Manu Kumar t Segment Analysis Applications GROWTH DRIVES INFRA SMART INDIA Xiaomi CarrierNetworking Jain
`5,708 cr Telecom ServicesStagnatesat Telecom InfraGrows7%,Clocks 10 www.voicendata.com The BusinessofCommunications O 4 ISE0 SEPTEMBER2017 ISSUE09 VOL 24 22 Devender Singh 76 pagesincludingcover Bharti Infratel Bharti ND Rawat t EnterpriseNetworking
`6,084 cr ANNUALINDIATELECOMINDUSTRY SURVEY-VOLUME II 9 Sameer Garde t Passive Infra Cisco
|31 `6,731 cr 8 Amit Sharma ATC ATC
t `7,949 cr t ManagedServices Top 10Companies 7 CommunicationEquipment &Devices Rahul Aggarwal Lenovo Group Lenovo `7,991 cr 6
Nunzio Mirtillo ` Ericsson ` t 283,197 Cr 523,369 Crore StructuredCabling `8,663 cr `
240,172 Cr 5
| 19 Sanjay Kaul Apple `
9,132 cr 4 Sanjay Malik t t MobilePhones Nokia Test&Measurement `9,361 cr 3 Special subscription offer onPage 62 Bimal Dayal Indus Towers
`17,482 cr VOLUME -II 2 t DataCards HC HONG Samsung t ` 75
Software& `40,815 cr
1 t Tablets
Impacting India Innovatively
CONTENT Website: www.voicendata.com
EDITORIAL EDITOR: Nandita Singh GROUP EDITOR: Ibrahim Ahmad GROUP EDITOR (IT BUSINESS): Ed Nair 08|Cover Story GROUP EDITOR (SPECIAL PROJECTS): Rajneesh De CORRESPONDENT: Sanjeeb Kumar Sahoo ASST EDITOR: Tanya Jain, Kirtika Chander DESIGN: Vijay Chand, Digamber Prasad COVER DESIGN: Vijay Chand
BUSINESS SMART INDIA SR. VICE PRESIDENT: Rachna Garga ([email protected]) NORTH Harminder Singh, Sudhir Arora, Shoeb Khan SOUTH Rajeeb Banerjee, Aparna Tawde WEST Rajeeb Banerjee DRIVES INFRA EAST Sandeep Roy Chowdhuri
MARKETING & ALLIANCES SR VICE PRESIDENT: Rachna Garga ([email protected]) MARKETING: Rajiv Pathak GROWTH
EVENTS & COMMUNITIES MANAGER: Debabrata T Joshi ASST MANAGER: Prerna Chauhan, Shiv Kumar
OPERATIONS ` 523,369 Crore GENERAL MANAGER: CP Kalra MANAGER: Ashok K MANAGER MIS & DATABASE: Ravikant Telecom Infra Grows 7%, Clocks `240,172 Cr CIRCULATION & SUBSCRIPTIONS HEAD: Rachna Garga SENIOR MANAGER: Sarita Shridhar, C Ramachandran Telecom Services Stagnates at `283,197 Cr SENIOR PRESS COORDINATOR: Harak Singh Ramola
OUR OFFICES GURGAON (CORPORATE OFFICE) Cyber House Industry Leaderboard - 2017 | 12 B-35 Sector-32, Gurgaon, Haryana – 122 001 Tel: 0124 - 4822222 Fax: 0124 - 2380694 India Telecom: At a Glance | 13 BENGALURU 205-207, Sree Complex (Opposite RBANMS Ground) # 73, St John’s Road, Bangalore – 560 042 Tel: +91 (80) 4341 2000 Fax: +91 (80) 2350 7971 Telecom Services & Infra Split | 14
CHENNAI 5-B, 6th Floor, Gemini Parsn Apartments 599 Mount Road, Chennai – 600 006 Tel: 044 – 28221712, 28229116, 28220360 Fax: 044 – 28222092 16 | Smart India Drives Infra Growth MUMBAI Massive 4G rollouts and next-generation 103, Andheri Saurabh CHS, Above Andhra Bank, Andheri Kurla Road, Andheri (East), Mumbai 400093 Tel: 022 – 29204142/43/44 Fax: 022 – 29203964 backbones are laying the foundations for big-data PUNE intelligence to start transforming both public and C/o MM Activ Sci-Tech Communications Ashirwad, 1st Floor, 36/A/2, Pallod Farms, Near Bank of Baroda, Baner Road, Pune - 411045 private enterprises
CALIFORNIA Huson International Media President, 1999, South Bascom Avenue, Suit 1000, Campbell, Ca95008, USA Tel: +1-408-879 6666 Fax: +1-408-879 6669
