side of the Revenue Assurance formula and they are all quite a bit more interrelated and complicated than one first realizes. Each Revenue Assurance function that is performed involves the following general categories of costs:

 Actual costs Costs associated with the delivery of a specific RA objective Man Hour Costs The time invested by personnel from all organizations involved in the completion of the task. This includes the revenue assurance staff and the collateral man hours from I/T, management, and other departments Duration Costs The time it takes to complete the operation (the duration or waittime) Collateral Costs Costs associated with the impact of revenue assurance activities on other organizations Credibility/Consensus Costs Investments made in the development of revenue assurance solutions or answers so that the findings are accepted, respected, and agreed to by all organizations and managers Opportunity Costs Costs associated with the time people spend on revenue assurance that they could be spending on other things Collateral Systems Impact Costs Costs for modification, creation, or integration of existing I/T systems to meet revenue assurance demands Investment Costs Costs associated with investments so that future solution delivery will be faster, more efficient, or more effective Infrastructure Investments Investments made into computer hardware, software, and systems

 Operational and Organizational Investment Investment made in the formalization of procedures, roles, and responsibilities to assure the ongoing stability, dependability, and efficiency of revenue assurance activities Competency Investments Investments made in the skills and capabilities of the individuals working on the revenue assurance support positions Flexibility Investments Investments into an revenue assurance infrastructure that will make it easy to adjust as the business environment and technology environment change team or in revenue assurance

Man Hour Costs By far the single biggest expense of revenue assurance activities is the investment of man-hours to a given task. The man-hour costs, however, are in no way limited to the hours invested by the Revenue Assurance analysts. In fact, for many tasks, other people will spend many more hours on the revenue assurance activity than the revenue

assurance analyst. (The presence of a Revenue Assurance analyst is often dreaded by employees in other departments since, what that analyst usually does is identify areas where those employees need to put aside their other responsibilities and help the revenue assurance analyst figure out the problem they are facing.) The different time investments to be considered include: The time investment of Revenue Assurance analysts themselves

 The time investment of source systems experts to assist the analyst in the diagnosis of the situation or in the development or interpretation of reports The time investment of computer systems personnel in the preparation of reports and the provision of supporting information The time investment made by managers and executives from various departments when problems or inconsistencies are discovered that require management intervention for resolution The time investment of operational and computer systems support personnel who are called upon to make changes to systems and operations in response to a need for corrections

Depending upon the activity performed, the investment of time by non-revenue assurance personnel can be extensive. Reinforcing the point we made in the previous section, there are often many ways that a given task can be performed, based on the different combinations of personnel, skills and time frames that are available. This combination of factors (the delivery time frame required vs. the skills levels of the personnel assigned to the task) is what makes revenue assurance cost estimation so difficult.

Duration Costs and the Expediency Penalty Completely separate from and in addition to any real costs incurred in accomplishing an revenue assurance objective is the fact that the expediency of a task also has its own

associated costs and benefits. We, therefore, need to understand exactly how critical the time element of every activity is and make sure that the organization is willing to pay the extra costs involved. For any given task, there are hundreds of ways to accomplish it. Some might be incredibly human resource intensive; others might involve the use of machines. Some might require the part-time allocation of a highly skilled expert; others could involve the full time dedication of unskilled personnel.

In each case, the speed with which we want to get it done will have a huge impact on the options we choose, and the costs involved. As a general rule of thumb, we know that the sooner something needs to be done, the more it will cost. When the demand for quick delivery of a solution gets to be greater than the reasonably expected timeframe for delivery, we refer to it as the expediency penalty. An important parameter and planning element for any Revenue Assurance activity, therefore, is to carefully consider the timing required in order to optimise for this dimension and to minimize the expediency penalty without jeopardizing the other objectives.

Credibility and Consensus Costs One of the areas that planners of revenue assurance solutions tend to miss is that of systems credibility and the cost of developing a consensus around the solution and the

numbers being generated. Despite decades of experience to the contrary, many managers continue to pursue the issue of Revenue Assurance reporting as an absolute science. In their mistaken thinking, there is only one correct number, and once you figure out what that is, everyone should simply use it. Reality is hardly ever that simple. The numbers created by an revenue assurance system are complex and open too much interpretation. If the system or operation in question is going to be effective, then its credibility will have to be addressed. Creating answers to tough revenue assurance questions that have

credibility adds several steps to the process and the cost of this effort needs to be factored in.

Opportunity Costs There is often a large opportunity cost associated with many revenue assurance activities in terms of the man hours that non- revenue assurance personnel will spend on a

solution. In addition to this direct cost (the cost of non-revenue assurance personnels time), we must consider the opportunity cost that this represents. By pulling key people away from other tasks, the related departments run the risk of jeopardizing other, possibly more important operations for the sake of the revenue assurance effort. These

opportunity costs must be considered and included in the decision making process.

