Telecommunications in India

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This article is about communications in India. For a more general coverage of media in India, see Media of India§. §

More than half of the mobile phones sold in India in 2012 were smart phones

Communications in India Revenue (Total) USD 33,350 million[1] Telephony Telephone Subscribers (Total) (2012) 960.9 million (May 2012) Fixed lines (May 2012) 31.53 million Mobile phones (2012) 929.37 million Monthly telephone additions (Net) 8.35 million (May 2012) Teledensity§ (2012) 79.28 % Rural Teledensity 33 %[1] Projected teledensity by 2012 84 % Internet access Percent household access (total), 2012 10.2% of households (137 million) Percent broadband household access 1.18% of households (14.31 million) Broadband internet users 14.31 million (May 2012)[2] Internet Service Providers§ (2012) 155 country code top-level domain§ .in§ Broadcasting Television broadcast stations (2009) 1,400 Radio broadcast stations (1997) 800 India's telecommunication network is the second largest in the world based on the total number of telephone users (both fixed and mobile phone).[3] It has one of the lowest call tariffs in the world enabled by the mega telephone networks and hyper-competition among them. It has the world's third-largest Internet user-base with over 137 million as of June 2012. [4] [5] Major sectors of the Indian telecommunication industry are telephony, internet and television broadcasting. Telephone Industry in the country which is in an ongoing process of transforming into next generation network§, employs an extensive system of modern network elements such as digital telephone exchanges§, mobile switching centres§, media gateways§ and signalling gateways§ at the core, interconnected by a wide variety of transmission systems using fibre-optics§ or Microwave radio relaynetworks§. The access network§, which connects the subscriber to the core, is highly diversified with different copper-pair, optic-fibre and wireless technologies. DTH§, a relatively new broadcasting technology has attained significant popularity in the Television segment. The introduction of private FM has given a fillip to the radio broadcasting in India§. Telecommunication in India has greatly been supported by the INSAT§ system of the country, one of the largest domestic satellite systems in the world. India possesses a diversified communications system, which links all parts of the country by telephone, Internet, radio, television and satellite. [6] Indian telecom industry underwent a high pace of market liberalisation and growth since 1990s and now has become the world's most competitive and one of the fastest growing telecom markets. [7] [8] The Industry has grown over twenty times in just ten years, from under 37 million subscribers in the year 2001 to over 846 million subscribers in the year 2011.[1] India has the world's second-largest§ mobile phone user base with over 929.37 million users as of May 2012.[6] It has the world's third-largest§ Internet user-base with over 137 million as of June 2012. [4] [5] The total revenue of the Indian telecom sector grew by 7% to §283207 crore§ (US$45 billion) for 2010–11 financial year, while revenues from telecom equipment segment stood at §117039 crore§ (US$19 billion).[9] Telecommunication has supported the socioeconomic development of India and has played a significant role to narrow down the rural-urban digital divide§ to some extent. It also has helped to increase the transparency of governance with the introduction of e- governance§ in India. The government has pragmatically used modern telecommunication facilities to deliver mass education programmes for the rural folk of India.[10] Contents

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1 History§

1 1.1 The Beginning § 2 1.2 Further developments and milestones § 3 1.3 Liberalisation and privatisation §

2 Sectors§ 2.1 Telephony§

1 2.1.1 Fixed Telephony § 2 2.1.2 Mobile Telephony §

2.2 Internet§

3 2.2.1 Wireless Internet § 4 2.3 Data centres § 5 2.4 Broadcasting §  3 Next-generation networks (NGN) §  4 Recent government policies and growth targets §  5 Regulatory environment §  6 Revenue and growth §

7 International§

1 7.1 Submarine cables §  8 See also §  9 References §  10 External links §

History[edit§] The Beginning[edit§] §

A microwave tower for short distance (~50 km) communication

The history of Indian telecom can be started with the introduction of telegraph§. The Indian postal and telecom sectors are one of the worlds oldest. In 1850, the first experimental electric telegraph line was started between Calcutta§ and Diamond Harbour§. In 1851, it was opened for the use of theBritish East India Company§. The Posts and Telegraphs department occupied a small corner of the Public Works Department,[11] at that time. Subsequently, the construction of 4,000 miles (6,400 km) of telegraph lines connecting Kolkata (then Calcutta) and Peshawar§ in the north along withAgra§, Mumbai§ (then Bombay) through Sindwa Ghats, and Chennai§ (then Madras) in the south, as well as Ootacamund§ and Bangalore§ was started in November 1853. William O'Shaughnessy§, who pioneered the telegraph§ and telephone in India, belonged to the Public Works Department, and worked towards the development of telecom throughout this period. A separate department was opened in 1854 when telegraph facilities were opened to the public. In 1880, two telephone companies§ namely The Oriental Telephone Company§ Ltd. and The Anglo-Indian Telephone Company Ltd. approached theGovernment of India§ to establish telephone exchanges§ in India. The permission was refused on the grounds that the establishment of telephones was a Government monopoly and that the Government itself would undertake the work. In 1881, the Government later reversed its earlier decision and a licence was granted to the Oriental Telephone Company§ Limited of England for opening telephone exchanges at Calcutta§, Bombay§, Madras§ andAhmedabad§ and the first formal telephone service was established in the country. [12] On 28 January 1882, Major E. Baring, Member of the Governor General of India§'s Council declared open the Telephone Exchanges in Calcutta, Bombay and Madras. The exchange in Calcutta named the "Central Exchange" had a total of 93 subscribers in its early stage. Later that year, Bombay also witnessed the opening of a telephone exchange. [13] Further developments and milestones[edit§]

 Pre-1902 – Cable telegraph§  1902 – First wireless telegraph§ station established between Sagar Island§ and Sandhead§.  1907 – First Central Battery of telephones introduced in Kanpur§.  1913–1914 – First Automatic Exchange installed in Shimla§.  1927 – Radio-telegraph system between the UK and India, with Imperial Wireless Chain§ beam stations at Khadki§ and Daund§. Inaugurated by Lord Irwin§ on 23 July by exchanging greetings with King George V§.  1933 – Radiotelephone§ system inaugurated between the UK and India.  1953 – 12 channel carrier system introduced.  1960 – First subscriber trunk dialling§ route commissioned between Lucknow§ and Kanpur§.[citation needed]  1975 – First PCM§ system commissioned between Mumbai§ City and Andheri§ telephone exchanges.  1976 – First digital§ microwave§ junction.  1979 – First optical fibre§ system for local junction commissioned at Pune§.  1980 – First satellite earth station§ for domestic communications established at Sikandarabad§, U.P.§.  1983 – First analogue§ Stored Programme Control exchange for trunk lines§ commissioned at Mumbai.  1984 – C-DOT§ established for indigenous development and production of digital§ exchanges.  1995 – First mobile telephone§ service started on non-commercial basis on 15 August 1995 in Delhi§.  1995 – Internet Introduced in India starting with Mumbai, Delhi, Calcutta, Chennai and Pune on 15 August 1995[14]