Voice&Data is printed and published by Pradeep Gupta on behalf of Cyber Media (India) Ltd, D-74, Panchsheel Enclave, New Delhi - 110 017, and printed by him at Ratna Offset, C-101, Okhla Industrial Area Phase—I, New Delhi – 110 020. Editor: Nandita Singh SUBSCRIPTION: Foreign— US $40 (SAARC Countries), US $50 (Rest of the world). For Subscription queries contact [email protected] All Payments Favoring: CYBER MEDIA (INDIA) LTD Distributors in India: IBH Books & Magazines Dist. Pvt. Ltd, Mumbai. All rights reserved. No part of this publication be reproduced by any means without prior written permission from the publisher Corporate Website: www.cybermedia.co.in www.ciol.com (India’s #1 IT Portal)
4 | VOICE&DATA | SEPTEMBER 2017 | voicendata.com | A CyberMedia Publication Top 10 Telecom Infra Companies Rank Company Page 1 Samsung 20 2 Indus Towers 21 3 Nokia 22 4 Apple 23 5 Ericsson 24 6 Lenovo Group 26 7 ATC 27 8 Cisco 28 9 Bharti Infratel 29 10 Xiaomi 30 SEGMENT ANALYSIS ENTERPRISE COMMUNICATION |51 53 | Enterprise Networking Digital Effects 55 | Structured Cabling Preventing Bottlenecks 58 | Communication Equipment & Devices Decisively Over-the-Top
CARRIER INFRA |31 60 | Software & Applications The Bar Rises 33 | Carrier Networks A Jio Effect
36 | Passive Infra USER DEVICES |65 67 | Mobile Phones Consolidation is the New Engine Smarter by the Year 40 | Managed Services 69 | Data Cards Focus Changes, not the Game Second Life with 4G 43 | Test & Measurement 71 | Tablets QoS Is a Moving Target Must Get Ideas to Live 46 | OSS/BSS Heavyweights Put on New Muscles REGULARS Voicemail ...... 06 49 | Software, Solutions & Consulting Editorial ...... 07 Cooptition Opportunities People ...... 73
A CyberMedia Publication | voicendata.com | SEPTEMBER 2017 | VOICE&DATA | 5 VOICEMAIL
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6 | VOICE&DATA | SEPTEMBER 2017 | voicendata.com | A CyberMedia Publication EDITORIAL
E-waste litters Digital India
India telecom industry is ge ng re-defined by massive 4G rollouts. Good dings for technology infra companies is expected to flow from the current fiscal. Those, who had seized the Digital India opportunity wave with their swi moves stand to gain. As the findings of the Voice&Data annual Telecom Industry market survey, published in this issue of the magazine, indicates - infra deployments by the telecoms and robust ac vity in user devices market pulled the industry to a 3 percent year-on-year growth, clocking `523,369 crore in FY 2016-17. Internet of Things (IoT) is emerging as the next trillion-dollar sector in India.
While the technology community is busy powering billions of sensors, and ensuring cyber security to enable dividends of digital economy to all, there is an equally serious issue of e-waste that is not ge ng its due a en on.
A recent finding from the joint study by industry associa on ASSOCHAM and research agency KPMG has established that India is already the fi h largest producer of e-waste in the world and recycles less than two per cent of the total e-waste it produces, annually. In 2016, India discarded approximately 18 lakh metric tonnes of e-waste, which is about 12 per cent of the global e-waste produc on. By 2020, India’s e-waste from old mobiles and computers will rise to a staggering 1,800 per cent and 500 per cent respec vely, as compared to the levels in the year 2007.