Collateral Systems Impact Costs By far one of the largest and most obvious of the collateral costs of revenue assurance is the huge impact it can have on existing I/T systems. There is almost no revenue

assurance activity, think of that does not involve either making modifications to an existing system (network, mediation, billing etc.) or that, at least, requires that those systems provide data feeds and access to personnel. Either way, these systems can be adversely (sometimes severely) affected by revenue assurance activities. For this reason, no

revenue assurance activity should be undertaken without a clear, comprehensive, and well planned collateral systems impact analysis.

Infrastructure Investments Many revenue assurance activities require a significant investment in computer systems and in computer systems support. These may include a major overhaul of existing systems to meet new Revenue Assurance needs or the creation of comprehensive revenue assurance systems to provide support for analysts. Here, again, the options are many and so are the combinations of computer systems. There is actually no aspect of Revenue Assurance that absolutely requires that a new computer system be built. It is possible; in fact it is often preferable, for the Revenue Assurance analyst to make use of existing systems and reports to get the job done. The decision to invest in new hardware, software, and systems for revenue assurance is a decision to invest in computer

capabilities that will ease the tradeoffs challenges that the revenue assurance manager has to face. By adding systems, the revenue assurance manager hopes to get more revenue assurance done faster get more accuracy out of revenue assurance for a lower overall cost make it easier for non-experts to perform revenue assurance functions

 greatly increase the overall revenue assurance capacity and reach possible

Ironically, of all of the different costs involved in revenue assurance, the one that is the most avoidable and the most powerful is the infrastructure investment. In the next chapter, we will consider in more detail the impacts and consequences of making different kinds of infrastructure investments. At this point, suffice it to say that making a prudent investment in revenue assurance infrastructure (systems, tools etc.) can have a huge impact on the efficiency and effectiveness of the revenue assurance organization. It is also critical to note that many organizations have been known to make huge investments in infrastructure that yielded almost no value. In some cases the investment actually has had a negative impact.

Operational and Organizational Investments When all is said and done REVENUE ASSURANCE is, more than anything else, an operational capability delivered by a group of people within the organization. To function, that group of people needs to have a clearly defined organizational and operational structure (department, budget, procedures, responsibilities, KPIs, etc).The identity, structure and responsibilities of the revenue assurance group can many times be nebulous and unclear. The fact of the matter is that the creation, maintenance and Enhancement of an revenue assurance organization is an investment that is actually more critical than any of the other investments. Without this one investment, none of the others will deliver the results required.

Competency Investments Another important area to be considered is investment in the skills, capabilities and competency of the revenue assurance team. Ultimately, it is the competency of the REVENUE ASSURANCE analysts and support personnel that determines how quickly, how accurately, and how effectively the revenue assurance job gets done. This means that, for every revenue assurance task, the manager must choose between an approach that may be faster or of lower cost in the short term, versus choosing an approach that makes it possible to develop and enhance the skills of the team (thereby investing in faster, lower cost solutions in the future).

Flexibility Investments Another important factor to consider is the flexibility that the solution provides. As a general rule, a direct and inflexible solution is usually easier, faster, and less expensive. There is, unfortunately, a cost associated with a solution that can be quickly adjusted to meet the ever changing needs of the business. As with all the other factors, the flexibility investment decision requires serious tradeoffs analysis.

Critical Success Factors Based upon this more comprehensive list of potential costs, we can now provide a much more accurate picture of what the real risks associated with the delivery of revenue

assurance solutions are. Experience has shown that the three biggest factors include the following. 1. Consider all of the costs associated with any REVENUE ASSURANCE activity By far, the biggest mistake in taking on any kind of revenue assurance activity, from the smallest investigation to the largest systems implementation, is failing to consider all of the different costs in the decision-making process. 2. Do not underestimate the collateral impacts It is one of the unfortunate characteristics of revenue assurance , that the revenue assurance team itself is absolutely dependent upon other groups for the vast majority of results. The revenue assurance group is much more of an expediter and influencer than an actual delivery department. The collateral impact the need for other groups people, time, resources, and systems access is the key to revenue assurance success. 3. Invest with balance It is very easy to fall into one of two extremes when it comes to revenue assurance investment. Often, the tendency is to invest too heavily in certain areas (i.e. in computer systems) without considering the fact that, without an equivalent investment in other areas, the investment will be wasted.