Development of Broadcasting: Radio broadcasting was initiated in 1927 but became state responsibility only in 1930. In 1937 it was given the name All India Radio§ and since 1957 it has been called Akashvani.[15] Limited duration of television programming began in 1959, and complete broadcasting followed in 1965. The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting§ owned and maintained the audio-visual apparatus—including the television channel Doordarshan§—in the country prior to the economic reforms of 1991§. In 1997, an autonomous body was established in the name ofPrasar Bharti§ to take care of the public service broadcasting under the Prasar Bharti Act. All India Radio and Doordarshan, which earlier were working as media units under the Ministry of I&B became constituents of the body.[10] Pre-liberalisation statistics: While all the major cities and towns in the country were linked with telephones during the British§ period, the total number of telephones in 1948 numbered only around 80,000. Post independence, growth remained slow because the telephone was seen more as a status symbol rather than being an instrument of utility. The number of telephones grew leisurely to 980,000 in 1971, 2.15 million in 1981 and 5.07 million in 1991, the year economic reforms were initiated in the country. Liberalisation and privatisation[edit§] Liberalisation of Indian telecommunication industry started in 1981 when Prime Minister Indira Gandhi§ signed contracts with Alcatel CIT§ of France to merge with the state owned Telecom Company (ITI), in an effort to set up 5,000,000 lines per year. But soon the policy was let down because of political opposition.[16] Attempts to liberalise the telecommunication industry were continued by the following government under the prime-minister-ship of Rajiv Gandhi§. He invited Sam Pitroda§, a US-based Non- resident Indian NRI§ and a former Rockwell International§ executive to set up a Centre for Development of Telematics§(C-DOT) which manufactured electronic telephone exchanges in India for the first time.[17] Sam Pitroda had a significant role as a consultant and adviser in the development of telecommunication in India.[18] In 1985, the Department of Telecom§(DoT) was separated from Indian Post & Telecommunication Department§. DoT was responsible for telecom services in entire country until 1986 whenMahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited§ (MTNL) and Videsh Sanchar Nigam Limited§ (VSNL) were carved out of DoT to run the telecom services of metro cities(Delhi§ and Mumbai§) and international long distance operations respectively.[17] The demand for telephones was ever increasing and in 1990s Indian government was under increasing pressure to open up the telecom sector for private investment as a part of Liberalisation§-Privatisation§-Globalisation§ policies that the government had to accept to overcome the severe fiscal crisis and resultant balance of payments§ issue in 1991. Consequently, private investment in the sector of Value Added Services (VAS) was allowed and cellular telecom sector were opened up for competition from private investments. It was during this period that the Narsimha Rao§-led government introduced the National Telecommunications policy (NTP) in 1994 which brought changes in the following areas: ownership, service and regulation of telecommunications infrastructure. The policy introduced the concept of telecommunication for all and its vision was to expand the telecommunication facilities to all the villages in India.[19] Liberalisation in the basic telecom sector was also envisaged in this policy.[20] They were also successful in establishing joint ventures between state owned telecom companies and international players. Foreign firms were eligible to 49% of the total stake. The multi-nationals were just involved in technology transfer, and not policy making.[16] During this period, the World Bank and ITU§ had advised the Indian Government to liberalise long distance services to release the monopoly of the state owned DoT and VSNL and to enable competition in the long distance carrier business which would help reduce tariff's and better the economy of the country. The Rao run government instead liberalised the local services, taking the opposite political parties into confidence and assuring foreign involvement in the long distance business after 5 years. The country was divided into 20 telecommunication circles for basic telephony and 18 circles for mobile services. These circles were divided into category A, B and C depending on the value of the revenue in each circle. The government threw open the bids to one private company per circle along with government owned DoT per circle. For cellular service two service providers were allowed per circle and a 15 years licence was given to each provider. During all these improvements, the government did face oppositions from ITI§, DoT, MTNL, VSNL and other labour unions, but they managed to keep away from all the hurdles.[16] In 1997, the government set up TRAI (Telecom Regulatory Authority of India§) which reduced the interference of Government in deciding tariffs and policy making. The political powers changed in 1999 and the new government under the leadership of Atal Bihari Vajpayee§ was more pro-reforms and introduced better liberalisation policies. In 2000, the Vajpayee government§ constituted theTelecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal§ (TDSAT) through an amendment of the TRAI Act, 1997. [21] [22] The primary objective of TDSAT's establishment was to release TRAI from adjudicatory and dispute settlement functions in order to strengthen the regulatory framework. Any dispute involving parties like licensor, licensee, service provider and consumers are resolved by TDSAT. Moreover, any direction, order or decision of TRAI can be challenged by appealing in TDSAT.[23] The government corporatised the operations wing of DoT on 1 October 2000 and named it as Department of Telecommunication Services (DTS) which was later named as Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited§ (BSNL). The proposal of raising the stake of foreign investors from 49% to 74% was rejected by the opposite political parties and leftist thinkers. Domestic business groups wanted the government to privatise VSNL. Finally in April 2002, the government decided to cut its stake of 53% to 26% in VSNL and to throw it open for sale to private enterprises. TATA finally took 25% stake in VSNL.[16] This was a gateway to many foreign investors to get entry into the Indian Telecom Markets. After March 2000, the government became more liberal in making policies and issuing licences to private operators. The government further reduced licence fees for cellular service§ providers and increased the allowable stake to 74% for foreign companies. Because of all these factors, the service fees finally reduced and the call costs were cut greatly enabling every common middle-class family in India to afford a cell phone. Nearly 32 million handsets were sold in India. The data reveals the real potential for growth of the Indian mobile market.[24] Many private operators, such as Reliance Communications§, Tata Indicom§, Vodafone§, Loop Mobile§, Airtel§, Idea§ etc., successfully entered the high potential Indian telecom market. In March 2008 the total GSM§ and CDMA§ mobile subscriber base in the country was 375 million, which represented a nearly 50% growth when compared with previous year. [25] As the unbranded Chinese cell phones which do not have International Mobile Equipment Identity§ (IMEI) numbers pose a serious security risk to the country, Mobile network operators§ therefore suspended the usage of around 30 million mobile phones (about 8% of all mobiles in the country) by 30 April. Phones without valid IMEI cannot be connected to cellular operators.[26] 5–6 years the average monthly subscribers additions were around 0.05 to 0.1 million only and the total mobile subscribers base in December 2002 stood at 10.5 millions. However, after a number of proactive initiatives taken by regulators and licensors, the total number of mobile subscribers has increased rapidly to over 929 million subscribers as of May 2012. India has opted for the use of both the GSM (global system for mobile communications)§ and CDMA (code-division multiple access)§ technologies in the mobile§ sector. In addition to landline§ and mobile phones, some of the companies also provide the WLL§ service. The mobile tariffs in India have also become lowest in the world. A new mobile connection can be activated with a monthly commitment of US$0.15 only. In 2005 alone additions increased to around 2 million per month in 2003–04 and 2004–05.[citation needed] Sectors[edit§] Major sectors of telecommunication industry in India are telephony, internet, Data centers and broadcasting. Telephony[edit§] §

Market share of major operators in India as on 29 February 2012

The telephony segment is dominated by private-sector and two state-run businesses. Most companies were formed by a recent revolution and restructuring launched within a decade, directed by Ministry of Communications and IT§, Department of Telecommunications§ and Minister of Finance§. Since then, most companies gained 2G§, 3G§ and 4G§ licences and engaged fixed-line, mobile and internet business in India. On landlines, intra-circle calls are considered local calls while inter-circle are considered long distance calls. Foreign Direct Investment policy which increased the foreign ownership cap from 49% to 74%.Now it is 100%. Currently Government is working to integrate the whole country in one telecom circle. For long distance calls, the area code prefixed with a zero is dialled first which is then followed by the number (i.e. To call Delhi§, 011 would be dialled first followed by the phone number). For international calls, "00" must be dialled first followed by the country code§, area code§ and local phone number§. The country code for India is 91. Several international fibre-optic links include those to Japan, South Korea, Hong Kong, Russia, and Germany. Some major telecom operators in India include Airtel, Vodafone, Idea, Aircel, BSNL, MTNL, Reliance Communications, TATA Teleservices, Infotel, MTS, Uninor, TATA DoCoMo, Videocon, Augere, Tikona Digital. Fixed Telephony[edit§] Until the New Telecom Policy was announced in 1999, only the Government-owned BSNL§ and MTNL§ were allowed to provide land-line phone services through copper wire§ in India with MTNL§ operating in Delhi§ and Mumbai§ and BSNL§ servicing all other areas of the country. Due to the rapid growth of the cellular phone industry in India, landlines are facing stiff competition from cellular operators. This has forced land-line service providers to become more efficient and improve their quality of service. Land- line connexions are now also available on demand, even in high density urban areas. India has over 31 million main line customers. Mobile Telephony[edit§]

See also: List of mobile network operators of India§, List of countries by number of mobile phones in use§, and List of mobile network operators§ §

Cellular phone tower atop the roof of a building

Typical signboards of STD booths (kiosks from where STD§ calls can be made) and internet kiosks in India

AIR Radio Tower In August 1995, Chief Minister of West Bengal, Shri Jyoti Basu§ ushered in the cellphone revolution in India by making the first call to Union Telecom Minister Sukhram.[27] Sixteen years later 4th generation services were launched in Kolkata.[28] With a subscriber base of more than 929 million, the Mobile telecommunications system in India is the second largest in the world and it was thrown open to private players in the 1990s. GSM was comfortably maintaining its position as the dominant mobile technology with 80% of the mobile subscriber market, but CDMA seemed to have stabilised its market share at 20% for the time being. By May 2012 the country had 929 million mobile subscribers, up from 350 million just 40 months earlier. The mobile market was continuing to expand at an annual rate in excess of 40% coming into 2010. According to data provided by Minister of State for Communications and IT§ Milind Deora§, as of 30 November 2012, India has 736,654 base transceiver stations§ (2G§ GSM§ & CDMA§, and 3G§). Of those, 96,212 base transceiver stations provide 3G mobile and data services. Out of India's 640 districts§, 610 districts are covered by 3G services as of 30 November 2012.[29] The country is divided into multiple zones, called circles (roughly along state boundaries). Government and several private players run local and long distance telephone services. Competition has caused prices to drop and calls across India are one of the cheapest in the world.[30] The rates are supposed to go down further with new measures to be taken by the Information Ministry.[31] In September 2004, the number of mobile phone connexions crossed the number of fixed-line connexions and presently dwarfs the wireline segment by a ratio of around 20:1. The mobile subscriber base has grown by a factor of over a hundred and thirty, from 5 million subscribers in 2001 to over 929 million subscribers as of May 2012. India primarily follows the GSM§ mobile system, in the 900 MHz band. Recent operators also operate in the 1800 MHz band. The dominant players are Airtel§,Reliance Infocomm§, Vodafone§, Idea cellular§ and BSNL§/MTNL§. There are many smaller players, with operations in only a few states. Internationalroaming§ agreements exist between most operators and many foreign carriers. The government allowed Mobile number portability§ (MNP) which enables mobile telephone users to retain their mobile telephone numbers when changing from one mobile network operator to another.[32] India is divided into 22 telecom circles:[33] Telecom circle Wireline subscriber base in million(May 2012) Andhra Pradesh 2.33 66.6 Assam 0.20 14.6 Bihar & Jharkhand 0.56 62.97 Delhi 2.9 42.95 Gujarat & Daman & Diu 1.82 54.32 Haryana 0.59 23.00 Himachal Pradesh 0.30 7.41 Jammu and Kashmir 0.20 6.57 Karnataka 2.48 56.63 Kerala & Lakshadweep 3.18 34.51 Kolkata 1.18 25.25 Madhya Pradesh & Chhattisgarh 1.13 53.30 Maharashtra & Goa (excluding Mumbai ) 2.64 71.00 Mumbai* 3.0 35.93 North East ^**§ 0.25 8.76 Orissa 0.40 26.27 Punjab 1.44 31.17 Rajasthan 1.14 49.52 Tamil Nadu(including Chennai since 3.16 78.96 2005)[34] Uttar Pradesh(East) 1.20 77.74 Uttar Pradesh(West) & Uttarakhand 0.79 55.12 West Bengal(excluding Kolkata)*** 0.62 46.79 ^*§ Population statistics are available state-wise only. ^**§ North east circle includes Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, & Tripura ^***§West Bengal circle includes Andaman-Nicobar and Sikkim Internet[edit§]