The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change had rolled out the E-waste (Management) Rules in 2016 in order to reduce e-waste produc on and increase recycling. Under these rules, an Extended Producer’s Responsibility (EPR) is mandated which makes producers liable to collect 30-70 per cent of the e-waste they produce, over a period of 7 years.
Apparently, the industry is unable to cope with these targets as e-waste collec on in India is largely managed by the unorganized sector. And mechanisms to ensure compliance are s ll a work-in-progress.
In the face of rising consump on of mobile phones and electronics along with an expected uptake in the IoT-enabled manufacturing, the shi to Industry 4.0 is set to be e-waste heavy. This makes it all the more important that the government looks at collabora ng on its mandates with the industry more closely. Equally important is the industry self regula ng itself and drawing out standard opera ng procedures in the light of this gargantuan e-waste issue. Public-Private Partnerships is the way to go. Innova on in technology, process and handling is urgently required in the area.
Nandita Singh [email protected]
A CyberMedia Publication | voicendata.com | SEPTEMBER 2017 | VOICE&DATA | 7 OVERVIEW Survey Methodology
FY 2016-17 Survey Methodology he 2017 India Telecom Industry Survey findings pub- primarily come from es mates replaced by actual reported/ lished in this issue of the magazine is the culmina on revised figures by the telecoms. of a market research exercise by Voice&Data, the Here is more on the survey methodology: Broadly, the telecom publica on of CyberMedia. industry con nues to be categorized into Telecom Infra and Every year, Voice&Data conducts its annual “Tele- Telecom Services. Within these two, there are segments that Tcom Industry Survey” and publishes the results, which include are further categorized into sub-segments. Each sub-segment market-sizing as well as analysis of various segments across in- has been sized and the three main players are iden fied in dustry. Branded as V&D 100, the study has been a much awaited this survey. The only ranking parameter used in this survey is reference point for all the market stakeholders, including service revenue. There were two broad components of the research – providers, their suppliers and customers. secondary and primary. In 2017, the research team has been led by independent industry analyst Deepak Kumar, who has been associated with Secondary Research Voice&Data for over a decade, and is also the head of a research As part of the secondary research exercise, all the available and advisory firm B&M Nxt. data and informa on from published sources such as financial The study findings are being published in two volumes of the results of service providers and vendors; press releases; magazine in August & September 2017. Volume I, the August reports published by industry bodies and regulatory & 2017 issue is focused on Telecom Services and Volume II, the licensing authori es; analyst reports and media reports was September 2017 issue is focused on Telecom Infra. si ed through. Voice&Data, having been the pioneer of the The company data reported for previous years has been industry repor ng, has an immense knowledge repository, revised where ever applicable in this issue. The revision has which formed a backbone of the research providing vital
8 | VOICE&DATA | SEPTEMBER 2017 | voicendata.com | A CyberMedia Publication information about the structure and composition of Telecom Services the industry. (Findings published in — August 2017 issue of Voice&Data) This segment clubs all kinds of services that are used by individuals Primary Research as well as the enterprises. In this survey, these services were The primary research ac vity comprised two key elements— categorized into three. an industry-wide survey using structured ques onnaires and Voice Services open-ended discussions with key industry respondents. For the These include all kinds of voice services offered either through survey, 250 companies across the telecom industry have been wireline or a wireless network. It includes all types of traffic of local, approached with a ques onnaire administered through e-mails, national and international voice. with follow-ups done over e-mails and phone calls. Not all the companies responded to