Growth Story Gains Further Momentum.

In January 2009, 19.9 million mobile connections were added. This took the subscriber base to 539.1 million

The subscriber base witnessed a record growth in the first month of the year; 19.9 million new subscribers were added in January 2010. A & B Circles contributed almost 6.7 million and 7.4 million activations, respectively, compared to 3.9 million in C circles and 1.8 million in metro circles.
TTSL and Vodafone were the major contributors to the growth in B Circles. Vodafone added 1.24 million new subscribers while Airtel added 1.27 million subscribers and TTSL added 1.24 million new subscribers in the B circles.

Reliance and TTSL were the major contributors to the growth in A Circles. Reliance added 1.2 million new subscribers whereas TTSL added 1.04 million new subscribers in the A circles.

Bihar, Karnataka and U.P. (E) registered the highest number of new additions. Bihar contributed the most to net additions at 11.1%, followed by U.P. (E) and Karnataka, contributing 9.3% & 8.4% of total net additions, respectively.

Clearly, the major battles are being fought in Karnataka, A.P, U.P(E), Bihar and Orissa.

New Players Are Fuelling Growth

With the entry of new players like STel and Uninor, C Circles have witnessed a sharp increase in activations.

Uninor made a significant impact in all the circles where they launched their service. They have garnered a total subscriber base of 2.5 million while STel reached the half million mark.

Uninor was a major contributor to the new activations in January 2009. Uninor almost doubled their subscribers base in January 2010 with an addition of 1.3 million new subscribers. Their major circles were Orissa, A.P. and Bihar.

In terms of sheer numbers, the established players - TTSL, Airtel, Reliance and Vodafone scored heavily. TTSL added 2.98 million new subscribers and crossed the 60 million mark. U.P. (E) and Karnataka alone contributed almost 0.78 millions new subscribers for TTSL. Reliance appears to be going rapidly towards the 100 million mark, with a strong performance in A.P and Karnataka.

Airtel with almost 2.8 million new additions secured the number three position with a strong performance in Karnataka, U. P. (E) and Rajasthan.

Idea, with a strong performance in Gujarat and Bihar, added almost 2.3 million new subscribers in January alone.

Consumer Register Shift In Brand Predisposition

A Market Pulse dipstick research on brand predisposition in 3 circles, namely Bihar/Jharkhand, UP (E) and Orissa reveals a surprising picture for different brands.

A total sample of 300 consumers was covered at multi-brand telecom outlets. These consumers were interviewed before they entered the outlet to buy a new mobile connection.

New brands had a high level of consideration. Uninor was a clear winner in this regard among the new GSM brands while MTS registered a higher share than Indicom and Reliance. Proportion of consumers who expressed a preference for S Tel and DOCOMO was on par with that of established players like Airtel and Vodafone.

Free connections were being given by every new operator. There were instances of cross brand promotion by the retailers, eg. a DOCOMO connection was given free with every Uninor connection.

Telecom Market News

Bharti’s global ambitions continued to create a buzz while dates for 3G auctions were finally announced.

• Bharti sets eye for global expansion:

Bharti Airtel is in talks to buy the African assets of Kuwaiti telecom company Zain for $10.7 billion. This could give Bharti a toehold in a reportedly untapped region.

Bharti has entered into exclusive talks with Zain for the assets, which exclude operations in Morocco and Sudan. This is Bharti’s second attempt after the MTN deal did not materialize.

Bharti has also agreed to buy 70 percent of Bangladesh's Warid Telecom for an initial investment of $300 million.



• Preparing for 3G:

3G auction is seen by the government as an important means of shoring up non-tax revenues.

The ministry has already issued a Notice Inviting Application (NIA) - the policy guidelines for 3G auction. The actual auction process is now likely to be completed by May.



• TRAI Creates a Stir with 4G:

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has decided it doesn't want to encounter similar delays with the next generation of mobile technology, and so has initiated an industry consultation on Long Term Evolution (LTE).

Some operators in Europe and the US have already started commercial deployment on this platform. LTE allows more data to be transferred over the same bandwidth used by 3G technology and at higher speeds. Compared with the 3 Mbps speed offered by third-generation services, LTE can offer speeds of up to 10 Mbps.



• Aircel To Expand Services:

Aircel is gearing up to expand its 2.5G network in 3 more circles to become a pan India mobile service operator. The GSM network expansion contract was given to Global telecom equipment maker Nokia Siemens Networks (NSN). NSN will cover the 3 telecom circles namely Haryana, Punjab and Rajasthan by April 2010.



• IPO and M&A update:

Sistema Shyam TeleServices Ltd. , which offers its services under the brand name MTS India, is considering an IPO. In September 2009, when it had 1.73 million customers, Sistema Shyam was valued at $3.5 billion. The operator ended last year with just over 3 million subscribers.

Meanwhile, IT and integration services specialist Wipro Limited is also looking at acquisition opportunities in the telecom sector.

DTH Market Expands Significantly

A Market Pulse DTH track in 27 important cities reveals significant gains by the new DTH players.

