Indian Telecom Story (Part XXIII): Re-cap and Challenges ahead

2000-10 has been a decade when Indian telecom industry took wings and giant strides ahead. It is slated to become one of the leading sectors contributing to the economy by 2014.This post recaps the last 10 years in Indian telecom and details the challenges ahead of the industry and the way ahead to keep the growth on the up.

The Indian Telecom Success story

At the beginning of the decade, the Indian telecom industry burdened by high licence fees was struggling to survive. It was then that the Government came with the New Telecom Policy (NTP ‘99). It allowed telecom operators to move from a licence fee regime to a revenue share era.

Since then, the growth has been only gaining steam. From a little over a million mobile subscribers in 2000, today there are more than 500 million subscribers. Yet, mobile operators are adding over 14 million new subscribers each month. There is no doubt on the success of the sector. Almost all the targets that were set have been reached. It is by far one of the most competitive sectors. However, the intense competition has led to a shortage of spectrum

The sector has crossed all targets set by NTP ‘99. Against a target of 15 per cent telecom penetration by 2010, it is at 45 per cent now. The 15 per cent target was reached in September 2006 itself. Similarly, while the NTP set a target of 4 per cent rural teledensity by 2010, the country already has a 15.35 per cent rural teledensity as of June 2009.

Challenges before the Industry

Regulatory Uncertainty
The biggest challenge that the telecom sector faces is regulatory uncertainty. A clear regulatory roadmap will ensure that the sector is not continuously bogged down in controversy. This will result in greater investor optimism. Considering that communications is a key sector for overall economic development, this should be the topmost priority for the Government.

Slow progress on future growth agenda
Despite all the Telecom success story, there are areas where progress is quite slow. The 3G auction is a classic case. Despite TRAI coming up with its recommendations on 3G in September 2006, the auctions are yet to happen and have been delayed multiple times over.

Balancing Growth and Profitability
According to industry reports, the revenue figures across the industry for the quarter ending September 2009 were at Rs.38,755 crore, lower than the figures in December 2008, which stood at Rs.39,408 crore, in spite of the fact that the overall subscriber base was lower by 125 million in the latter case. This is primarily due to the fact that the markets now have 13 operators fighting for market share when the market can support 4 to 5. The fight is likely to get compounded when mobile number portability (MNP). This allows users to move between service providers without having to surrender their number. This is likely to remove the last barrier that currently prevents users from switching between service providers, and push up churn rates to as high as 8.0% per month. Even now, customer satisfaction levels with service providers are low in India and customers would be looking for better deals once MNP come in.

Way Ahead

The immediate focus of the Government should be on completing the auction of 3G and broadband wireless access spectrum. It should then ensure that mobile number portability is introduced across the country. That should be followed up by allowing the entry of mobile virtual network operators.

The concern over the slow growth of broadband could also be covered once the broadband wireless access (BWA) auctions take place in 2010.

The Government also needs to come out with a clearer mandate on mergers and acquisitions in the sector. Consolidation will also lead to better management of spectrum.

Though bidders are wary of the base price of Rs. 4,040 crore fixed by the government, most service providers badly need the additional spectrum that will come with the licences and are likely to fork over the money the government is demanding. This is also seen as the primary reason foreign companies are not interested in taking on standalone 3G licences, as the others with a captive 2G base would score over them in building sustainability.

Rural markets are the only growth area, but they also represent the low end of the revenue potential spectrum. With a measly 15% penetration in rural markets, the scope for growth is tremendous yet daunting in the fact that average revenues per user (ARPU) are already Rs. 200 or so, and will be down to double digits in the rural areas.

All these elements – per paisa billing, MNP and 3G licensing – are momentous events happening in the space of a year. They are likely to bring about a paradigm shift in the industry, and lead to a consolidation in the market in the coming years. Which players survive and what strategies they use will determine the health of the industry and will be under keen observation in the coming days.

 

Indian Telecom Story (Part XXI): Over Capacity and Shake-out ahead!

September 2009-The Indian telecom sector touched the 500 million subscriber base mark. Close on heels of that achievement, the DoT (Department of Telecom) reported on 12th December that average urban teledensity in India has now crossed the 100 per cent mark as per latest figures released by the department of telecom (DoT).