See also: Internet censorship in India§ , List of Internet users by country§, and List of countries by number of broadband Internet subscriptions§ §

§ Internet cafe in Varanasi§, 2001

The history of the Internet in India started with launch of services by VSNL§ on 15 August 1995. They were able to add about 10,000 Internet users within 6 months.[35] However, for the next 10 years the Internet experience in the country remained less attractive with narrow-band connections having speeds less than 56 kbit/s (dial-up). In 2004, the government formulated its broadband policy which defined broadband as "an always-on Internet connection with download speed of 256 kbit/s or above."[36] From 2005 onward the growth of the broadband sector in the country accelerated, but remained below the growth estimates of the government and related agencies due to resource issues in last-mile access which were predominantly wired-line technologies. This bottleneck was removed in 2010 when the government auctioned 3G§ spectrum followed by an equally high profile auction of4G§ spectrum that set the scene for a competitive and invigorated wireless broadband market. Now Internet access in India is provided by both public and private companies using a variety of technologies and media including dial-up (PSTN), xDSL, coaxial cable, Ethernet, FTTH, ISDN, HSDPA (3G), WiFi, WiMAX, etc. at a wide range of speeds and costs. The country has the world's third largest§ number of Internet users§ with over 121 million users (59% of whom only access the Internet via mobile devices) in December 2011.[37] As of December 2011, total Internet connections stood at 22.39 million,[2] with estimated users exceeding 121 million. The number of broadband subscribers at the end of May 2013 was 15.13 million.[38] Cumulative Annual Growth rate (CAGR) of broadband during the five-year period between 2005 and 2010 was about 117 per cent.[36] DSL§, while holding slightly more than 75% of the local broadband market, was steadily losing market share to other non-DSL broadband platforms, especially to wireless broadband. There were 161 Internet Service Providers§ (ISPs) offering broadband services in India as of 31 May 2013. The top five ISPs in terms subscriber base were BSNL (9.96 million), Bharti Airtel (1.40 million), MTNL (1.09 million), Hathway (0.36 million) and You Broadband (0.31 million).[38] Cyber cafes§remain the major source of Internet access. In 2009, about 37 per cent of the users access the Internet from cyber cafes, 30 per cent from an office, and 23 per cent from home. However, the number of mobile Internet users increased rapidly from 2009 on and there were about 274 million mobile users at the end of September 2010, with a majority using 2G mobile networks.[36] Mobile Internet subscriptions as reported by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India§ (TRAI) in March 2011 increased to 381 million. One of the major issues facing the Internet segment in India is the lower average bandwidth of broadband connections compared to that of developed countries. According to 2007 statistics, the average download speed in India hovered at about 40 KB per second (256 kbit/s§), the minimum speed set by TRAI, whereas the international average was 5.6 Mbit/s during the same period. In order to attend this infrastructure issue the government declared 2007 as "the year of broadband". [39] [40] To compete with international standards of defining broadband speed the Indian Government has taken the aggressive step of proposing a $13 billion national broadband network to connect all cities, towns and villages with a population of more than 500 in two phases targeted for completion by 2012 and 2013. The network was supposed to provide speeds up to 10 Mbit/s in 63 metropolitan areas and 4 Mbit/s in an additional 352 cities. Also, the Internet penetration rate in India is one of the lowest in the world and only accounts for 8.4% of the population compared to the rate in OECD§ counties, where the average is over 50%. [4] [41] [42] Another issue is the digital divide§ where growth is biased in favour of urban areas; according to 2010 statistics, more than 75 per cent of the broadband connections in the country are in the top 30 cities.[36] Regulators have tried to boost the growth of broadband in rural areas by promoting higher investment in rural infrastructure and establishing subsidized tariffs for rural subscribers under the Universal service obligation§ scheme of the Indian government. Wireless Internet[edit§] 2nd Generation Internet§ is the most prevalent in India. Wireless ISPs in India use both CDMA§ and Edge§ technologies for 2G. India's wireless Internet Frequencies are[43]

 2G : GSM 900 MHz, GSM 1800 MHz  3G : UMTS 2100 MHz  4G : TD-LTE§ 2300 MHz

Data centres[edit§]

 BSNL Internet Data Centers, in collaboration with Dimension Data[44]  Sify Technologies Limited  CtrlS Datacenters Ltd  Tata Communications Limited  Netmagic Solutions  Reliance Datacenter  Web Werks IDC  Net4 Datacenter  RackBank Datacenter

Broadcasting[edit§]

Main articles: Media of India§, Television in India§, and List of Indian television stations§ §

INSAT-1B satellite: Broadcasting sector in India is highly dependent on INSAT§system.

Television broadcasting began in India in 1959 by Doordarshan§, a state run medium of communication, and had slow expansion for more than two decades.[45] The policy reforms of the government in 1990s attracted private initiatives in this sector, and since then, satellite television has increasingly shaped popular culture and Indian society. However, still, only the government owned Doordarshan has the licence for terrestrial television broadcast. Private companies reach the public using satellite channels; both cable television§ as well as DTH has obtained a wide subscriber base in India. In 2012, India had about 148 million TV homes of which 126 million has access to cable and satellite services.[46] Following the economic reforms in 1990s, satellite television channels from around the world—BBC§, CNN§, CNBC§, and other private television channels gained a foothold in the country.[10] There are no regulations to control the ownership of satellite dish§ antennas and also for operating cable television systems in India, which in turn has helped for an impressive growth in the viewership. The growth in the number of satellite channels was triggered by corporate business houses such as Star TV§ group and Zee TV§. Initially restricted to music and entertainment channels, viewership grew, giving rise to several channels in regional languages§, especially Hindi§. The main news channels available were CNN and BBC World§. In the late 1990s, many current affairs and news channels sprouted, becoming immensely popular because of the alternative viewpoint they offered compared to Doordarshan. Some of the notable ones are Aaj Tak§ (run by the India Today§ group) and STAR News§, CNN-IBN§, Times Now§, initially run by the NDTV§ group and their lead anchor, Prannoy Roy§ (NDTV§ now has its own channels, NDTV 24x7, NDTV Profit and NDTV India). Over the years, Doordarshan services also have grown from a single national channel to six national and eleven regional channels. Nonetheless, it has lost the leadership in market, though it underwent many phases of modernization in order to contain tough competition from private channels.[10] Today, television is the most penetrative media in India with industry estimates indicating that there are over 554 million TV consumers, 462 million with satellite connexions, compared to other forms of mass media such as radio or internet.[47] Government of India has used the popularity of TV and radio among rural people for the implementation of many social-programmes including that of mass-education. On 16 November 2006, the Government of India released the community radio policy which allowed agricultural centres, educational institutions and civil society organisations to apply for community based FM broadcasting licence. Community Radio is allowed 100 Watt Effective Radiated Power (ERP) with a maximum tower height of 30 metres. The licence is valid for five years and one organisation can only get one licence, which is non-transferable and to be used for community development purposes. Next-generation networks (NGN)[edit§] Historically, the role of telecommunication has evolved from that of plain information exchange to a multi-service field, with Value Added Services (VAS) integrated with various discrete networks like PSTN§, PLMN§, Internet Backbone etc. However, with decreasing ARPU§ and increasing demand for VAS has become a compelling reason for the service providers to think of the convergence of these parallel networks into a single core network with service layers separated from network layer.[48] Next-generation networking§ is such a convergence concept which according to ITU-T§is:[49] A next-generation network (NGN) is a packet§-based network§ which can provide services including Telecommunication Services and able to make use of multiple broadband§, quality of Service§-enabled transport technologies and in which service- related functions are independent from underlying transport-related technologies. It offers unrestricted access by users to different service providers. It supports generalized mobility which will allow consistent and ubiquitous provision of services to users. Access network: The user can connect to the IP-core of NGN in various ways, most of which use the standard Internet Protocol (IP). User terminals such as mobile phones§, personal digital assistants§ (PDAs) and computers can register directly on NGN-core, even when they are roaming§ in another network or country. The only requirement is that they can use IP and Session Initiation Protocol§ (SIP). Fixed access§ (e.g., Digital Subscriber Line§ (DSL), cable modems§, Ethernet§), mobile access (e.g. W-CDMA§, CDMA2000§, GSM, GPRS§) and wireless access (e.g.WLAN§,WiMAX§) are all supported. Other phone systems like plain old telephone service§ and non-compatible VoIP§ systems, are supported through gateways§. With the deployment of the NGN, users may subscribe to many simultaneous access-providers providing telephony, internet or entertainment services. This may provide end-users with virtually unlimited options to choose between service providers for these services in NGN environment.[48] The hyper-competition in telecom market, which was effectively caused by the introduction of Universal Access Service (UAS) licence in 2003 became much tougher after 3G and 4G competitive auction§. About 670,000 route-kilometer (419,000 mile) of optical fibres§ has been laid in India by the major operators, including in the financially nonviable rural areas and the process continues.[citation needed] Keeping in mind the viability of providing services in rural areas, the government of India also took a proactive role to promote the NGN implementation in the country; an expert committee called NGN eCO was constituted in order to deliberate on the licensing, interconnection and Quality of Service (QoS) issues related to NGN and it submitted its report on 24 August 2007. Telecom operators found the NGN model advantageous, but huge investment requirements have prompted them to adopt a multi-phase migration and they have already started the migration process to NGN with the implementation of IP-based core-network.[48] Recent government policies and growth targets[edit§]