• The DTH market witnessed a steady growth rate in the year 2009. In this year alone, 9 million subscribers were added to the DTH user base.





• The total number of DTH subscribers in India crossed 20 million in Dec 2009 and is expected to cross 22 million by March 2010.





• Videocon’s D2H is the latest entrant in the DTH market and had established a significant presence within a few months. It has picked substantial market share in the North & West.

New Telecom Advertising Campaigns

Environment and wildlife preservation became the cornerstone of many advertising campaigns.

• Save Our Tigers’ Campaign

Aircel continues to invest in the “Save Our Tiger” campaign where it intends to draw attention towards the dwindling numbers of tigers in India. Popular sportsmen such as MS Dhoni and Suresh Raina are being used as brand ambassadors.



• Tata DOCOMO launches free social networking sites on BuddyNet

Tata Docomo has expanded the benefits for their Buddy Net subscribers by introducing free access to 5 Social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter, Nimbuzz, Linked-in and Orkut for the users. One can share posts, information and chat absolutely free of charge. This promotional offer will be available upto 15 May 2010.



• Virgin Mobile Launched GSM services in Mumbai & Maharashtra

Virgin Mobile announced the commercial launch of its GSM Mobile services in Mumbai and Maharashtra telecom circles, post the successful launch in five southern circles and Orissa.

Mobile Tariffs and Consumer Offers

Customized plans have become the latest trend. People can now choose plans depending on their talking habits. Tariffs continue to test the lowest level.

• MTS India Launches RC249, All Local call 30p for Life Time

MTS subscribers can call any local number at 30 p/ minute and STD calls at just 50p/ minute for lifetime without any monthly pack.



• Vodafone Essar Introduces Night Calling Pack

Vodafone Essar announced night calling rates by adding one more bonus recharge for its prepaid GSM mobile service in Mumbai. With the new Bonus card-22, Vodafone prepaid subscribers can talk with other local Vodafone users at just 5 p/ minute during night hours (from11 pm to 8 am). The operator provides 450 free local V2V minutes on the recharge of this bonus coupon which costs Rs.22 and comes with the validity of 30 days.



• Uninor Introduces New STV for Lowest Local and STD Call Charges in AP

Uninor announced special tariff vouchers of Rs.49 and Rs.199 for its prepaid mobile customers in Andhra Pradesh telecom circle. Uninor STV 49 pack which costs Rs.49 and offers local calls to any network at just 29 p/ minute and 49 p/minute for STD calls irrespective of the called network across India. These call charges come without any additional daily rental for the customer. Subscribers of this STV49 will also get 100 free minutes on local ‘own net’ calls. The tariff validity is valid for 30 days from the date of recharge.

STV199 comes at Rs.199 and offers 29 p/ minute call charges for all local calls and 49 p/ minute for STD calls irrespective of the called network. With this, STV users will also get 10000 free minutes on local ‘Own Net’ calls. The tariff validity is valid for 30 days from the date of recharge.



• Tata DOCOMO Introduces New RC60 in Kolkata

Tata DOCOMO has come with a new recharge voucher RC60 for prepaid subscribers in Kolkata telecom circles. The new RC60 offers free 9000 seconds to make local calls to any network. The free calling up to 9000 seconds will be valid for a period of 10 days from the date of recharge.



• S Tel Unlimited ‘Own Net’ Local calls @Rs99

S Tel, launched Unlimited Own-Net calling at Rs.99 for its subscribers in Himachal Pradesh, Bihar/ Jharkhand and Orissa. The validity is for 30 days.



• IDEA Cellular Introduces 1p/ 5 Second Plan

IDEA Cellular has introduced yet another tariff plan for over 1.2 million customers in Mumbai. As per the new tariff plan, IDEA prepaid subscribers in the city can now make phone calls to any other IDEA number anywhere in Maharashtra & Goa for as low as 1 paisa for 5 seconds. This tariff is available on RCVs of Rs. 17.



• Tata Indicom Introduces Pay Per Call Flexi Plan

Tata Indicom announced the launch of ‘Pay Per Call Flexi Plan’. Under the ‘Pay Per Call Flexi Plan’, customers can make local or STD calls at Re 1 and Rs 2, respectively, for a standard call of 5 minutes. If, however, the customer makes a call for less than one minute, he or she is charged just 25 p/ minute for both local and STD calls. The product also offers all roaming calls at 50 paise per minute.



• RCom Introduces ‘Simply Reliance’ Tariff on Fixed Wireless Phone

In a bid to revamp its Fixed Line business strategy, Reliance Communications expanded its most popular “Simply Reliance” tariff plan to the fixed wireless platform Reliance Hello. The operator announced the launch of two new flexible plans dubbed as Pay Per Call and All @50 for its Fixed Wireless customers in Tamil Nadu.



Now Reliance Hello service users can enjoy all Local and STD calls at Re.1 for a three minute pulse under Pay Per Call plan and with Pay Per Minute-All @50 tariff plan, subscribers can make all local and STD calls at 50 p/ minute to any network across India.