the structured ques onnaires, and Data Services some only par ally responded. This was primarily in context Be it data access services for homes, offices or individuals on the go – all is covered in this segment. This includes wired, wireless to revenue-related ques ons. and satellite services used for data access. Besides it also includes In the second leg of the primary research, primary interac- data services across band of narrowband and broadband. It also ons with select representa ve companies within each segment includes the Broadband Wireless Access services. and sub-segment are conducted. We reach out to CXO / senior Other Services level representa ves of various companies – vendors, solu on providers, and service providers, among others. This helps us These are all other services that are offered by an operator to individuals as well as the enterprises. It includes Value Added gain be er insights into the performances of key players on Services, Broadcast Services, Video on Demand, Software Services parameters such as revenue and subscriber growth across including Antivirus and Office Solutions. various segments and sub-segments. Based on these inputs, This survey also divides these services horizontally among the which are complemented and supplemented by the secondary consumer telecom services and enterprise telecom services. research findings, es mates about the revenues of companies, Besides, it also presents the size of the services by Fixed and sub-segments and segments are arrived at. This gets further Wireless delivery. validated through interac ons with industry experts. Note: )N¬LIGHT¬OF¬THE¬IMPROVED¬DATA¬AVAILABILITY ¬WE¬HAVE¬REVISED¬PREVIOUS¬YEARS¬DATA¬PUBLISHED¬IN¬¬)NDUSTRY¬ 3URVEY¬ISSUES¬OF¬THE¬PUBLICATION¬%FFORT¬HAS¬BEEN¬MADE¬TO¬ENSURE¬THAT¬ONLY¬)NDIA¬MARKET¬REVENUE¬GETS¬ Structure and Classification of the Survey ACCOUNTED¬IN¬SEGMENT¬AND¬OVERALL¬MARKET¬SIZING¬)N¬CASE¬OF¬ANY¬CONCERNS¬REGARDING¬PUBLISHED¬DATA ¬ PLEASE¬DROP¬AN¬EMAIL¬TO¬THE¬6OICE$ATA¬%DITOR¬AT¬n¬NANDITAS CYBERMEDIACOIN The en re telecom industry has been classified into two main categories of Telecom Infrastructure (Equipments, Solu ons Telecom Infra and Devices) and the Telecom Services (Voice, Data and (Findings published in September 2017 issue of Voice&Data) Other Services). This segment covers all the equipments, devices and solu ons through which services are created, enabled, controlled and finally used. The en re telecom infrastructure is further cat- egorized into three sub-segments, as detailed below:
Core & Access
Carrier Voice Towers Carrier Infra Networking
Software, Test & Enterprise Solutions & Data Measurement Communication Consulting
Managed OSS/BSS Services User Devices Other Services Power Solutions
A CyberMedia Publication | voicendata.com | SEPTEMBER 2017 | VOICE&DATA | 9 OVERVIEW Survey Methodology
Carrier Infra Below table defines each of the sub-segments within the En- Carrier Infra comprises all the equipments, devices, so ware and terprise Communica ons segment. services that an operator or a telecom carrier uses for crea ng and controlling a service. The sub-categories used in this survey Segment Definition are as defined in the below table. Towers and Power Solu ons were further clubbed into Passive Infra for analysis. Active Networking Routers, Switches, WiFi, etc.
Structured Cabling Segment Definition Fiber, Cat 5, connectors, etc. Systems Core and Access MSCs, BTSs, BSCs, Radio Controllers, etc.
Towers Passive Tower Infrastructure Desk Phones PSTN, Digital, IP and SIP phones
OSS / BSS Operation and Billing Support Software PBX Systems ePABX, Digital, IP and Hybrid PBXs Testing and Measurement equipments, tools Test & Measurement and software Audio / Video Audio and Video Conferencing standalone Conferencing devices UPS, DG Sets, Batteries, SMPS/IMPS/ Power Solutions Rectifiers, Panels, Cabinets, etc. All software and applications used for Software and securing the network as well as use various Applications Application and software including enterprise communications. Software, Solution & consulting and design services for various Consulting ICT tasks. Also includes Service Delivery Platforms (SDP), etc. User Devices User devices are nothing but the actual interface between a Network Management, Network Managed Services user and a telecom service. Optimisation, Network Layout, etc.