Cost Tradeoffs (Getting the Optimum Cost) So, we can see that the really complicated thing about computing the Revenue Assurance cost/benefit formula is dealing with the cost side. For each of the principle cost areas

(direct, collateral, and investment) there are infinite combinations of variables, all of which can get you the desired res

Chapter 3 COMPANY

Company profile
1

Incorporation and history Tata DoCoMo TATA DoCoMo, usually referred to as DoCoMo (not to be confused with NTT Docomo), is an Indian cellular service provider on the GSM and CDMA platform-arising out of the Tata Group's strategic joint venture with Japanese telecom giant NTT Docomo in November 2008. Tata Teleservices is the country's sixth largest operator in terms of subscribers (including both CDMA and GSM). Tata Teleservices Limited (TTSL) received a license to operate GSM telecom services in 19 telecom Circles and has been allotted spectrum in 18 of these circles, under the brand "TATA DoCoMo". Tata Docomo launched GSM services on 24 June 2009. It first launched in South India and currently operates GSM services in 18 of 22 telecom circles. It has licence to operate in Delhi but has not been allocated spectrum from the Government. Docomo provides CDMA services throughout India. Tata DOCOMO offers both prepaid and postpaid cellular phone services. It has become very popular with its one second pulse especially in semi-urban and rural areas. On 5 November 2010, Tata DOCOMO became the first private sector telecom company to launch 3G services in India . Tata DOCOMO had about 42.34 million users at the end of December 2010.

On 20 October 2011, Tata Teleservices brought its brands - Indicom, Photon, Walky under the Tata Docomo name. All subscribers to these services were migrated to the Docomo brand on 20 October 2011.

Rebranding On 20 October 2011, Tata Teleservices bring its brands - Indicom, Photon, Walky - under the Tata Docomo name. All subscribers to these services were migrated to the Docomo brand on 20 October 2011.[4] Tata Indicom brand is still used in the Delhi circle, but is expected to be rebranded at a later date. The companies other brands - Virgin Mobile and T24 - are not part of the rebranding and will retain their names.[5] Tata Teleservices' products have been renamed as below:

Tata Indicom now Tata Docomo on CDMA Tata Photon now Tata Docomo Photon Tata Walky now Tata Docomo Walky

Network Coverage Tata Docomo mobile service is available in the following circles:

Madhya Pradesh (3G) Maharashtra & Goa (3G) Mumbai Andhra Pradesh (3G) Bihar & Jharkhand Gujarat (3G) Haryana (3G) Himachal Pradesh Karnataka (3G) Kerala (3G) Kolkata (3G) Orissa Punjab (3G) Rajasthan (3G) Tamil Nadu Uttar Pradesh (East) Uttar Pradesh (West) (3G) West Bengal

Tata Docomo does not offer services in Assam, Delhi and the North-Eastern states.

3G On 19 May 2010, the 3G spectrum auction in India ended. Tata Docomo paid 5864.29 crores for spectrum in 10 circles. The circles it will provide 3G in are Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Haryana, Karnataka, Kerala, Maharashtra & Goa, Punjab, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh (West). On 5 November 2010, Tata DOCOMO became the first private sector telecom company (third overall) to launch 3G services in India, with a 20 city launch. The company will be investing USD 500 million in network roll out nationally. Tata Docomo's HSPA+ 3G network, set up with the assistance of NTT Docomo, supports high-speed internet access with speeds of up to 21.1 Mbps. The network also supports high definition voice for superior quality voice calls. On July 19, 2011, Docomo and Aircel entered into a roaming agreement for 3G services to jointly roll out 3G networks in the circles where they both have spectrum. In the spectrum auction held last year, Aircel won 3G spectrum in 13 of India's 22 circles (service areas), while Tata was awarded 3G licenses in nine circles. This deal would give both companies 3G coverage in 19 telecom circles of India. They will not have coverage on 3 circles Delhi, Himachal Pradesh and Mumbai. The companies have three circles in common Karnataka, Kerala and Punjab. On December 14, 2011, Docomo ended its agreement with Aircel. Both operators ended the deal after the Department of Telecom said that such 3G arrangements were illegal, as the pacts violate licence terms and conditions.[9]

Docomo had about 1.5 million 3G subscribers as of May 2011.[10] Docomo Has Launched 3G Internet Access Devices 3G e-Sticks and 3G Wi-Fi Hubs . Competitors Tata Docomo competes with several other mobile operators throughout India. They are Aircel, Airtel, Cheers Mobile, BSNL, Idea, Loop Mobile, MTNL, MTS, Ping Mobile, Reliance Communications, S Tel, Uninor, Videocon and Vodafone. Tata Docomo's parent company also operates Virgin Mobile (GSM & CDMA).

Recent Campaigns Keep it Simple,Silly Tata Docomo refreshed its campaign starting April 8, 2011.The Keep It Simple, Silly ad features their new brand ambassador and bollywood star Ranbir Kapoor. The new ad campaign is claimed to be exciting and innovative and is being featured during the IPL 4 Season. It features Ranbir performing stand-up-comedy as a series of several 30 second episodes.Following its "Do the New" slogan Tata Docomo became the first to introduce Roam Free Packs to Postpaid customers offering free incoming roming service while in TATA Network.