Urban India accounts for close to 70 per cent of India’s 500 million cellular users and over 75 per cent of the telecom operators’ revenues. The larger implication is that the country’s beleaguered mobile operators, whose revenues and profits had dipped over the last two quarters due to the savage tariff war, will now have to increase their spending as they seek to sustain the current growth rates from rural India. Even as urban India enjoys telecom penetration along the lines of developed nations, the teledensity in rural areas is only at 18 per cent, DoT data reported. 100 per cent urban tele-density is not in terms of real customers, but it reflects multiple SIM ownership. If multiple SIMs were discarded, urban teledensity would be at 80 per cent, as per operators’ internal data.

The DoT reported Himachal Pradesh to be enjoying the highest urban teledensity at 219 per cent, followed by Kerala at 156 per cent, Delhi (154 per cent), Chennai (143 per cent), Mumabi (125 per cent), Andhra Pradesh (121 per cent), Karnataka (116 per cent), while Rajasthan and Punjab have a little over 104 per cent each. Average urban penetration could go up 140 per cent within the next two years as over a fifth of residents in these zones were in the lower income bracket where mobile phones continued to remain an aspirational product. The DoT data also reveals that in nine states, the urban teledensity is less than the 100 per cent. For instance, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra has only about 76 per cent teledensity, the lowest for urban India, followed by North East and Assam (77 per cent).

The intense price war in the telecom space over the past couple of months, which has plunged tariffs to an all time low and is eating into the operating margins of Telcos — of even half paise per second — has resulted in a record growth of 15 million plus customers signing up for mobile connections every month.

With 13 telecom firms are jostling for space in the Indian market and three more companies are due to launch services by next year, there is case of over capacity. The problems of overcapacity created are mainly due to unregulated lending, new licensing norms and excess vendor financing. The sector could likely see a shakeout, which may help it regain its lost glory. Overcapacity is a characteristic of bubbles, and at the national level, overcapacity implies wasteful deployment of national resources (like spectrum) and just offers falling tariffs temporarily.” Analysts too have derated the telecom stocks post the country’s biggest tariff war that brought down call rates. And, that’s not the end. Along with new capacity, competition is expected to rise as new players with deep pockets make a line for what was till last year, one of the India’s fastest growing sectors. The same trend was witnessed in the aviation sector, which has now nose-dived from its peak in 2007. Markets tend to be merciless in working out the sector overcapacity. Greater the overcapacity, the greater the short-term pain. But, this is the market’s way of separating the efficient from the inefficient, and restoring balance. The efficient usually emerge stronger from the test and are unchallengeable

The sector’s woes began when the government handed out new licenses to players in 2007, despite not having enough spectrum. The government wanted licence payments and competition, but it has created overcapacity, which will eventually lead to consolidation. Banks too have added fuel to the fire through indiscriminate lending. Banks and vendor financing is encouraging overcapacity in the sector, despite the fact that new players’ plans look unsustainable in the long-term.If that continues to be the case, there may be some bankruptcies in the sector within two years from now. The current scenario, with 10-11 players, is unsustainable and a reflection of poor government policies, an aberration which would correct itself. Analysts view that market with 5-6 players is ideal in the Indian context.

The final word:
It may be more logical to promote investments in telecom infrastructure, encourage rural penetration, get into data services and rural broadband rather than focus on market structure and price wars.

 

(Future) impact of Telecom sector on the Indian Economy

Excerpts of a study conducted by National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER): “Economic Impact of the Communication Sector in India” by Dr Rajesh Shukla (Senior Fellow) and Mr K.A. Siddiqui (Associate Fellow) on the economic impact of Telecom sector in India

Total employment in the sector to reach 10.3 million in 5 years.Communication will be amongst the Top 3 growth drivers of the economy by 2015

Communication sector is predicted to emerge as the single largest sector of India’s economy, with a 15.4% share (equivalent to Rs.865,031 crore) of GDP by 2014-15. In India’s transformation from an agrarian to a services economy, communication is recognized as the fastest growing sector, growing by 25.7% during 2001-08. The communication sector will thus be one of the major drivers of the Indian economy in the next five years. Its ranking in terms of contribution to total GDP has moved up from #17 in 1980-81 to #8 in 2007-08 and is further expected to surpass all other sectors by 2014-15, assuming that all other sectors grow at the average growth rates observed during 2001-08. Telecommunication sector’s share of total GDP has increased from just 0.7% in the 1980s and 1.0% in the 1990s to 3.6% during 2001-08. In 2007-08, the sector accounted for 5.7% of GDP.