Switches, routers and passive components Carrier Networking used in a carrier network
Enterprise Communication An enterprise, typically, has data as well as voice network. In case of NGN telephony systems, there is a unified ICT network. Below figure categorizes the enterprise communica ons segments and sub-segments that were followed during this survey. .
Below table defines the composition of each of these sub-segments. Segment Definition Feature phones, Smart phones, Mobile Phones Phablets, GSM, CDMA, etc.
Data Cards / Dongles GSM, CDMA
Tablet PCs WiFi, Cellular
10 | VOICE&DATA | SEPTEMBER 2017 | voicendata.com | A CyberMedia Publication " -+#' ++ /* +)*(!*&& * )* + ',+," &(+,* +) , -+#' ++ (% #'," ' #' #' -+,*1"#+/* ++"(/"('(*+ 0 %% ' ,(#' #.# -%+' (*)(*, +#'," +) ' #+ #*+,' ," ('%1 )%, (*&* (!'#2#'! 0 %% ' #' -+#' ++( (*," )+,1 *+ (*'(&#',#('+.#+#,# ,/* +#'
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The Jury Meeting for India’s most Jury Members revered and oldest (since 1993) IT industry leadership awards will see the top honchos coming together to discuss and debate the nominations from our readers and followers. Some of the Vijay Shekhar Sharma Bikram Singh Bedi Rahul Agarwal Joydeep Datta Gupta most important people of Indian IT will Founder, Paytm - (Jury Chair) MD, AWS (India) MD & CEO, Lenovo (India) Partner, Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu (India) take up the names you send, and select the winners for IT Person of the Year, Pathbreaker of the Year, and Lifetime Achievement in IT.
Som Satsangi Harmeen Mehta Nipun Mehrotra Vijay Sethi This is the time for India’s IT fraternity MD, HPE (India) Global Group CIO, Airtel Chief Digital Officer, IBM (India) CIO, Hero Motocorp to nominate people who have made big contributions in the growth of Infotech, and have made all of us proud.
Kindly send your nominations before P. Rajendran Pradeep Gupta 25th Sept 2017. Joint MD & Co-founder, NIIT Ltd CMD, CyberMedia (Jury Vice Chair)
(*(&#',#('+*& , *+(," * ,#%+#' %1.#+#,# ,/* +#' */*#, ,(-+&*$ ,#'! 1 *& # (#' OVERVIEW Leaderboard - 2017
Top Companies
Telecom Infra (Equipment & Solutions) FY 2016-17 Segment Leader (in `crore) Carrier Networks: Core and Access Equipments Nokia 5,571 Carrier Networks: Optical Networks Ciena 1,452 Carrier Networks: Converged Networks Cisco 1,952 Telecom Towers Indus Towers 17,482 Power Solutions Amara Raja 1,495 Managed Services Ericsson 3,702 OSS/BSS Ericsson 389 Test & Measurement Keysight 484 Technologies Software Solutions & Consulting IBM 1,866 Enterprise Networking: Active Networking Components Cisco 3,406 Enterprise Networking: Structured Cabling Systems Commscope 912 Communication Equipment and Devices: Desk Phones Cisco 657 Communication Equipment and Devices: PBX Systems Cisco 337 Software & Applications: Conferencing and Cisco 379 Collaboration Mobile Phones Samsung 37,671 Tablets Samsung 1,127 Data Cards RJio 628
Telecom Services FY 2016-17 Segment Leader (in `crore) Wireless (Mobile) Services Airtel 56,551 Wireline (Fixed) Services BSNL 8,207 Internet Services Airtel 17,211 Wireless Internet Services Airtel 13,379 Wireline Internet Services BSNL 5,252 VSAT Services Hughes 227 Enterprise Services BSNL 11,476
V&D India Telecom Industry Survey FY 2016-17