This section does not cite§ any references or sources§. Please help improve this section by § sources§. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed§. (June 2013)

 All villages shall receive telecom facilities by the end of 2002.[dated info]  A Communication Convergence Bill introduced in the Parliament on 31 August 2001 is presently before the Standing Committee of Parliament on Telecom and IT. [dated info]  National Long Distance Service (NLD) is opened for unrestricted entry.[when?]  The International Long Distance Services (ILDS) have been opened to competition.[when?]  The basic services are open to competition.[when?]  In addition to the existing three, a fourth cellular operator, one each in four metros and thirteen circles, has been permitted.[when?] Cellular operators have been permitted to provide all types of mobile services including voice and non-voice messages, data services and PCOs§ utilising any type of network equipment, including circuit and/or package switches that meet certain required standards.  Policies allowing private participation have been announced as per the New Telecom Policy (NTP), 1999 in several new services, which include Global Mobile Personal Communication by Satellite (GMPCS) Service, digital Public Mobile Radio Trunked Service (PMRTS) and Voice Mail/ Audiotex/ Unified Messaging Services.  Wireless Local Loop (WLL)§ has been introduced to provide telephone connexions in urban, semi-urban and rural areas promptly.[when?]  Two telecom PSUs, VSNL and HTL have been disinvested.[when?]  Steps are being taken to fulfill Universal Service Obligation (USO), funding, and administration.[when?]  A decision to permit Community Phone Service has been announced.[when?]  Multiple Fixed Service Providers (FSPs) licensing guidelines were announced. [when?]  Internet Service Providers (ISPs) have been allowed to set up International Internet Gateways, both Satellite and Landing stations for submarine optical fibre cables.[when?]  Two categories of infrastructure providers have been allowed to provide end-to- end bandwidth and dark fibre, right of way, towers, duct space etc.[when?]  Guidelines have been issued by the Government to open up Internet telephony (IP).[when?]  National Optical Fibre Network § (NOFN), a project aimed to ensure broadband connectivity to over two lakh§ (200,000) gram panchayats§ of India by 2016.

Regulatory environment[edit§] LIRNEasia§'s Telecommunications Regulatory Environment (TRE) index, which summarises stakeholders' perception on certain TRE dimensions, provides insight into how conducive the environment is for further development and progress. The most recent survey was conducted in July 2008 in eight Asian countries, including Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Maldives, Pakistan, Thailand, and the Philippines. The tool measured seven dimensions: i) market entry; ii) access to scarce resources; iii) interconnection; iv) tariff regulation; v) anti-competitive practices; and vi) universal services; vii) quality of service, for the fixed, mobile and broadband sectors. The results for India, point out to the fact that the stakeholders perceive the TRE to be most conducive for the mobile sector followed by fixed and then broadband. Other than for Access to Scarce Resources the fixed sector lags behind the mobile sector. The fixed and mobile sectors have the highest scores for Tariff Regulation. Market entry also scores well for the mobile sector as competition is well entrenched with most of the circles with 4–5 mobile service providers. The broadband sector has the lowest score in the aggregate. The low penetration of broadband of mere 3.87 against the policy objective of 9 million at then end of 2007 clearly indicates that the regulatory environment is not very conducive.[50] In 2013 the home ministry§ stated that legislation must ensure that law enforcement agencies are empowered to intercept communications.[51] Revenue and growth[edit§] The total revenue in the telecom service sector was §86720 crore§ (US$13.9 billion) in 2005–06 as against §71674 crore§ (US$11.5 billion) in 2004–2005, registering a growth of 21% with estimated revenue of FY'2011 of §835 crore§ (US$130 million). The total investment in the telecom services sector reached §200660 crore§ (US$32.1 billion) in 2005–06, up from §178831 crore§(US$28.6 billion) in the previous fiscal.[52] Telecommunication is the lifeline of the rapidly growing Information Technology industry. Internet subscriber base has risen to more than a 121 million in 2011.[53] Out of this 11.47 million were broadband connexions. More than a billion people use the Internet globally. Under the Bharat Nirman Programme§, the Government of India will ensure that 66,822 revenue villages in the country, which have not yet been provided with a Village Public Telephone (VPT), will be connected. However doubts have been raised about what it would mean for the poor in the country.[54] It is difficult to ascertain fully the employment potential of the telecom sector but the enormity of the opportunities can be gauged from the fact that there were 3.7 million Public Call Offices in December 2005[55] up from 2.3 million in December 2004. The Total Revenue of Indian Telecom Services company is likely to exceed §200000 crore§ (US$32 billion) ( US$ 44 Bn approx) for FY 11–12 based on FY 10–11 nos and latest quarterly results. These are consolidated numbers including foreign operation of Bharti Airtel. The major contributions to this revenue are as follows:[56]

 Airtel § §65060 (US$1,000)  Reliance Communications § §31468 (US$500)  Idea §16936 (US$270)  Tata Communications §11931 (US$190)  MTNL §4380 (US$70)  TTML §2248 (US$36)  BSNL §32045 (US$510)  Vodafone India § §18376 (US$290)  TataTeleservice § §9200 (US$150)  Aircel §7968 (US$130)  SSTL §600 (US$9.60)  Uninor §660 (US$11)  Loop §560 (US$9.00)  Stel §60 (96¢ US)  HFCL §204 (US$3.30)  Videocon Telecom §254 (US$4.10)  DB Etisalat/ Allianz §47 (75¢ US)  Grand Total §201997 crore§ (US$32 billion)

International[edit§]

 Nine satellite earth stations – 8 Intelsat§ (Indian Ocean) and 1 Inmarsat§ (Indian Ocean region).Microwave§  Nine gateway exchanges operating from Mumbai§, New Delhi, Kolkata§, Chennai§, Jalandhar§, Kanpur§, Gandhinagar§, Hyderabad§ and Ernakulam§.

Submarine cables[edit§]

 LOCOM § linking Chennai to Penang§, Malaysia  India-UAEcable § linking Mumbai§ to Al Fujayrah§, UAE.  SEA-ME-WE 2 § (South East Asia-Middle East-Western Europe 2)  SEA-ME-WE 3 § (South East Asia-Middle East-Western Europe 3) – Landing sites at Cochin§ and Mumbai§. Capacity of 960 Gbit/s.  SEA-ME-WE 4 § (South East Asia-Middle East-Western Europe 4) – Landing sites at Mumbai§ and Chennai§. Capacity of 1.28 Tbit/s.  Fibre-Optic Link Around the Globe § (FLAG-FEA) with a landing site at Mumbai (2000). Initial design capacity 10 Gbit/s, upgraded in 2002 to 80 Gbit/s, upgraded to over 1 Tbit/s (2005).  TIISCS § (Tata Indicom India-Singapore Cable System), also known as TIC (Tata Indicom Cable), Chennai to Singapore. Capacity of 5.12 Tbit/s.  i2i § – Chennai to Singapore. Capacity of 8.4 Tbit/s.  SEACOM § From Mumbai to the Mediterranean, via South Africa. It currently joins with SEA-ME-WE 4§ off the west coast of Spain to carry traffic onward to London (2009). Capacity of 1.28 Tbit/s.  I-ME-WE § (India-Middle East-Western Europe) with two landing sites at Mumbai (2009). Capacity of 3.84 Tbit/s.  EIG § (Europe-India Gateway), landing at Mumbai (due Q2 2010).  MENA § (Middle East North Africa).  TGN-Eurasia § (Announced) Landing at Mumbai (due 2010?), Capacity of 1.28 Tbit/s  TGN-Gulf § (Announced) Landing at Mumbai (due 2011?), Capacity Unknown.