Trade, Communication and Registered Manufacturing have shown more than 10% contribution (16.7%, 12.24% and 11.68%, respectively) to GDP growth during 2001-2008; however, the Communication sector has outperformed the others despite its share of total GDP being only 3.6% as against the shares of Trade (14.0%) and Registered Manufacturing (10.2%). The communication sector has also had a significant impact on employment in the country. The study predicts that the sector will generate an additional 8.5 million jobs by 2014-15, taking the total number of jobs in the sector to 10.3 million.

Thus, the communication sector will continue to be an engine of the Indian economy over the 4/5 next years. The role of communications in accelerating socio-economic development should not be underestimated. Communication is having a positive impact on employment in the services and retail sectors, and helping the country to emerge as a major manufacturing power. It is critical to empower every individual to connect to people, information and services regardless of their location or income. This is a key element in the vision of a truly inclusive knowledge society. Connected people can create, accumulate and disseminate knowledge, eventually leading to enhanced productivity and equitable socio-economic development. This latest study reiterates communication’s growing importance as an agent of transformation.

Table: Sectoral contribution to India’s GDP

 

Digital Dividend: A solution to India’s Mobile Broadband needs

Last month Indian Telecom subscribers crossed 500 million. There are enough and more studies on the impact of telecom penetration on the economy. One study correlates 10% increase in tele-density to .6% increase in GDP. The canvas is $520 billion increase in GDP over 8 years time frame.

 The need is for a communications model that reaches out to the remotest citizen and low cost wireless solutions. The existing industry spectrums: 850MHz/ 900 MHz/1800 MHz are grossly inadequate for the traffic. The 3G option is being looked at as a solution providing greater bandwidth for voice and data traffic. Given the high 3G auction fees, the 3G option ensures service qualities at a high CAPEX and OPEX. High speed telecom networks would be the key for a long term momentum in the economy as suggested by McKinsey,2009.

1. 3G investment in India will deliver over  $70 billion economic benefit
2. India  would have gained over  $16 billion (PPP) in the last 2 years but for  delay in introduction of high speed mobile BB.
3. 10% increase in broadband penetration can deliver  up to 1.4% increase in GDP

The spectrum: How it pans out and how the digital dividend is a part of it?

Digital compression technologies and coding systems make it possible to squeeze much more information into a radio signal than in the case of analogue technology. Digital TV is many times more spectrally efficient than analogue TV, which means UHF spectrum will be freed up. Large amount of spectrum that would be freed up in case of switchover from analogue to digital terrestrial TV is known as the Digital Dividend.

Refer to the slideshare presentation for a full description on the Digital Dividend:

The analogue TV switch-off represents a “once in a generation” opportunity for a significant reallocation of spectrum. This spectrum has excellent propagation characteristics and can be used very effectively to roll out mobile broadband services in rural areas and to provide in-building coverage. It is approximately 70% cheaper to provide mobile broadband coverage in the 698-806MHz band than at 2100MHz. This means networks can be rolled out quickly and cost-effectively, bringing cheaper services to consumers.

It is approximately 70% cheaper to provide mobile broadband coverage at frequencies (approx. 800MHz) than over 2100MHz.This means networks can be rolled out quickly, cost effectively, bringing cheaper services to consumers.

As a technology the advantages of Digital Dividend over contemporary spectrum allocation are as follows:

• Better propagation characteristics.
• Ideal for providing wireless service in low population density regions, such as rural India
• Target resource for rural broadband wireless access worldwide.
• Less Infrastructure – Reduced costs
• Reduce capital expenditure, which makes deployment in rural or high-cost regions economically viable.
• An LTE network at 700 MHz would be 70% cheaper to deploy than an LTE network at 2.1 GHz  – GSMA.
• Two to three times as many less sites required for initial coverage at 700 MHz compared to 2.1 or 2.5 GHz

Spectrum: Cost versus Coverage

Spectrum Infrastructure: 700 MHz versus Others!

 

Indian Telecom Story (Part XX): Telcos caught sleeping over data based revenues

I have been writing about the how a price war in the Indian Telecom industry would be a future in vain. I have also written about why Telcos should explore future in data and consumer centric services rather than price wars. The pay per second bloodbath was clearly inevitable. However, i cant think, why would Large Telcos in the country miss the trick. A price led strategy would never be sustainable, and yet the whole industry seems to have rushed into 1 paise per second formula. Am i missing something?