12 | VOICE&DATA | SEPTEMBER 2017 | voicendata.com | A CyberMedia Publication India Telecom: At a glance
India Telecom market FY 2016-17 Telecom Infra Segment FY 2016-17 FY 2015-16 FY 2016-17 (in `crore) (in `crore) YoY % Growth Carrier Networks: Core and Access Equipments 15,718 14,957 5% Carrier Networking: Optical Networks and IP Integration 5,551 4,308 29% Telecom Towers 56,787 52,541 8% Power Solutions 4,601 3,823 20% Managed Services 8,885 9,383 -5% OSS/BSS 3,764 3,621 4% Test & Measurement 1,223 1,137 8% Software Solutions and Consulting 8,843 8,633 2% Total Carrier Infra Market 105,372 98,403 7% Enterprise Communication Enterprise Networking: Active Networking Components 6,047 6,493 -7% Enterprise Networking: Structured Cabling Systems 2,071 1,939 7% Communication Equipment and Devices: Desk Phones 2,972 2,949 1% Communication Equipment and Devices: PBX Systems 1,806 1,795 1% Software & Applications: Enterprise Security 1,824 1,722 6% Software & Applications: Conferencing and Collaboration 1,286 1,269 1% Total Enterprise Communication Market 16,006 16,167 -1% User Devices Mobile Phones 114,154 103,982 10% Tablets 3,607 4,847 -26% Data Cards 1,034 1,053 -2% Total User Devices Market 118,795 109,882 8% Total Telecom Infra Market 240,172 224,452 7%
Telecom Services Segment FY 2016-17 FY 2015-16 FY 2016-17 (in `crore) (in `crore) YoY % Growth Voice 145,908 150,169 -3% Data 57,453 58,336 -2% Other Service 79,836 73,904 8% Total Telecom Services 283,197 282,409 0% Total Telecom Market (Infra & Services) 523,369 506,861 3%
V&D India Telecom Industry Survey FY 2016-17
A CyberMedia Publication | voicendata.com | SEPTEMBER 2017 | VOICE&DATA | 13 OVERVIEW India Telecom
India Telecom Market `523,369 crore Growth 3%
Telecom FY 2016-17 FY 2015-16 FY 2016-17 Telecom (in `crore) (in `crore) YoY % Growth Infra Services 46% 54% Telecom Services 283,197 282,409 0%
Telecom Infra 240,172 224,452 7%
Total Telecom 523,369 506,861 3% Market
V&D India Telecom Industry Survey FY 2016-17
Telecom Infra Market `240,172 crore
User Carrier Growth 7% Devices Infra 49% 44% FY 2016-17 FY 2015-16 FY 2016-17 (in `crore) (in `crore) YoY % Growth
Carrier Infra 105,372 98,403 7%
Enterprise 16,006 16,167 -1% Communication
User Devices 11,8795 109,882 8%
Total Telecom 240,172 224,452 7% Enterprise Communica on Infra Market 7% V&D India Telecom Industry Survey FY 2016-17 Segment % Share in the Overall Telecom Infra Market of `240,172 crore
14 | VOICE&DATA | SEPTEMBER 2017 | voicendata.com | A CyberMedia Publication Overview Mobile Service Revenues
Degrow, Other Services* 24% Clocks `283,197 crore VAS Telecom Services Segment % Growth 4% by Revenue
Segment FY 2016-17 FY 2015-16 % Growth Data Services Wireless 194,750 199,947 -2.60% 20% (GSM+CDMA)
Fixed Services 21,104 21,712 -2.80%
Other Services* 67,342 60,936 10.50%
Overall Telecom 283,197 282,596 0.20% Services
*Other Services include MSO internet data revenues, as well as DTH and cable service revenues. V&D - India Telecom Industry Survey FY2015-16
Enteprise Services 14% Voice Services 52%
Consumer Services 86%
Overall Telecom Services Revenue FY 2016-17 - `283,197 crore Overall Telecom Services Revenue FY 2016-17 - `283,197 crore V&D India Telecom Industry Survey FY 2016-17 *Other Services include MSO internet data revenues, as well as DTH and cable service revenues.