Chapter 4 DATA ANALYSIS

A current picture of the market

GSM Operators Bharti Airtel Vodafone Essar IDEA Cellular BSNL Aircel Uninor Videocon MTNL Loop (BPL Mobile) S Tel Etisalat DB GSM BASE

Dec-10 152,495,219 124,255,120 81,778,655 81,388,098 50,168,811 18,510,049 7,319,603 5,115,245 3,044,579 2,315,524 264,899 526,655,802

Jan-11

Feb-11

Market Share % 28.65% 23.59% 15.64% 15.33% 9.64% 3.89% 1.18% 0.93% 0.55% 0.49% 0.12% 100 %

155,796,598 158,998,869 127,364,342 130,920,732 84,289,641 83,591,015 51,831,796 20,305,550 6,011,233 5,152,831 3,062,120 2,514,777 452,574 86,800,809 85,098,200 53,500,469 21,577,497 6,564,083 5,178,617 3,079,281 2,692,462 652,370

540,372,477 555,063,389

CDMA Operators Reliance Infocomm + GSM Tata Indicom + Tata Docomo MTS India PING CDMA Base

Dec-10 125,652,127 84,233,398 8,433,667 1,615,093 219,934,285

Jan-11 128,871,507 86,052,323 9,094,752 1,286,313 225,304,895

Market % 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% -

All operators (GSM + CDMA) GSM + CDMA Base

Dec-10 746,590,087

Jan-11 765,677,372

Feb-11 555,063,389

Interpretation
1. The above picture reveals that bharti airtel has highest market share i.e. 28.65% and the subscribers of bharti airtel on December 2010 are 152,495,219 from then it has increased to 155,796,598 at the end of January 2011 and at the end of February 2011 the subscribers are 158,998,869. Comparison of subscribers from December 2010 to February 2011 (158,998,869 - 152,495,219) = 65, 03,650 There is a tremendous increase in subscribers i.e. 65, 03,650 over a single year.

2. Vodafone Essar stands in the second place in terms of its market share, and the percentage of its market is 23.59%. The subscribers of Vodafone Essar at the end of December 2010 are 124,255,120 and at the end of February 2011 it is 130,920,732. Comparison of subscribers from December 2010 to February 2011

(130,920,732- 124,255,120) = 66, 65,612 When compared the subscribers, the increase of Vodafone Essar is more than Bharti airtel.

3. Idea cellular market share is 15.64%; it is standing in the third place in terms of its market share. The amounts of subscribers on December 2010 are 81,778,655 and at the end of February 2011 are 86,800,809. Comparison of subscribers from December 2010 to February 2011 (86,800,809 - 81,778,655) = 50, 22,154 There is an increase in subscribers of 50, 22,154 over a single year.

4. The market share of BSNL is 15.33%. BSNL and Idea cellular market shares are nearer to each other, it indicates that both the operators are playing similar importance in the market. The subscribers of Idea cellular on December 2010 are 81,388,098 and at the end of February 2011 are 85,098,200. Comparison of subscribers from December 2010 to February 2011 (85,098,200 - 81,388,098) = 37, 10,102 Even though there is a increase in subscribers but when compared to Idea cellular, the growth in subscribers is very low.

5. The above four operators are the key players in the market; they are covering 83.21% of market share. The remaining operators are mostly new entrants. Market share of Aircel is 9.64, and the subscribers on Aircel on December 2010 are 50,168,811 and on the end of February 2011 are 53,500,469. Comparison of subscribers from December 2010 to February 2011

(53,500,469 - 50,168,811) = 3, 31,658 There is a increase of 3, 31,658 over a year of time.

6. The market share of Uninor is 3.89%, the subscribers of this operator on December 2010 are 18,510,049, and at the end of February 2011 are 21,577,497. Comparison of subscribers from December 2010 to February 2011 (21,577,497 - 18,510,049) = 30, 67,448 Even though its market share is less than Aircel but the increase in the number of subscribers is lot more than it i.e. 30, 67,448, were as in Aircel it is 3, 31,658.

7. Videocon is another operator and the market share of this is 1.18%. The subscriber base on December 2010 is 7,319,603 and at the end of February 2011 are 6,564,083. Comparison of subscribers from December 2010 to February 2011 (6,564,083 - 7,319,603) = - 7, 55,520 It clearly indicates that the subscribers of Videocon is decreasing, and the amount of subscribers they loosed is 7, 55,520. Hence it denotes the company is running into losses.

8. The remaining operators (MTNL, Loop (BPL mobiles), S Tel, Etisalat DB, Reliance telecom old GSM) contribute market share of 3.27%. The subscribers on December 2010 are 107, 40,248 and at the end of February 2011 are 116, 02,730 Comparison of subscribers from December 2010 to February 2011 (116, 02,730 - 107, 40,248) = 862482

There is an increase in subscribers of these operators over a year of time.

The overall picture of GSM base shows the increase in the subscribers from December 2010 to February 2011 i.e. (555,063,389 - 526,655,802) = 284, 07,587.