See also[edit§]

 TRAI §  Indian Telecommunication Service §  List of Indian wireless communications service providers §  Telecommunications Statistics in India §  Mobile phone industry in India §

References[edit§]

1 ^ Jump up to:a§ b§ c§ Telecom India§, ImaginMor 2 ^ Jump up to:§ List of Telecom Companies in India

Aircel Cellular Limited§ Aishwarya Telecom Ltd§ Aksh Optifibre Ltd.§ Anco Communications Ltd.§ Astra Microwave Products Ltd.§ Avaya Globalconnect Ltd§

Bhagyanagar India Ltd.§ Bharti Airtel§Bharti Teletech§Birla Ericsson Optical Ltd.§

Cable Corporation of India Ltd.§CMI Ltd.§Cybele Industries Ltd.§

Delton Cables Ltd.§Dhanus Technologies Ltd.§

Eider Infotech Ltd.§Ericsson§Esskay Telecom Ltd.§

FCI OEN Connectors Ltd.§Finolex Cables Ltd.§ G

Gemini Communications Ltd.§Goldstone Infratech Ltd§GR Cables Ltd.§GTL Infrastructure Ltd.§Gujarat Optical Communication Ltd.§

Hartron Communications Ltd.§Hathway Bhawani Cabletel & Datacom Ltd§HFCL Infotel Ltd§Himachal Futuristic Communications Ltd.§Hindustan Cables Ltd.§

Idea Cellular Ltd.§Intergrated Digital Info Services Ltd§ITI Ltd§ITI Ltd.§

Kaleidoscope Films Ltd§Kavveri Telecom Products Ltd.§Krone Communications Ltd.§

Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd§MIC Electronics Ltd.§Mobile Tele Communications Ltd§Motorola§MP Telelinks Ltd.§Munoth Communication Ltd§

Nelco Ltd.§Nokia India§Nokia Siemens Networks§Nortel§Nu Tek India Ltd§

Optel Tecommunications Ltd§

Paramount Communications Ltd.§Precision Electronics Ltd.§Punjab Communications Ltd.§

Qualcomm India§ R

Reliance Communications Ltd.§RPG Cables Ltd§

Shyam Telecom Ltd§Southern Online Bio Technologies Ltd§Spice Communications Ltd.§Spice Mobiles Ltd§Sterlite Technologies Ltd.§Sujana Towers Ltd§Surana Telecom & Power Ltd§Surana Telecom Ltd.§

Tamilnadu Telecommunications Ltd§Tata Teleservices (Maharashtra) Ltd.§TataCommunications Ltd§Telecom Regulatory Authority of India§Telecommunications Consultants India Ltd.§Telephone Cables Ltd.§Telephone Cables Ltd.§Tulip Telecom Ltd§

Valiant Communications Ltd.§Videsh Sanchar Nigam Ltd.§Vindhya Telelinks Ltd§Vodafone Group Plc§

XL Telecom & Energy Ltd.§ COMPANY PROFILE: Bharti Airtel

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Bharti Airtel Limited § Type§ Public§ Traded as§ BSE§: 532454§NSE§: BHARTIARTL§ BSE SENSEX Constituent§ Industry Telecommunications§ Founded 7 July 1995[1] Founder(s) Sunil Bharti Mittal§ Headquarters Bharti Crescent, 1, Nelson Mandela Road§, New Delhi, India[1] Area served South Asia§, Africa§, and theChannel Islands§ Key people Sunil Bharti Mittal§ (Chairman and MD§) Products Fixed line§ and mobile telephony§,broadband§ and fixed-line internet services, digital television§ and IPTV§ Revenue INR§ 419.31 billion (2012)[2] Operating 137.58 billion (2012)[2] income§ Profit§ 53,700 million (2012)[2] Total assets§ 635.59 billion (2012)[2] Total equity§ 18.98 billion (2012)[2] Employees 21,299 (2012)[2] Parent§ Bharti Enterprises§ (52.7%) [3] [4] SingTel§ (15.57%) [3] [4] Vodafone§ (4.4%) Subsidiaries§ Airtel Africa§ Airtel Digital TV§ Airtel Sri Lanka§ Airtel Bangladesh§ Website www.airtel.com§ Bharti Airtel Limited, commonly known as Airtel, is an Indian multinational telecommunications§ services company headquartered in New Delhi, India§. It operates in 20 countries across South Asia§, Africa§, and the Channel Islands§. Airtel has a GSM network§ in all countries in which it operates, providing 2G§, 3G§ and 4G§ services depending upon the country of operation. Airtel is the world's third largest§ mobile telecommunications company by subscribers, with over 275 million subscribers across 20 countries as of July 2013.[5] It is the largest cellular service provider§ in India, with 192.22 million subscribers as of August 2013.[6] Airtel is the third largest in-country mobile operator by subscriber base, behind China Mobile§ and China Unicom§. Airtel is the largest provider of mobile telephony§ and second largest provider of fixed telephony§ in India, and is also a provider of broadband§ andsubscription television§ services. It offers its telecom services under the "airtel" brand, and is headed by Sunil Bharti Mittal. Bharti Airtel is the first Indian telecom service provider to achieve Cisco§ Gold Certification.[7] It also acts as a carrier for national and international long distance communication services. The company has a submarine cable landing station at Chennai, which connects the submarine cable connecting Chennai§and Singapore. Airtel is credited with pioneering the business strategy of outsourcing§ all of its business operations except marketing, sales and finance and building the 'minutes factory' model of low cost and high volumes. The strategy has since been copied by several operators.[8] Its network—base stations, microwave links, etc.—is maintained by Ericsson§ and Nokia Siemens Network§[9] whereas IT support is provided by IBM§,[10] and transmission towers are maintained by another company (Bharti Infratel Ltd. in India).[11] Ericsson agreed for the first time to be paid by the minute for installation and maintenance of their equipment rather than being paid up front, which allowed Airtel to provide low call rates of 1/minute (US$0.02/minute).[12] During the last financial year (2009–10), Bharti negotiated for its strategic partner Alcatel-Lucent§ to manage the network infrastructure for the tele-media business. On 31 May 2012, Bharti Airtel awarded the three-year contract to Alcatel-Lucent§ for setting up an Internet Protocol§ access network (mobile backhaul) across the country. This would help consumers access internet at faster speed and high quality internet browsing on mobile handsets.[13] Contents

[hide§]

 1 History §  2 Corporate Structure §  3 Worldwide presence §

4 Mobile Services§

1 4.1 3G § 2 4.2 4G § 3 4.3 WiFi § 4 4.4 airtel Money § 5 4.5 SmartDrive § 6 4.6 Network Experience Centre § 7 4.7 iPhone §  5 Telemedia §  6 Digital Television §

7 Enterprise§

1 7.1 Mobile data service § 2 7.2 Enterprise business solutions § 3 7.3 Android-based tablet §

8 International Operations§

4 8.1 Africa § 5 8.2 Bangladesh § 6 8.3 Sri Lanka § 7 8.4 Channel Islands: Jersey and Guernsey §

9 Subscriber Base§

8 9.1 India §  10 One Network §

11 Acquisitions and mergers§

1 11.1 MTN Group merger negotiations § 2 11.2 Zain § 3 11.3 Telecom Seychelles § 4 11.4 Wireless Business Services Private Limited §

12 Joint Ventures§

5 12.1 Airtel-Ericsson §  13 Rebranding §  14 Sponsorship §  15 Signature Tune §  16 Green Initiative §  17 Timeline §  18 See also §  19 References §  20 External links §

History[edit§]

This section does not cite§ any references or sources§. Please help improve this section by § sources§. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed§. (October 2012) Sunil Bharti Mittal founded the Bharti Group. In 1983, Mittal was in an agreement with Germany's Siemens to manufacture push-button telephone models for the Indian market. In 1986, Mittal incorporated Bharti Telecom Limited (BTL), and his company became the first in India to offer push-button telephones, establishing the basis of Bharti Enterprises. By the early 1990s, Sunil Mittal had also launched the country's first fax machines and its first cordless telephones. In 1992, Mittal won a bid to build a cellular phone network in Delhi. In 1995, Mittal incorporated the cellular operations as Bharti Tele-Ventures and launched service in Delhi. In 1996, cellular service was extended to Himachal Pradesh. In 1999, Bharti Enterprises acquired control of JT Holdings, and extended cellular operations to Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh. In 2000, Bharti acquired control of Skycell Communications, in Chennai. In 2001, the company acquired control of Spice Cell in Calcutta. Bharti Enterprises went public in 2002, and the company was listed on Bombay Stock Exchange and National Stock Exchange of India. In 2003, the cellular phone operations were rebranded under the single Airtel brand. In 2004, Bharti acquired control of Hexacom and entered Rajasthan. In 2005, Bharti extended its network to Andaman and Nicobar. This expansion allowed it to offer voice services all across India. In 2009, Airtel launched its first international mobile network in Sri Lanka. In 2010, Airtel acquired the African operations of the Kuwait based Zain§Telecom. In March 2012, Airtel launched a mobile operation in Rwanda. [14] §