V&D India Telecom Industry Survey FY 2016-17
A CyberMedia Publication | voicendata.com | SEPTEMBER 2017 | VOICE&DATA | 15 OVERVIEW Smart India Drives Infra Growth Massive 4G rollouts and next-generation backbones are laying the foundations for big-data intelligence to start transforming both public and private enterprises
egendary author Andrew S. by giving them faster and seamless access economic order, then new transporta on Tenenbaum in an early edi on to commercial hubs, communication and communica on would be the wheels of his book Computer Networks networks too transform businesses and on which the new economic engine said to this effect: there is a race governments alike. would get rolling. between transporta on and com- Of course, this disrupts the legacy so- Lmunica on technologies and it would be cioeconomic orders, which anyways have New-infra Essentials interes ng to see who wins. become ineffective and dysfunctional The very purpose of having a next-gener- In the context of India, this is a year when it comes to mee ng the new needs a on network is defeated if it is riddled when the founda on for the country’s and aspira ons of a radically new genera- with bo lenecks. The pain of flying for a first bullet train has been laid and on of enterprises and individuals. business mee ng from Delhi to Mumbai also when a consulta on paper on 5G The Digital India program, which was in two hours and ge ng stuck in the city spectrum has been floated. It would be launched three years ago, simply cannot traffic for two more hours is a common interes ng to see which of the two starts be taken to its goal in the absence of a one. Likewise, it’s of li le use if enter- running first in the country. next-genera on transporta on and com- prise data is uploaded on the corporate Just as transporta on infrastructure munica on infrastructure. If the program server in two minutes if that data cannot transforms small towns and communi es is to be seen as a framework for the new be downloaded as well by employees in
16 | VOICE&DATA | SEPTEMBER 2017 | voicendata.com | A CyberMedia Publication a branch office. In a consumer context With VoLTE, for the mated that just about 20 percent of the too, for a rich and engaging user expe- backhaul is on fiber, while the remaining rience, access to broadband must be first time ever, the co- employs a mix of Wi-Fi, point-to-point mi- seamless enough. existence of non-IP voice crowave, DSL, leased lines, and Ethernet, What holds true of data communica- is no longer a necessity. among other technologies. Most of these on, holds true for voice communica- technologies are either insufficient or un- on as well. However, given that going The technology also opens reliable for the transporta on of mobile forward, voice would be more and more up a whole new world of traffic to the network core. This not only packe zed, the focus on data would keep slows down the flow of traffic, but also going up and voice would be becoming rich-media possibilities leads to issues such as latency, data loss, one key applica on of data. for telcos, including high- and dropped connec ons. This is simply It therefore makes much business and definition (HD) voice and because the backhaul infrastructure was economic sense to go for data-centric designed to support mostly voice and a next-genera on networks, which makes HD video, which earlier reasonable volume of data. IP networks as the obvious candidate and were the turfs of OTT A key reason limi ng the fiberiza on which is the direc on in which the world providers only. of the backhaul has been that the right- is moving. While the enterprise networks of-way (RoW) rules limi ng the tower have already been on IP, the telecom net- infrastructure companies from seeking works felt no great need to move to IP for RoW. While the rule allows service pro- long. It’s been only with the advent of 4G ments. Airtel, in particular, has been viders with telecom service licenses to be LTE and VoLTE technologies that the road- moving fast and reportedly plans to start en tled for right-of-way, it doesn’t have map for an end-to-end IP-fica on of the offering VoLTE-based voice for most of its a similar provision for the infrastructure cellular networks has begun. With VoLTE, 4G subscribers. companies. This means that technically, for the first me ever, the co-existence telcos like Airtel, Vodafone, Idea Cellular, of non-IP voice is no longer a necessity. Backhaul is a Bottleneck and Reliance Jio are en tled, but tower- The technology also opens up a whole The rapid growth in cellular data traffic, cos like Indus Towers, Bhar Infratel, and new world of rich-media possibilities which would only further rise with VoLTE ATC are not. In a recent posi ve develop- for telcos, including high-defini on (HD) voice, is already posing a new