Similarly in case of CDM there are four players existing in the market. They are Reliance Infocomn + GSM, Tata Indicom + Tata Docomo, MTS India and PING. Each of them is clearly explained as follows:

1. The subscribers in reliance infocomn + GSM on December 2010 are 125,652,127 and at the end of January 2011 are 128,871,507. And it is top operator in CDMA. Comparison of subscribers from December 2010 to January 2011 (128,871,507 - 125,652,127) = 32, 19,380 There is an increase in subscribers of 32, 19,380 over a year.

2. Tata Indicom + Tata Docomo stands at second place in terms of its subscribers and the subscribers in Tata Indicom + Tata Docomo on December 2010 are 84,233,398 and at the end of January 2011 are 86,052,323.

Comparison of subscribers from December 2010 to January 2011 (86,052,323 - 84,233,398) = 18, 18,925 There is an increase in the number of subscribers but it is not competing reliance infocomn, there is a big gap between these two operators.

3. The next player in CDMA is MTS India. The subscribers in MTS India on December 2010 are 8,433,667 and at the end of January 2011 are 9,094,752. Comparison of subscribers from December 2010 to January 2011 (9,094,752. - 8,433,667) = 6, 61,085 There is an increase in 6, 61,085 subscribers over a period of time.

4. The last one in the CDMA base is PING. The subscribers of this operator on December 2010 are 1,615,093 and at the end of January 2011 are 1,286,313. Comparison of subscribers from December 2010 to January 2011 (1,286,313 - 1,615,093) = - 328780 There is a decrease in subscribers of PING, the amount of subscribers left PING are 328780. It clearly shows that this operator is not competing with the above three improving players.

The overall subscribers of GSM and CDMA base on December 2011 are 746,590,087 and on January 2011 are 765,677,372 Comparison of subscribers from December 2010 to January 2011 (765,677,372 - 746,590,087) = 190, 87,285 There is an increase in subscribers (GSM + CDMA). This indicates that number of subscribers in India is increasing.

PROFILE OF INDIAN TELECOM SECTOR

India, the world's largest democracy with the world's second highest population and seventh largest area is also the fourth largest economy in terms of purchasing power parity. One of India's important assets is its vast reservoir of skilled manpower. The far-

reaching and sweeping economic reforms undertaken since 1991 have unleashed the immense growth potential of the Indian economy. A new spirit of economic freedom is now steering the country. A series of Second Generation Reforms aimed at further deregulation and stimulating foreign investment has moved India firmly into the front Ranks of growth international economies.

India's 42-million-line telephone network, including mobile, is the fifth largest in the world and second largest among emerging economies with a wide Range of services: basic, cellular, internet, paging, v-sat, and so on. Given its low telephone penetration Rate (about 4/100 population), India offers vast scope for growth. It is therefore not surprising that India has one of the fastest growing telecommunication systems in the world with an average annual growth of about 22 percent for basic telephone services and over 100 percent for cellular and Internet services. Telephone lines added to the basic services network over the last five years have been one and a half times those added over the preceding 50 years!

The Indian telecommunications sector has undergone a major process of transformation through significant policy reforms, particularly beginning in the 1990s, that led to gradually ushering in competition for greater consumer welfare, particularly in terms of lowering of tariffs and improvement in quality of service. The reform phase began with general liberalisation of the economy in the early 1990s. Telecom equipment manufacturing was de-licensed in 1991, and value-added services were declared open to the private sector in

1992, following which Radio paging, cellular mobile, and other value-added services were opened gradually to the private sector.

The most important landmark in telecom reforms came with the New Telecom Policy in 1999, called the new or third generation of reforms. NTP-99 envisages a tele-density of 7 by 2005 and 15 by 2010. With the software industry booming and Internet/mobile phone market exploding, telecommunications in India is gaining due importance. Moreover, rural telephony, maintenance of already existing networks, and products of strategic importance offer huge business opportunities. The cellular phone industry is one of India's rapidly growing industries. Since the industry came into being in the mid 1990s, its average per annum growth rate has been a phenomenal 85 percent. The industry has undergone a number of changes over the years. The National Telecom Policy 1999 was an important landmark in the development of the cellular telecom industry in India; the tariff rationalization and policy regulation introduced in the Policy helped the industry grow at the pace it did. The years 2001 and 2002 saw an increase in level of competition in the industry with more operators being given licenses, and fixed line providers also entering the mobile market. In 2003, Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) announced regulation of interconnects user charges to resolve conflicts between cellular operators and fixed line operators.