Airtel Centre, Gurgaon

Airtel launched "Hello Tunes", a Caller ring back tone service (CRBT), in July 2004 becoming to the first operator in India to do so. The Airtel theme song, composed by A.R. Rahman, was the most popular tune on that year.[15] On 26 February 2013, Airtel announced that it had deployed Ericsson§’s Mobile Broadband Charging (MBC) solution and completely modernized its prepaid services for its subscribers in India. As a part of the deal, Ericsson’s multi service MBC suite allows prepaid customers to have personalized profile based data charging plans. Prepaid customers will be able to customize their data plans across mobility, fixed line and broadband by cross bundling across multiple domains (2G, 3G, 4G/LTE & Wi-Fi). It will also offer flexible multi service charging in geographical redundant mode, making Airtel the first operator to implement geographical redundancy at such a large scale.[16] In May 2013, Bharti Infotel paid Rs 50,000 as compensation to a customer "for unfair trade practices". The customer alleged that the company continued to aggressively demand payment despite customer requests for disconnection of service.[17] Corporate Structure[edit§]

This section does not cite§ any references or sources§. Please help improve this section by § sources§. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed§. (October 2012) Airtel's initial corporate structure concentrated on the hierarchy of the operations inside the company as a whole. The structure depicted the corresponding operation/region of different in-charges and it didn't hold anyone responsible for each of its services. So, the company found it better to restructure its corporate hierarchy. The transformed organisational structure has two distinct Customer Business Units (CBU) with clear focus on B2C§ (Business to Customer) and B2B§ (Business to Business) segments. Bharti Airtel's B2C business unit will comprehensively service the retail consumers, homes and small offices, by combining the erstwhile business units - Mobile, Telemedia, Digital TV, and other emerging businesses (like M-commerce, M-health, M-advertising etc.). The B2C organization will consist of Consumer Business and Market Operations. Worldwide presence[edit§] §

Coverage map of Bharti Airtel across 20 countries

Airtel is the one of the largest mobile operator in the world in terms of subscriber base and has a commercial presence in 20 countries and the Channel Islands§.

Its area of operations include:  The Indian Subcontinent§: 1 Airtel Bangladesh §, in Bangladesh 2 Airtel, in India 3 Airtel Sri Lanka §, in Sri Lanka  Airtel Africa §, which operates in 17 African countries: 1 Burkina Faso, Chad, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Republic of the Congo, Gabon, Ghana, Kenya, Madagascar, Malawi, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia.  The British Crown Dependency§ islands of Jersey and Guernsey, under the brand name Airtel-Vodafone§, through an agreement with Vodafone§.

Airtel operates in the following countries: Country Site Remarks Bangladesh Airtel Airtel Bangladesh had about 8 million customers as on Sep 2013. Bangladesh§ Burkina Faso Airtel Burkina Airtel Burkina Faso is the dominant player with 1,433,000 customers representing 50% Faso§ market share.[19] Chad Airtel Chad§ Airtel Chad is the #1 operator with 69% market share.[19] Democratic Republic of Airtel is the market leader with almost 5 million customers at the end of 2010.[ Airtel DRC§ the Congo needed] Gabon Airtel Gabon§ Airtel Gabon has 829,000 customers and its market share stood at 61%. Ghana Airtel Ghana§ Airtel Ghana had about 1.76 million customers at the end of 2010. India Airtel§ Airtel is the market leader with almost 193.4 million customers as on Sept 30, 2013. Kenya Airtel Kenya§ Airtel Kenya is the second largest operator and has 4 million customers. Madagascar Airtel Airtel holds second place in the mobile telecom market in Madagascar, has a 39% market Madagascar§ share and over 1.4 million customers.[19] Malawi Airtel Malawi§ Airtel Malawi is the market leader with a market share of 72%. Niger Airtel Niger§ Airtel Niger is the market leader with a 68% market share. Nigeria Airtel Nigeria§ Republic of the Congo Airtel Congo B§ Airtel Congo is the market leader with a 55% market share. Rwanda Airtel Rwanda§ Airtel launched services in Rwanda on 30 March 2012.[24] Seychelles Airtel Airtel is the leading comprehensive telecommunications services providers with over 55% Seychelles§ market share of mobile market in Seychelles.[25] Sierra Leone Airtel Sierra Leone§ Sri Lanka Airtel Sri Lanka commenced operations on 12 January 2009. It had about 1.8 million Airtel Sri Lanka§ mobile customers at the end of 2010.[21] Tanzania Airtel Tanzania§ Airtel Tanzania is the market leader with a 38% market share. Uganda Airtel Uganda§ Airtel Uganda stands as the #2 operator with a market share of 38%. Zambia Airtel Zambia§ Airtel Zambia is the market leader with 69% market share.[ Channel Islands§† : Airtel operates in the Channel Islands under the brand name Airtel–Vodafone through an Jersey Airtel Vodafone§ agreement with Vodafone. Guernsey †Jersey and Guernsey are British Crown Dependencies. They are not independent countries. Therefore, Airtel's countries of operation is considered to be 20. Mobile Services[edit§] Airtel operates in all telecom circles of India. Its network is present in 5,121 census towns and 457,053 non-census towns and villages, covering approximately 86.6% of the country’s population as of September 2012.[26] Airtel is the largest operator in rural India with 83.82 million subscribers as of April 2013.[27] Airtel is the 6th most valued brand according to an annual survey conducted by Brand Finance§ and The Economic Times§ in 2010. [28] [29] 3G[edit§] On 18 May 2010, the 3G spectrum auction§ was completed and Airtel paid the Indian government §122.95 billion (US$2.0 billion) for spectrum in 13 circles, the most amount spent by an operator in that auction. Airtel won 3G licences in 13 telecom circles of India: Delhi§, Mumbai§, Andhra Pradesh§, Karnataka§, Tamil Nadu§, Uttar Pradesh (West)§, Rajasthan, West Bengal§, Himachal Pradesh,Bihar§, Assam, North East§, and Jammu & Kashmir§.[30] Airtel also operates 3G services in Maharastra§ & Goa§ and Kolkata§ circles through an agreement with Vodafone§ and in Gujarat§ through an agreement with Idea§. This gives Airtel a 3G presence in 15 out of 22 circles in India. Airtel is fined by DoT 350 Crores for not stopping offering 3G Services through Roaming Pacts outside its Licensed Zones in Seven Circles. On 20 September 2010, Bharti Airtel said that it had given contracts to Ericsson India§, Nokia Siemens Networks§ (NSN) and Huawei Technologies§ to set up infrastructure for providing 3G services in the country. These vendors would plan, design, deploy and maintain 3G–HSPA (third generation, high speed packet access) networks in 13 telecom circles where the company had won 3G licences. While Airtel awarded network contracts for seven 3G circles to Ericsson India, NSN would manage networks in three circles. Chinese telecom equipment vendor Huawei§ Technologies was introduced as the third partner for three circles.[31] On 24 January 2011, Airtel launched 3G services in Bangalore§, Karnataka — its largest circle by revenue. With this launch, Airtel became the third private operator (fifth overall) to launch its 3G services in the country following Tata Docomo§ and Reliance Communications§.[32] On 27 January 2011, Airtel launched 3G in Chennai§ and Coimbatore§ in Tamil Nadu§. On 27 July 2011, 3G services were launched in Kerala§'s 3 largest cities - Kochi§, Kozhikode§ and Thiruvananthapuram§.[33] Airtel 3G services are available in 200 cities through its network and in 500 cities through intra-circle roaming arrangements with other operators. Airtel had about 5.4 million 3G customers of which 4 million are 3G data customers as of September 2012.[26] 4G[edit§] On 19 May 2010, the broadband wireless access (BWA) or 4G§ spectrum auction in India§ ended. Airtel paid §33.1436 billion (US$530 million) for spectrum in 4 circles: Maharashtra§ and Goa§,Karnataka§, Punjab§ and Kolkata§.[34] The company was allocated 20 MHz of BWA spectrum in 2.3 GHz frequency band. Airtel's TD-LTE§ network is built and operated by ZTE§ in Kolkata§ andPunjab§, Huawei§ in Karnataka, and Nokia Siemens Networks§ in Maharashtra and Goa.[35] On 10 April 2012, Airtel launched 4G services using TD-LTE§ technology in Kolkata, becoming the first company in India to offer 4G services. The Kolkata launch was followed by launches in Bangalore§ (7 May 2012),[36] Pune§ (18 October 2012),[37] and Chandigarh§, Mohali§ and Panchkula§ (25 March 2013).[38] Airtel plans to provide voice services for its TD-LTE subscribers through its existing GSM network, which would make it the only operator in India to combine voice with TD-LTE services through GSM network. Airtel selected Nokia Siemens Networks to deploy its Circuit Switched§ FallBack (CSFB) voice solution in Airtel’s TD-LTE network in Pune. With CSFB, the network can transfer customers to GSM platform to make and receive voice calls while retaining the TD-LTE network for data services.[39] In December 2013 Bharti Airtel announced that it is ready to introduce much-awaited voice calling facility on its existing 4G LTE network in Bangalore.[40] Airtel had 20,000 4G subscribers as of March 2013.[41] Airtel obtained 4G licences and spectrum in the telecom circles of Delhi, Haryana, Kerala and Mumbai after acquiring Wireless Business Services Private Limited, a joint venture founded by Qualcomm, which had won BWA spectrum in those circles in the 4G spectrum auction.[42] WiFi[edit§] Airtel has plans to launch WiFi§ services in India. It intends to start offering WiFi services in Delhi NCR, Mumbai and Bangalore in initial phase. All plans will be on secure wireless broadband internet with unlimited usage and will be session or time based. Users can use the service by finding a hotspot§, selecting 'airtel WiFi Zone', activating the voucher and then login to start browsing. Airtel intends to partner with establishments to set up hotspots which will be termed WiFi Hangout for an establishment owner and WiFi Partner for the cafe and restaurant owners. Airtel WiFi Partners can offer services at zero investments and can earn commission on every WiFi session sold.[43] airtel Money[edit§] Airtel has started a new mCommerce§ platform called Airtel Money in collaboration with Infosys and SmartTrust (now Giesecke & Devrient). The platform was launched on 5 April 2012, at Infosys' headquarters in Bangalore. Using Airtel Money, users can transfer money, pay bills and perform other financial transactions directly on the mobile phone. [44] SmartDrive[edit§] SmartDrive is navigation app exclusive to Airtel customers. The app features voice-based turn by turn navigation§, real time information update on traffic, approximate time of the travel on the basis of the traffic situation on the various routes and also lets users see their location on the map and plan the journey accordingly. It also suggests the subscriber an alternate route in case of traffic congestion on the normal route. According to Airtel, SmartDrive calculates the traffic on the basis of the number of GPS devices§ used on a particular road, their average speed, as well as historical trends of traffic on that route. SmartDrive also allows users to search for points of interest like restaurants, theatres and shopping malls. The app also allows users to keep a record of all trips they make when using voice navigation for later reference through the 'Trip Recorder' feature, Wikipedia information of places for which information is available and the ability to add frequently visited locations to favorites, in addition to weather information about the place. Airtel will offer navigation at 10 per day or 99 per month. Live traffic will be cost 3 per day or 49 per month. Search and map viewer are available for free. The costs do not include data charges. Airtel states in SmartDrive's FAQ§ that data is only used when the user performs searches or calculates routes. The app is developed by Wisepilot§, a mobile navigation solutions provider and uses Navteq§ Maps for location and traffic info.[45] It was launched on 12 September 2012. [46] At the time of launch, it was available only in Bangalore§, Mumbai§ and NCR§.[47] Services are currently available in Chennai§.[48] Service will be expanded to Pune and Hyderabad by December 2012. Network Experience Centre[edit§] Airtel has a Network Experience Centre (NEC) which observes end to end customer experience, in near real time, along with the standard network elements on Airtel's operations. The NEC is located in Manesar§, Haryana§ and went live on 31 October 2012. It is the first such facility in India and will be able to monitor Airtel's network performance across mobile, fixed line, broadband,DTH§, M-Commerce§, enterprise services, International Cable Systems§ and internet peering points from a single location. It will monitor all Airtel and partner NOCs. In case of an emergency, the NEC will enable the operator to prioritize actions to restore normalcy and reduce resolution time. The NEC houses a video wall§ with 3600 square feet of solid state LED screen§ to monitor Airtel's telecom network. This is the world's biggest video wall for a telecom operator. Each cube in this wall is 1.6mx1.2 m and there are 175 cubes arranged in a 25x7 matrix.[49] The clear span of the roof is 49 m x 18 m and the beams, which are fireproof and about 8 feet deep, have been specially designed to hold the structure without columns. The NEC was designed specifically to be used as a command center in case of national emergencies and natural catastrophes. The facility is earthquake proof and also provides for a single control of command and a fully redundant technology layout.[50] iPhone[edit§] The iPhone 3G§ was rolled out in India in 2008 by Airtel. However, high prices and contract bonds discouraged consumers and it was not as successful as the iPhone§ is in other markets of the world. Airtel introduced the iPhone 4§ on 27 May 2011 and the iPhone 5§ on 2 November 2012.[51] Telemedia[edit§] §