The explosion of subscribers in India has put a lot of pressure on the existing telecom infrastructure and the frequencies available. While there have been efforts like sharing of infrastructure between operators which has allowed to keep Capex under control, there are also minefields such as Mobile Number Portability which adds a lot of uncertainty relating to the subscriber adds and churn. 3G is seen as an answer to the lack of bandwidth, but the license fees demanded by the government is exorbitant and will require long periods of gestation. India has also attracted players like MTS, Telenor, Etisalat, DoCoMo adding a lot of uncertainty in the existing market conditions.

The principal source of operator revenue is voice and data. (Data services here also implies SMS and MMS services). Under the present bandwidth shortages, existing operators have only been able capitalize on the voice led growth. SMS is the only the significant other contributor to revenues in Indian telecom eco-system. The current contribution of data services to operator revenues range from 8 to 11%. This includes SMS and also includes the Tata Teleservices and Reliance CDMA connections, which are typically data heavy services. GSM’s data revenues would be much lesser than CDMA. India being a 80% GSM country, the ratio of data services to Telecom services thus lags the international numbers. World over the higher percentage of Data revenue balances the fall in ARPU.(The Data ARPUs are on the rise globally). In India, data services provide no such safety net.

 

A case in point is the US telecom market which is the world’s highest consumer of telecom based data solutions. Over the last 5 years, Data ARPU has increased 7X while the Voice ARPU has reduced by 30% in the same period. A $15 dollar ARPU loss in Voice has been compensated by a $12 increase in Data ARPU. One might argue that this be the case in US which is a 3G country. But the point made in Indian context though different in regulatory and eco-system aspects, draws from this example.

• While voice tariffs in India is the lowest, Data tariffs in India are amongst the highest in the world. Cost being an important determinant of penetration, higher data costs have acted as barriers to data spread.
• Application and Content Revenue sharing models sometimes make it difficult for higher levels of applications to be built because of cost/higher break even periods. Even if applications are made, the revenue sharing with Telcos in India, would make it difficult for the Apps provider to advertise or communicate the offering to consumers.
• There is little in terms of consumer services to High ARPU consumers. Telcos in India could perhaps learn from Indian banks a few lessons in differential treatment of HNIs.
• All this time, Telcos in India have done little to tie up with content providers such as Googles of the world. LBS, Maps, Navigation and Social Networking could have been a great apps. This is a “Blue ocean” where Telcos have not ventured yet at all.
• The CEOs of one of the biggest Telcos in India once dismissed the MVNOs as “loss making”. Perhaps it is time to re-think strategy in terms of branded and exclusive content. (Read Report)
• All this while, Nokia has been preparing its platforms to differentiate itself through services. Telcos were in a far better position to aggregate service bundles and yet they didnot. Did all of them miss the trick? Did they fall into the Operator Dumb Pipe syndrome trap!

 So, when it was sunny, all the Telcos in India did was to make good subscriber numbers in falling ARPUs. That was the low lying fruit. Nobody perhaps looked at the next levels, because they were rolling in money anyways. The bloodbath in terms of per second tariffs is now catching the Telcos. They still prefer to look at market shares rather than the EVAs and Bottom-lines.

Next story in making would be the inevitable shake out and age of acquisitions.

Please feel free to rate the post and put your comments (negative or positive as may be!)

Read the earlier posts here:

Indian Telecom Story (Part XIX): Tariff war and hyper competition

Indian Telecom Story (Part XVIII): Eroding profits for higher acquisitions

Indian Telecom Story (Part XV): Net Operating margins at risk!

Indian Telecom Story (Part XIV): Can pricing differentiate new Telco services?

 

Indian Telecom Story (Part XIX): Tariff war and Hyper competition

Mobile tariffs in India are already amongst the lowest in the world and competitive pressures continue to push them lower still. Unless the telecom players resport to separate set of tactics, this tariff war would prove damaging to the industry in the long term.

The age of Hyper Competition is rapidly dawning in the Indian Telecom sector with the advent of per seond billing plans.Tata Docomo set the Domingo toppling with the per second tariff plan. BSNL, MTS, Sistema and Aircel followed suit and TRAI was only too happy to endorse the per second tariff rates (Read More). However it is Airtel’s giving into the paradigm that will now “mainstream” the per second billing trend. In this lower-rate regime, all new entrants into the telecom space will now find it harder to attract customers and end up with lower revenues per minute.

In an earlier post, I had discussed that the per second billing could shave off as much as 15-20% of the consumer monthly bill. Hence this is an attractive proposition for the consumers. However, the question that begs to be answered is whether price is a sustainable basis for competition. Is there a possibility of differentiation through services. Is there a possibility whereby services and high ARPU consumers could be bundled? These are answers left unanswered as the Telcos in India have only focused on Voice based growth rather than having a portfolio of data or services based revenues.