A comprehensive chart of Actual subscriber base till January 2011 is as below:

City/Circle

Operators

Oct-10

Nov-10

Dec-10

Jan-11

Andhra Pradesh Assam Bihar

Tata Indicom + Tata DoCoMo Tata Indicom Tata Indicom + Tata DoCoMo Tata Indicom + Tata DoCoMo Tata Indicom Tata Indicom + Tata DoCoMo Tata Indicom + Tata DoCoMo Tata Indicom + Tata DoCoMo Tata Indicom Tata Indicom + Tata DoCoMo Tata Indicom + Tata DoCoMo Tata Indicom + Tata DoCoMo Tata Indicom + Tata DoCoMo Tata Indicom + Tata DoCoMo Tata Indicom + Tata DoCoMo

8,545,399

8,656,057

8,693,388

8,731,641

108,041 4,800,075

109,768 4,909,914

111,589 5,006,901

113,402 5,072,838

Chennai

1,254,746

1,265,718

1,243,085

1,252,179

Delhi Gujarat

5,594,908 3,051,517

5,630,796 3,156,155

5,657,536 3,213,432

5,743,828 3,303,938

Haryana

2,822,878

2,863,843

2,898,511

2,922,757

Himachal Pradesh Jammu Kashmir Karnataka

285,241

307,002

327,654

346,589

86,909 6,839,083

88,814 6,895,836

92,154 6,960,222

95,428 7,044,662

Kerala

2,626,554

2,637,033

2,663,409

2,682,596

Kolkata

2,972,034

3,026,220

3,101,301

3,222,510

Madhya Pradesh Maharashtra

4,297,964

4,525,925

4,689,375

4,799,823

9,209,901

9,474,614

9,738,491

9,971,377

Mumbai

5,510,881

5,667,946

5,774,939

5,873,660

North East Orissa

Tata Indicom Tata Indicom + Tata DoCoMo Tata Indicom + Tata DoCoMo Tata Indicom + Tata DoCoMo Tata Indicom + Tata DoCoMo Tata Indicom + Tata DoCoMo Tata Indicom + Tata DoCoMo Tata Indicom + Tata DoCoMo

77,012 2,412,619

78,310 2,466,737

79,312 2,497,262

80,891 2,536,160

Punjab

2,917,829

2,977,945

3,111,101

3,284,585

Rajasthan

3,324,073

3,481,590

3,590,099

3,741,901

Tamil Nadu

3,560,120

3,571,389

3,612,010

3,631,236

UP East

3,808,712

3,882,885

4,000,048

4,145,051

UP West

4,291,396

4,394,095

4,517,381

4,671,950

West Bengal

2,419,406

2,529,546

2,654,198

2,783,321

TOTAL

80,817,298

82,598,138

84,233,398

86,052,323

INTERPRETATION
The above table shows the list of subscribers in Tata Indicom + Tata Docomo in all over states of India.

1. The subscribers in Andhra Pradesh are increasing continuously i.e. from 8,545,399 on October 2010, 8,656,057 on November 2010, 8,693,388 on December 2010, and 8,731,641 on January 2011. Percentage of increase in Andhra Pradesh (87,31,641 / 85,45,399) = 1.022% 2. In Assam only Tata indicom service is available, it means there is no GSM service available in that state. The subscribers in assam is very low but it is showing upward trend i.e. 108041 on October 2010, 109768 on November 2010, 111589 on December 2010 and 113402 on January 2011. Percentage of increase in Assam (113402 / 108041) = 1.05% 3. The subscribers in Bihar is also showing upward trend in its subscribers over a period of four months. i.e.4,800,075 on October 2010 to 5,072,838 on January 2011. Percentage of increase in Bihar (5,072,838 / 4,800,075) = 1.056% 4. The subscriber base in Chennai has shown little downward movement i.e. from 1,254,746 on October 2010 to 1,252,179 on January 2011. Percentage of decrease in Chennai (1,252,179 / 1,254,746) = 1.002%

5.In Delhi the subscribers are increasing, but there is only CDMA service available due to some internal security problem the Govt of India cancelled GSM services in some states. The movement of subscribers in Delhi is 5,594,908 on October 2010 to 5,743,828 on January 2011. Percentage of increase in Delhi (5,743,828 / 5,594,908) = 1.026% 6. The subscribers base in Gujarat is showing upward movement. It is increasing continuously i.e. from 3,051,517 on October 2010 to 3,303,938 on January 2011. Percentage of increase in Gujarat (3,303,938 / 3,051,517) = 1.082% 7.The subscribers in Haryana is also showing upward trend in its subscribers over a period of four months, that is 2,822,878 on October 2010 to 2,922,757 on January 2011. Percentage of increase in Haryana (2,922,757 / 2,822,878) = 1.035% 8. In Himachal Pradesh only Tata indicom service is available, it means there is no GSM service available in that state. The subscribers in HimachalPradesh are very low but it is showing upward trend i.e. 285,241 on October 2010 to 346,589 on January 2011. Percentage of increase in Himachal Pradesh (346,589 / 285,241) = 1.21%