Airtel Broadband Blocking TPB§

Under the Telemedia segment, Airtel provides broadband internet access through DSL, internet leased lines as well as MPLS (multiprotocol label switching) solutions, as well as IPTV§ and fixed line telephone services. Until 18 September 2004, Bharti provided fixed line telephony and broadband services under the Touchtel brand. Bharti now provides all telecom services including fixed line services under a common brand airtel. As of September 2012, Airtel provides Telemedia services to 3.3 million customers in 87 cities.[26] As on 30 November 2012, Airtel had 1.39 million broadband subscribers.[52] Airtel Broadband provides broadband and IPTV§ services. Airtel provides both capped as well as unlimited download plans. However, Airtel's unlimited plans are subject to free usage policy (FUP), which reduces speed after the customer crosses a certain data usage limit. In some plans, Airtel provides only 256kbit/s beyond FUP, which is lower than the TRAI specified limit of half the subscriber's original speed. [53] [54] The maximum speed available for home users is 16Mbit/s. In May 2012, Airtel Broadband and some other Indian ISPs temporarily blocked file sharing websites such as vimeo§.com megavideo.com§,thepiratebay.se§ etc. with out giving any legal information to the customers. The block was due to a Madras High Court§ issued ‘John Doe’ order taken by Chennai-based Copyright Lab.[55] In response to a petition filed by Vinay B, a resident of Shimoga§, Karnataka§, the District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum ordered Airtel to pay 20,000 to the petitioner for "deficiency in internet service" thereby causing mental agony to the complainant. "By misinterpreting the Madras High Court order, Airtel blocked entire websites. It is needless to say that the company’s actions amount to deficiency in service as well as unfair trade practice," said the forum. [56] [57] Digital Television[edit§]

Main article: Airtel digital TV§ The Digital TV business provides Direct-to-Home (DTH) TV services across India under the brand name Airtel digital TV§. It started services on 9 October 2008 and had about 7.9 million customers at the end of December 2012.[58] Enterprise[edit§] The Enterprise business provides end-to-end telecom solutions§ to corporate customers and national and international long distance services to telcos through its nationwide fiber optic backbone, last mile connectivity in fixed-line and mobile circles, VSATs, ISP and international bandwidth access through the gateways and landing stations. It has two sections under it. Mobile data service[edit§] The different services under mobile data are BlackBerry services, a web-enabled mobile email solution working on 'Push Technology', USB modem that helps in getting instant access to Internet and corporate applications, Airtel Data Card that gives the liberty to access the internet anytime, Easy Mail is a platform that provides access to personal/corporate e-mails independent of handset operating system and application services that shorten the queues at the billing section, off-load the pressure on the billing staff and bring convenience to the user. Enterprise business solutions[edit§] There are two kind of solutions offered by Airtel. One is GPRS Based Solutions like mobile applications tools for enterprise, TrackMate, automatic meter reading solutions etc. and the other is SMS Based Solutions like interactive sms, bulk sms, inbound call center solutions. Android-based tablet[edit§] Beetel Teletech Ltd., a unit of Bharti Enterprises Ltd., on 18 August launched a 9,999 ($220) 7-inch tablet in India based on Google Inc.'s Android operating system. The offering is intended to capitalize on the expected demand for cheap computing devices in the world's fastest-growing and second-largest mobile phone market.[59] International Operations[edit§] Africa[edit§]

Main article: Airtel Africa§ Airtel Africa is a subsidiary of Indian telecommunications company Airtel, that operates in 17 countries across Africa§. It operates a GSM§ network in all countries, providing 2G§ or 3G§ depending upon the country of operation In March 2010, Bharti§ struck a deal to buy the Kuwaiti firm's mobile operations in 15 African countries, in India's second biggest overseas acquisition after Tata Steel's $13 billion buy of Corus in 2007. Bharti Airtel completed its $9 billion acquisition of African operations from Kuwait's Zain§, making the firm the world's No. 5 wireless carrier by subscribers. On 11 August 2010, Bharti Airtel announced that it would acquire a 100% stake in Telecom Seychelles§ for US$62 million taking its global presence to 19 countries. Telecom Seychelles began operations in 1998 and operates 3G, Fixed Line, ship to shore services satellite telephony, among value added services like VSAT and Gateways for International Traffic across the Seychelles under the Airtel brand. The company has over 57% share of the mobile market of Seychelles§.[60] Airtel announced plans to invest US$10 million in its fixed and mobile telecoms network in the Seychelles over three years, whilst also participating in the Seychelles East Africa submarine cable (SEAS) project. The US$34 million SEAS project is aimed at improving the Seychelles’ global connectivity by building a 2,000 km undersea high speed link to Dar es Salaam in Tanzania.[61] Bangladesh[edit§]

Main article: Airtel Bangladesh§ Airtel Bangladesh Ltd. is a GSM§-based cellular operator in Bangladesh§. Airtel is the sixth mobile phone carrier to enter the Bangladesh market, and originally launched commercial operations under the brand name "Warid Telecom" on May 10, 2007. Warid Telecom International LLC§, an Abu Dhabi§ based consortium§, sold a majority 70% stake in the company to India§'s Bharti Airtel Limited for US$300 million.[62] Bharti Airtel made a fresh investment of US$300 million to rapidly expand the operations of Warid Telecom and have management and board control of the company. This is the largest investment in Bangladesh by an Indian company. Dhabi Group continues as a strategic partner retaining 30% shareholding and has its nominees on the Board of the Company. Sri Lanka[edit§]