Voices from the industry:

• “Bharti Airtel with 100,000 cellsites is already one of the lowest producers of mobile airtime in the world at a cost of 42 or 43 paise/minute. By engaging in predatory pricing and targeting the subscribers of other telcos, Tata Docomo is trying to get big operators to bleed by selling below cost. This is bad for the country as a whole because it will create bankruptcy in the telecom sector,”
• “Trai needs to examine if this is a sustainable tariff proposal. Consumer interest in the long term is not always served by lower tariffs. Tariffs must be cost plus. Operators cannot sell below cost,”

The interesting bit in the second statement is the candid  admission that consumer interest in the long terms is not always served by lower tariffs!

The on-going tariff war among telecom companies and the sector regulator Trai’s suggestion to move to a ‘pay-per-second’ tariff structure for all operators took a heavy toll on the stock prices of telecom companies. Analysts expect the new tariff plans are sure to dent the revenues of the telecom majors by 10-15% annually although the companies themselves maintain it would take 45-60 days to come back to the current average revenue per user (ARPU) levels. In the backdrop of the current telecom tariff war, analysts are now taking a bearish view of the stocks. Foreign broking major Morgan Stanley recently noted that RCom’s tariff could ‘‘possibly stagnate industry revenue growth for the next 12 months.” With aggressive pricing becoming the industry norm, and at the same time competition increasing ‘‘investors could start de-rating the Indian telecom sector,” it noted. They feel losses for firms could be higher and duration of competition longer since there are about 10 operators, listed and unlisted, who could start tariff war if pushed by new entrants or existing competitors.

The race to higher subscriber numbers and market share at the cost of eroding margins and diminishing profitability is a trap that the Telcos seem to have engaged themselves into in vain. If the stock indices are to be believed, investors feel that ability of the Telcos to create value even in a market as lucrative as India has diminished. 

In part XIXb, we will cover the self fulfilling doomsday prophecies of Indian Telcos, how “others” in the industry would ride the “operator dumb pipes” and how the Telcos measue up against others in emerging markets world over.

A chronological listing of earlier blogs on the same topic:

Indian Telecom Story (Part XVIII): Eroding profits for higher acquisitions

Indian Telecom Story (Part XV): Net Operating margins at risk!

Indian Telecom Story (Part XIV): Can pricing differentiate new Telco services?

 

Digital Dividend: The future in Mobile Communications

The govt of India, Telecom  Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), Cellular operators association of India (COAI), Association of Unified Services Providers of India (AUSPI), Broadband wireless consortium of India (BWCI) and may industry apex bodies are single minded persuing three point agendas in the Indian telecom ecosystem.

1. Mobile Penetration

2. Lowering the costs associated with mobility / Allowing population to go “mobile”

3. Bundling services for the masses through mobiles.

According to studies by Telecom researchers and consultants, Thrust in rural telecom sector can increase GDP by $520 billion in next 8 years. ALso, a 10% increase in broadband penetration can deliver a 1.4% growth in GDP. Currently it is the best available opportunity of bringing 70% of Indian Population who love in far scattered rural areas to the mainstream. Thus the necesssity of a communications model which will reach out to the remotest rurak citizen at lowest capital and operational costs.

As with many other countries, Spectrum limitation and exponentially growing telecom subscribers are putting a lot of pressure on the existing spectrum (900/1800 MHz). The 2.1 and 2.5/2.6 GHz spectrum will have utilities more in 3G and higher end technologies. It is here, that a parallel innovation promises a lot of help. Traditionally TV spectrums have been very wide because of the fact that most of it is analogue. With the coming of Digital age, a large amount of spectrum will be freed up in case of switch over from analogue to digital signals. Digital compression technologies and coding systems make it possible to squeeze much more information into a radio signal than in the case of analogue technology.

Digital broadcasting is roughly six times more efficient than analogue, allowing more channels to be carried across fewer airwaves.The surplus spectrum not required for the Digital transmission is called the Digital Dividend.

1. It is approximately 70% cheaper to provide mobile broadband coverage in the 698-806MHz band than at 2100MHz.

      2.     Lower the spectrum, more the coverage per BTS, in effect reducing the number of BTSs required for an area coverage, which reduces the capex costs.

Both the reasons considered, a 700 MHz is twice the coverage of 3500 MHz at roughly 20% the cost. Indian Government willing, the Digital dividend could be the next step in connecting the masses in India and reaching out to them with information, technologies that would empower them and allow them to become “mainstream”.