9.In Jammu Kashmir the subscribers are increasing, but there is only CDMA service available due to some internal security problem the Govt of India cancelled GSM services in some states. The movement of subscribers in Jammu Kashmir is 86,909 on October 2010 to 95,428 on January 2011. Percentage of increase in Jammu & Kashmir (95,428 / 86,909) = 1.098% 10.The subscribers in Karnataka is also showing upward trend in its subscribers over a period of four months, that is 6,839,083 on October 2010 to 7,044,662 on January 2011. Percentage of increase in Karnataka (7,044,662 / 6,839,083) = 1.03% 11.The subscribers in Kerala is also showing upward trend in its subscribers over a period of four months, that is 2,626,554 on October 2010 to 2,682,596 on January 2011. Percentage of increase in Kerala (2,682,596 / 2,626,554) = 1.021%

12. The subscribers base in Kolkata is showing upward movement. It is increasing continuously i.e. from 2,972,034 on October 2010 to 3,222,510 on January 2011. Percentage of increase in Kolkata (3,222,510 / 2,972,034) = 1.084%

13. The subscribers in Madhya Pradesh are tremendously increased i.e. from 4,297,964 on October 2010 to 4,799,823 on January 2011. Percentage of increase in Madhya Pradesh (4,799,823 / 4,297,964) = 1.116% 14. The subscribers in Maharashtra are also tremendously increased i.e. from 9,209,901 on October 2010 to 9,971,377 on January 2011. Percentage of increase in Maharastra (9,971,377 / 9,209,901) = 1.082 15. The number of subscribers in Mumbai is showing upward movement i.e. from 5,510,881 on October 2010 to 5,873,660 on January 2011. Percentage of increase in Mumbai (5,873,660 / 5,510,881) = 1.065% 16. In some north eastern states of India there is a restriction imposed by the government, due to that there is no GSM service available in such states. The subscriber base of Tata Indicom in North Eastern states are also increasing that is from 77,012 on October 2010 to 80,891 on January 2011.

Percentage of increase in North East (80,891 / 77,012) = 1.050% 17. The subscribers in Orissa is also showing upward trend in its subscribers over a period of four months i.e. from 2,412,619 on October 2010 to 2,536,160 on January 2011. Percentage of increase in Orissa (2,536,160 / 2,412,619) = 1.05%

18. The subscribers in Punjab are also tremendously increased i.e. from 2,917,829 on October 2010 to 3,284,585 on January 2011. Percentage of increase in Punjab (3,284,585 / 2,917,829) = 1.125% 19. Rajasthan is showing upward movement in its subscribers that is from 3,324,073 on October 2010 to 3,741,901 on January 2011. Percentage of increase in Rajasthan (3,741,901 / 3,324,073) = 1.125% 20. Tamil Nadu is also showing increase in its subscriber base from 3,560,120 on October 2010 to 3,631,236 on January 2011. Percentage of increase in Tamil Nadu (3,631,236 / 3,560,120) = 1.02% 21. The subscribers in UP East is showing upward trend in its subscribers over a period of four months i.e. from 3,808,712 on October 2010 to 4,145,051 on January 2011. Percentage of increase in UP East (4,145,051 / 3,808,712) = 1.088 22.The subscribers in UP West is also showing upward trend in its subscribers over a period of four months i.e. from 4,291,396 on October 2010 to 4,671,950 on January 2011. Percentage of increase in UP West (4,671,950 / 4,291,396) = 1.088%

23. West Bengal is showing increase in its subscriber base from 2,419,406 on October 2010 to 2,783,321 on January 2011. Percentage of increase in West Bengal (2,783,321 / 2,419,406) = 1.15%

Highlights of the Interpretation When compared to all states Himachal Pradesh shows more percentage of improvement in subscribers, that is 1.21% increase (61348 subscribers). Maharashtra is standing at first place in terms of number of subscribers that is 9,971,377 on January 2011, and Andhra Pradesh is standing at second place number is 8,731,641on January 2011. The lowest number of subscribers is appeared in North East of India that is 80,891 at the end of January 2011. The GSM service is not available in Assam, Delhi, Jammu & Kashmir and in North Eastern states of India. The total number of subscribers of Tata Indicom and Tata Docomo are 86,052,323 at the end of January 2011.

BALANCE SHEET AS AT MARCH 31, 2011

LIABILITIES
SOURCES OF FUNDS
Shareholders Funds Share Capital Reserves and Surplus

Schedul e

As at March 31, 2011 Rs. In crores

As at March 31, 2010 Rs. In crores

1 2

1,897.20 583.16 2,480.36

1897.20 583.16 2,480.36

Loan Funds Secured Loans Unsecured Loans 3 4 2,669.78 1,982.82 4,652.60 Total 7,132.96 2,300.43 1,309.00 3,609.43 6,089.79

APPLICATION OF FUNDS
Fixed Assets Gross Block (at cost) Less : Accumulated Depreciation / Amortization Net Block Capital Work In Progress 4,802.83 153.05 3,503.82 196.91 5 7,621.16 2,818.33 5,574.14 2,070.32