Main article: Bharti Airtel Lanka§ Bharti Airtel Lanka (Pvt) Ltd is a subsidiary of Bharti Airtel Limited, the third largest mobile operator in the world§, with over 240 million mobile customers as of December 2011.[63] Bharti Airtel has been featured in Forbes Asia's Fab 50 list, rated amongst the best performing companies in the world in the BusinessWeek IT 100 list 2007, and voted as India's most innovative company in a survey by The Wall Street Journal§ Airtel Lanka commenced commercial operations of services on 13 January 2009. Granted a licence in 2007 in accordance with the Sri Lanka Telecommunications Act No. 25 of 1991, it is also a registered company under the Board of Investment Sri Lanka§. Under the license, the company provides digital mobile services to Sri Lanka. This is inclusive of voice telephony, voice mail, data services and GSM based services. All of these services are provided under the airtel brand. Channel Islands: Jersey and Guernsey[edit§]

Main article: Airtel-Vodafone§ On 1 May 2007, Jersey Airtel and Guernsey Airtel, both wholly owned subsidiaries of the Bharti Group§, announced they would launch mobile services in the British Crown Dependency§ islands ofJersey§ and Guernsey§ [64] [65] under the brand name Airtel- Vodafone§ after signing an agreement with Vodafone§. Airtel-Vodafone operates a 3G network in Jersey and Guernsey. Subscriber Base[edit§] Bharti Airtel has about 243.336 million subscribers worldwide—232.95 million in India and South Asia and 50.949 million in Africa as of the end of December 2011. The numbers include mobile services subscribers in 19 countries and Indian Telemedia services and Digital services subscribers.[5] India[edit§] The Airtel wireless subscriber base according to Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) as of November 2012 was: Metros

 Delhi § – 9,105,718  Mumbai § – 3,58,7060  Kolkata § – 3,606,616  Chennai § – 3,428,293

"A" Circle

 Andhra Pradesh § – 18,041,904  Gujarat § – 6,927,459  Karnataka § – 16,044,964  Maharashtra § – 9,849,973  Tamil Nadu § – 10,094,293

"B" Circle

 Haryana § – 2,267,166  Kerala § – 3,393,868  Madhya Pradesh § – 9,675,239  Punjab § – 6,851,338  Rajasthan § – 14,385,762  Uttar Pradesh § (East) – 15,105,455  Uttar Pradesh § (West) – 6,556,052  West Bengal § – 9,084,371

"C" Circle

 Assam § – 3,809,218  Bihar § – 18,527,460  Himachal Pradesh § – 1,915,405  Jammu and Kashmir § – 2,300,268  North East India § (excluding Assam) – 2,551,134  Orissa § – 6,696,681 Airtel is the market leader in India with about 183 million wireless subscribers in India or about 20.62% market share at the end of November 2012. In 2013 version of the The Brand Trust Report§published by Trust Research Advisory, Airtel is placed as the most trusted mobile operator brand in India. One Network[edit§] One Network is a borderless mobile phone network across all Airtel operating countries which enables customers to move freely between the countries in which Airtel operates, and be treated as "virtual" local customers of the visited network in terms of pricing, while retaining their home network service functionality. It is the world’s first free intercontinental incoming roaming service. Airtel customers in Africa not need to register for the One Network service or buy new SIM cards as the is enabled automatically. One Network allows customers traveling to One Network countries to make outgoing calls/SMS at the same rates as local customers and recharge with local top-up cards or with home network top up cards while using the same number and SIM. Receiving incoming calls is free.[66] Airtel offers the service currently to its Africa customers traveling to any of the following 27 countries. In 8 of these countries, the One Network is operated in partnership with other mobile operators. Airtel plans to extend the service to its South Asia customers soon. S. No. Country Network 1 Burkina Faso Airtel 2 Bangladesh Airtel 3 Chad Airtel Channels Islands: Jersey and 4 Airtel Guernsey 5 Democratic Republic of the Congo Airtel 6 Gabon Airtel 7 Ghana Airtel 8 India Airtel 9 Kenya Airtel 10 Madagascar Airtel 11 Malawi Airtel 12 Niger Airtel 13 Nigeria Airtel 14 Republic of the Congo Airtel 15 Sierra Leone Airtel 16 Seychelles Airtel 17 Sri Lanka Airtel 18 Tanzania Airtel 19 Uganda Airtel 20 Bahrain Zain 21 Iraq Zain 22 Jordan Zain 23 Kuwait Zain 24 Saudi Arabia Zain 25 Sudan Zain§ 26 South Africa Cell C§ 27 Egypt Mobinil§ Acquisitions and mergers[edit§] MTN Group merger negotiations[edit§] In May 2008, it emerged that Airtel was exploring the possibility of buying the MTN Group§, a South Africa§-based telecommunications company with operations in 21 countries in Africa and theMiddle East§. The Financial Times§ reported that Bharti was considering offering US$45 billion for a 100% stake in MTN, which would be the largest overseas acquisition ever by an Indian firm. However, both sides emphasized the tentative nature of the talks. The Economist§ magazine noted, "If anything, Bharti would be marrying up§", as MTN had more subscribers, higher revenues and broader geographic coverage.[67] However, the talks fell apart as MTN Group tried to reverse the negotiations by making Bharti almost a subsidiary of the new company.[68] In May 2009, Airtel confirmed that it was again in talks with MTN and both companies agreed to discuss the potential transaction exclusively by 31 July 2009.[69] Airtel said in a statement "Bharti Airtel Ltd is pleased to announce that it has renewed its effort for a significant partnership with MTN Group".[70] The exclusivity period was extended twice up to 30 September 2009. Talks eventually ended without agreement and on 30 September 2009, Bharti released a statement saying that it had decided to disengage from discussions with the MTN Group when the exclusivity period ended. Informa§ analyst Matthew Reed, noted that a reported factor in the failure was South Africa’s worry that control of MTN, which is perceived as a national champion, could pass into foreign hands. The South African government§ is MTN’s biggest shareholder. Bharti said in a statement regarding the failure, "We hope the South African government will review its position in the future and allow both companies an opportunity to re-engage".[71] A solution was proposed where the new company would be listed on 2 stock exchanges, one in South Africa and one in India. However, dual-listing§ of companies is not permitted by Indian law.[72] Zain[edit§] In March 2010, Bharti§ struck a deal to buy Zain§'s mobile operations in 15 African countries, in India's second biggest overseas acquisition after Tata Steel's $13 billion buy of Corus in 2007. Bharti Airtel completed its $10.7 billion acquisition of African operations from Kuwaiti firm, making the Airtel the world's fifth largest wireless carrier by subscriber base. Airtel has reported that its revenues for the fourth quarter of 2010 grew by 53% to US$3.2 billion compared to the previous year, newly acquired Zain Africa division contributed US$911 million to the total. However, net profits dropped by 41% from US$470 million in 2009 to US$291 million 2010 due to a US$188 million increase in radio spectrum charges in India and an increase of US$106 million in debt interest.[citation needed] Telecom Seychelles[edit§] On 11 August 2010, Bharti Airtel announced that it would acquire 100% stake in Telecom Seychelles for US$62 million taking its global presence to 19 countries. Telecom Seychelles began operations in 1998 and operates 3G, Fixed Line, ship to shore services satellite telephony, among value added services like VSAT and Gateways for International Traffic across the Seychelles under the Airtel brand. The company has over 57% share of the mobile market of Seychelles§.[60] Airtel announced plans to invest US$10 million in its fixed and mobile telecoms network in the Seychelles over three years, whilst also participating in the Seychelles East Africa submarine cable (SEAS) project. The US$34 million SEAS project is aimed at improving the Seychelles’ global connectivity by building a 2,000 km undersea high speed link to Dar es Salaam in Tanzania.[73] Wireless Business Services Private Limited[edit§] On 24 May 2012, Airtel announced an agreement to acquire a 49% stake in Wireless Business Services Private Limited (WBSPL) at an investment of 907 crore (US$165 million). Airtel bought 26% in WBSPL from Global Holding Corporation and Tulip Telecom and the balance 23% by subscribing to fresh equity of Qualcomm. Global Holding Corporation and Tulip Telecom had bought 13% each in the BWA entities for US$57.72 million (about 268 crore) in 2010. [74] [75] [76] [77] [78] [79] WBSPL was a joint venture founded by Qualcomm, and held BWA spectrum in the telecom circles of Delhi§, Haryana§, Kerala§ and Mumbai§.[80] Qualcomm had spent US$1 billion to acquire BWA spectrum in those 4 circles.[81] The deal gave Airtel a 4G presence in 8 circles.[74] [76] [77] [78] [79] [82] At the time of purchasing the BWA spectrum, Global Holding Corp and Tulip Telecom had a 13% stake each in the company, while Qualcomm Asia Pacific had the remaining 74% stake. Qualcomm Asia Pacific gradually reduced its stake to 6.55%, while Airtel acquired a 93.45% stake.[83] On 4 July 2013, Airtel announced that it had acquired an additional 2% equity share capital (making its stake 51%)[84] in all the four BWA entities of Qualcomm, thereby making them its subsidiaries.[85] On 18 October 2013, Airtel announced that it had acquired 100 percent equity shares of WBSPL for an undisclosed sum, [86] [87] making it a wholly owned subsidiary.