 

Indian Telecom Story (Part XVIII): Eroding profits for higher acquisitions

I have discussed many and most of the times, that Pricing cannot and shouldnot be a differentiator of Telecom services in India. Instead branded services should be sought to differentiate telecom airtime. For long Indian telecom operators have been happy to reduce costs to entice more customers. While reducing the operating expenses may be a manna for consumers, it does not spell right for the telecom operators. Erosion of margins may get eclipsed by the huge subscriber add ons, but in 2-3 year time, when growth flattens, the slim margins will squeeze the profits. An earlier blog post posses the challenge in terms of Telco net operating profits at risk.

Qouting from an earlier post: “Lowering the cost of ownership has been extremely successful ploy in terms of expansion of the Indian Telecom markets. The ARPU today is around the theoretical $5 break point. In mature markets an ARPU under $5, does serious harm to the bottom-line. In a growing market like India, the strain of a decreasing ARPU may not be significantly visible presently. However, with markets maturing, the focus will shift from growth to sustainability. The new classes of consumers are mostly rural and their ARPU would be well below $5 (probably $3-3.5). Managing bottom-lines at such low levels of Revenue per user and increasing costs of acquisition will prove to be a challenge.”

Subscriber adds are exploding and September 2009, should see India sail past the 500 million Telecom subscriber mark. Of the 9.31 million GSM subscribers added in August 2009, 3.4 million were added by Tata DoCoMo, the youngest Telecom operator.  Tata DoCoMo is celebrating and raising a toasst to its success. They owe this to a disruptive per second plan. Even SMSs have become Diet, i.e pay per character! It couldnot have gotten better than this for the users. Moving from minutes plan to a seconds plan would save approximately 20% of the operating costs for the users. (Read this here). Diet SMS would be another saving.

These figures are corroborated by a research report by HSBC. If all operators adopt it the sector’s revenue could fall by 10-15 percent. It TRAI enforces the Pay per second plan, the Telecom majors could feel the heat. Translated further, revenue drop could mean lower EPS which would imply adjustment of share prices as lower levels and reduction in M-Cap.

The idea here is not to be against price drops. Lower cost of ownership of services is of paramount importance for higher penetration. The idea is service differentiation. Sample this: A $360 ARPU user has no special services available to him compared to a $5 ARPU user. Both suffer from the same lack of bandwidth problems, the same apathy from Telco representatives in case of wrong billings, and both of them also pay at the same counters. For start, atleast the quality of service can be different for High ARPU users ( A leaf out of book from HNI Retail banking).

With MNP and 3G auctions looking in the horizon, there is a reason and an opportunity to differentiate.

 

Vernacularization of mVAS: The Indian Challenge (Part II)

In an earlier post, i had spoken about opportunities, challenges and work that has been done on Indic Language SMS i.e SMS/MVAS in 22 Indian languages. The rubber looks to hit the road by mid 2010 and this post in my slide share account is a detailed report of the Indic Language SMS and the telecom eco-system.

 

Indian Telecom Story: Inching closer to half a billion subscribers

Indian mobile operators added 15.1 million users in August 2009, their second-highest monthly performance ever after 15.6 million that was recorded in March 2009. India had 456.7 million mobile subscribers at the end of August, data released by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) showed, meaning about 40 percent of India’s billion-plus population now has a phone. Total telecom subscriber base increased to 494.17 million at the end of July from 479.07 million a month before.

Tata Teleservices with its Tata CDMA and TATA DoCoMo GSM services recorded the largest number of net subscriber additions. New tariff plans such as per-second billing introduced for GSM customers helped it add a highest-ever 3.4 million subscribers in August.

Bharti Airtel, India’s top mobile operator, added 2.8 million users in August to take its base to 108 million. Second-ranked Reliance Communications added 2.1 million to increase its base to 84.1 million.

No. 3 Vodafone Essar, controlled by Vodafone Plc, signed up 2.2 million customers to have 80.9 million.State-run Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd, the fourth-largest mobile firm, signed up 1.3 million to reach 57.3 million, while fifth-ranked Idea Cellular gained 1.5 million to cross 50 million.

Ref: http://in.reuters.com/article/businessNews/idINIndia-42657320090923?feedType=RSS&feedName=businessNews

http://www.siliconindia.com/shownews/Indias_telecom_subscriber_base_crosses_479_Million-nid-60534.html