4,955.88

3,700.73

Investments

120.00

Current Assets , Loans and Advances Cash and Bank Balances Sundry Debtors Inventories Loans and Advances 7 8 9 10 74.68 294.98 3.78 517.46 890.90 22.98 264.12 6.40 301.05 594.55

Less : Current Liabilities and Provisions Current Liabilities Provisions 11 12 1,619.05 191.56 1,810.61 Net Current Liabilities Profit and Loss Account Total (919.71) 3,096.79 7,132.96 1,466.05 6.13 1,472.18 (877.63) 3,146.69 6,089.79

PROFIT AND LOSS ACCOUNT FOR THE YEAR ENDED MARCH 31, 2011

Particulars

Schedule

2010-11

2009-10

Rs. In crores Rs. In crores Income Telecommunication services Other Income Profits on sale of Long Term Investments Total 13 14 2,248.74 67.20 834.93 3,150.87 2,069.10 208.71 2,277.81

Particulars
Expenditure Operation and Other Expenses Provisions for Contingencies Profit before Finance and Treasury Charges, Depreciations and Tax 15 1,818.50 185.60 1,146.77 1,737.30 540.51

Finance and Treasury Charges (Net) Depreciation / Amortization Profit/ (Loss) before tax Provision for Tax Wealth Tax

16

346.16 750.70 49.91

317.62 520.89 (298.00)

0.01 49.90 (3,146.69) (3,096.79)

0.01 (298.01) (2,848.68) (3,146.69)

Profit/ (Loss) after tax Balance brought forward Balance carried to Balance sheet

Earnings Per Share Basic and Diluted (Rs.) Par Value (Rs.)

0.26 10.00

(1.57) 10.00

Chapter 6

SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS

SUMMARY
"Revenue assurance" is a broad umbrella term. It is used both to describe an activity performed within telecommunications service providers, and is a common name for a small business unit associated with that activity. Revenue assurance is a practical response to perceived or actual issues with operational underperformance, most commonly relating to billing and collection of revenue. Some of the procedures associated with identifying, remedying or preventing errors may be undertaken by a dedicated Revenue Assurance department, though responsibility for revenue assurance is often diffuse and varies greatly with the organizational structure of the provider. Assuming a provider with a typical organizational split, responsibilities for revenue assurance primarily sit between the Finance and Technology directorates, however, revenue assurance initiatives are often started in a business unit or marketing group. The relevance to Finance rests with the responsibility for financial control, audit and reporting, whilst the subject matter would be network and IS systems as implemented or operated by the Technology side of the business. Marketing groups and / or business units (e.g. wholesale or retail business lines) will often embark on revenue assurance projects in an effort to improve product line margins. Furthermore, marketing and business units are pivotal in providing input into the "should be" state of customer bills and products. The sphere of influence described by revenue assurance varies greatly between telecommunications service providers, but is usually closely related to back office

functions where small errors may have a disproportionately large impact on revenues or costs. The processing of transaction data in modern telecommunications providers exhibits many attributes akin to a complex system. However, there is significant disagreement about the ultimate aims and legitimate scope of revenue assurance teams. This is in part caused by: (1) the cross-functional nature of the activity and the consequent need for a variety of skills from IT, marketing, finance, et al.; (2) the difficulty of generalizing across businesses with different objectives and business models; (3) political infighting within each telco about responsibility for revenue leakages and assurance; and (4) the difficulty in reliably measuring the value added by revenue assurance as separable from underlying performance.

The rationale for why revenue assurance has come to be considered particularly important in telecommunications, unlike other industries, is disputed. Reasonable conjectures are that:

(1) the fast pace of change and intense commercial competition increase the likelihood of mistakes;

(2) there is significant complexity in determining the combined effect of interacting systems and processes; and (3) the high-volume, low-value nature of transactions amplifies the financial implications of "small" errors.

RECOMMENDATIONS
Revenue assurance should be made strict and mandatory for all the organization where revenue leakage is usual. The role of an investigator who monitors the processes of the business activity should be made more responsible and authoritative.

Revenue auditing should be made regular and continuous.

CONCLUSION
Revenue assurance is a vital tool for creating a leak-proof checking system for safeguarding the generated revenue. It is a wide technical process to prevent internal and external fraud. It also helps in efficient customer relation ship management. Thus revenue assurance should be followed and implemented strictly into every business organization that needs to tackle revenue leakage.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Books

The Telco Revenue Assurance Handbook by Rob Mattison Revenue Assurance for Service Providers by Mark Yelland The Revenue Assurance Standards - Release 2009 Paperback by Rob Mattison

Websites

http://www.fairisaac.com/ Maximize revenue assurance with analytics. Free white paper

http://www.telecom-revenue-assurance.com/ Billing and rating verification Audit of all revenue streams.

http://www.revenueassurance.net/ www.subexazure.com/ - Efficient Revenue Assurance