Indian Mobile Subscriber Base - August 2009

Hi,

Again I am here with the statistics of Indian Telecom Market ending July 2009.

India adds 14.38 m wireless users in July.

India's telecom industry is growing at a rapid pace. You can check the subscriber base details of previous months from my blog.

India added 14.4 million new mobile subscribers in July, bringing the total number of mobile subscribers in the country to 442 million, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) said on Thursday.

The demand for mobile phones has been growing despite an economic downturn because Indians view mobile phones as a necessity, said analyst firm IDC India. The increase in July can also be attributed to new rollouts by some service providers and a focus by large operators on rural markets.

The country added 12 million new subscribers in June. The number of fixed line subscribers in the country continued to decline from 37.54 million in June to 37.41 million in July.

The country's largest mobile operator, Bharti Airtel, added 2.8 million subscribers in July for a total of 105 million subscribers. Reliance Communications, the second largest player, added 2.4 million subscribers, bringing its total up to 82 million.

Tata Teleservices, which is rolling out its GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications) services under the Tata DoCoMo brand, saw the number of subscribers for its GSM and CDMA services grow by 2.3 million to 39.4 million in July.

Tata Teleservices added 624,905 subscribers in June. NTT DoCoMo holds a 26 percent stake in the company.
State-owned Bharat Sanchar Nigam added 1.6 million mobile subscribers in July, taking its total to 56 million.

Indian mobile operators and handset makers are targeting India's rural markets. Nokia announced this week plans to launch micro-finance schemes across rural areas in 12 Indian states. The plan means people can buy a handset and pay it off in weekly installments for as little as 100 Indian rupees (US$2).


Analyst firms such as Gartner, however, describe India's rural market as low margin and too geographically spread out to be comparable to the country's urban market.

While the total wireless—GSM, CDMA and WLL (F)—subscriber base stood at 441.66 million in July, the wireline connections declined by 0.13 million to 37.41 million during the month.

The broadband subscriber base reached the 6.80 million million mark. India's mobile user base rose 25 times in the last five years and research firm Gartner expects it to touch 737 million by 2012.

Will keep you guys updated with latest news about Indian Telecom Industry.


Copyright © Hardik Upadhyay

You can follow me on TWITTER

JSK

Telecom Market Overview - Part 2

Hi Folks,

After a long time I am updating my blog. I would like to continue with my previous article in the changing mobile market scenario.

In recent days, I found one very interesting thing. The concept of "Pay-Per-Use".

Pay Per Use Strategy:

The ‘Pay-per-use’ model represents a paradigm shift in the overall telecom experience. It allows the consumer to pay only for the seconds utilized, heralding another revolution in the mobile telecommunications industry, not only in India but all over the world. This business model will help user to pay money only for the amount which the customer has actually used.

Previously, they were following the concept of 'Pay-for-all' but there was no profit related to it. The customer was using this because there was no competition. But now the scenario has changed. New companies are coming to market with very innovative strategy.

Rise of TATA-DOCOMO:

Tata-Docomo is a joint GSM service provided by TATA teleservices of India and NTT Docomo of Japan. They started a GSM service in India. But what is so special about this? The answer is the innovative model "Pay-Per-Use".

The pricing model is very innovative. They charged only 1paise/sec. Wow!! Isnt it interesting? Ofcourse it is. The proof is clearly visible from the next line.

Tata Docomo, the GSM-based mobile services of Tata Teleservices, on Aug 7 2009 said it has crossed the 5 lakh-subscriber mark in Tamil Nadu within a month of launching its services in the region.

"We are focussing strongly on network superiority, coverage and service offerings... Tata Docomo will soon unveil a portfolio of value-added services that will reinvent mobile telephony in India, with products and services like free voicemail, timed SMS service, free missed call alerts and call-me tunes" - Tata Docomo Strategy

Problem with this NEW model:

The following are the problems which I thought which will give jitters to TSP.

• Cheap mobile cost and cheap pricing strategy. Will it reduce overall ARPU?
• Is the pricing model beneficial for the TSP?
• Complicated billing engine?
• Real time pulse calculation and phone usage?
• What is in it for the TSP?
• What is the Return On Investment (ROI)?

The answer to these questions are bit complicated and not much clear. As per the recent press release, the company said that they are in loss currently. And the balance sheet is supposed to be in red for this financial year. The company might come out of this losses by the end of 2010.

But the main benefit was due to the joint venture. TATA teleservices has lot of infrastructure which is not a problem for them. Same goes with NTT Docomo. They have designed the most complicated billing engine. So it wont be a problem for them too.

It will reduce the ARPU in the initial stage as people will talk less and they are likely to get more benefit. But as the time pass, people will be increase in the call usage.

Ntt-Docomo uses iMode technology and possess state of art technology especially in the billing side. They will make most of the use for it and get more profit.

So try to give thought about this technology and business model. If you have any comments do contact me.

Copyright © Hardik Upadhyay

You can follow me on TWITTER

JSK

Telecom Market Overview - Part 1

Telecom market is growing inspite of the recession. You can check out these details from my previous blog "Mobile Market In INDIA"


Lot of companies are entering in the market to find out some business. India is such a country where there are lot of opportunities. Its the country with huge population and diversity and is often termed as a "Developing Country".

Before going in the business, let me give you few overview about Indian telecom market. Indian government has proposed a rule that any foreign company cannot start as a Telecom Service Provider (TSP). They need to start as a joint venture with some Indian company. Now this sounds bad!! But this is business and trade agreement. No need to be more political.

So many companies came to India and invested in the existing Indian mobile market. I will list out few companies.

Also there are two technologies which are dominant in india

1. CDMA

2. GSM

Mobile market is changing in the recent scenario.

To Know How you need to read my next blogs...

Few things which I will discuss next time.

• What is the future of the mobile market
• What are the benefits of the TSP by reducing the mobile calls
• What complications will be arising by reducing the pulse rate
• TATA DOCOMO deal.
  
• New Zealand mobile phone rates.
• Cheapest mobile rates of Finland, Amsterdam and Norway.

And much more.

So keep reading.. And do give your comments.

JSK