challenge ment, Telecom Regulatory Authority of voice and HD video, which earlier were for the service providers—a bo leneck India (TRAI) wrote to the Department the turfs of OTT providers only. in the backhaul. of Telecom to revisit the rule so that the That said, it necessitates investments Not so arguably, much of the wireless towercos could also seek the benefits. in new network architectures and tech- backhaul infrastructure in India is s ll Given that a large chunk of the tower in- nologies, primarily the IP Mul media- ill-provisioned, to say the least. It is es - frastructure is deployed and maintained based Subsystem (IMS) and evolved packet core (EPC), apart from the VoLTE and other media gateways. While IMS is a 3G-era concept, telcos in India deferred that investment, partly due to high debt levels and part with the intent to milk the legacy assets for as long as possible. With 4G too, they leveraged the transitory voice op on of circuit-switched fallback (CSFB) for long. The mega-scale rollout of Reliance Jio services disrupted the legacy telecom ecosystem and propelled the incumbent compe on into ac on. All major op- erators, including Bhar Airtel, Vodafone India, and Idea Cellular have started their IP-fication moves, though they are at vastly different stages of actual deploy-
A CyberMedia Publication | voicendata.com | SEPTEMBER 2017 | VOICE&DATA | 17 OVERVIEW
by these companies, a provision for them Much of the wireless devices have crossed a threshold and in the RoW rules would be important. the use cases have been established, backhaul infrastructure their installed base would likely grow at Intelligence in the Network in India is still ill- a pace that would surpass the mobile Perhaps the biggest promise of the provisioned. It is phones base in a dwarfing manner. In new networks lies in the intelligence fact, the IoT stakeholders are already they would poten ally exhibit and the estimated that just about preparing to support scales of one mil- self-healing abili es that would only in- 20 percent of the lion IoT devices per square kilometer in crease as me passes by. These aspects backhaul is on fiber, while a foreseeable future. Interes ngly, even are increasingly critical, as otherwise the 4G LTE networks are not designed the poten al of digital technologies— the remaining employs to handle such colossal scale of devices cloud, mobility, analytics, and social a mix of Wi-Fi, point-to- and the volume of data that they would media—would be only half leveraged. point microwave, DSL, generate, even if most of the devices are The intelligence in the network would likely to be transmi ng and receiving not only help it to automa cally adapt to leased lines, and Ethernet, at low bit rates. It would only be the 5G the needs of the customers dynamically, among other technologies. (read LTE Advanced Pro) technologies say by priori zing transport of mission- that would be geared up to support full- cri cal data and applica ons, but also blown sprawls of IoT devices. by understanding the access pa erns to proac vely provision network resources With self-healing networks, the telcos Looking Ahead for me-of-day events, for instance. may be headed towards a stage when A lot has changed in India since 2010 A consolidated view of the traffic many of the opera ons support system when the spectrum auc ons were held pa erns for the en re customer base (OSS) func ons that need to be fulfilled for 3G and broadband wireless access would allow the network to dynamically discretely through standalone so ware (BWA). That was a me when LTE had virtualize the resources and therefore solutions, would be natively encom- not even become a preferred 4G access let the service providers do more with passed by the networks. technology globally and WiMAX was be- less. Yes, it’s the realm of network func- Enter the domain of internet of things ing seen as a potent contender. However, on virtualiza on (NFV) and so ware (IoT) and the need for network intel- a rapid development of LTE turned the defined networking (SDN) that we are ligence becomes all the more evident. table in its favor decisively. talking about. It is being envisaged that once the IoT Indeed, just as the communica on networks are having a race with transpor- ta on networks, the different commu- nica on technologies are racing against each other as well (just like the bullet trains are racing against the airplanes). And at this juncture, LTE 5G seems to be leading the race as a technology of choice for the digital era.
—Deepak Kumar (The author Deepak Kumar is Lead Analyst for Voice&Data India Telecom Industry Survey 2017. He is also founder of B&M Nxt, a market research & consulting agency.)
18 | VOICE&DATA | SEPTEMBER 2017 | voicendata.com | A CyberMedia Publication TELECOM INFRA Samsung `240,172 crore 17%
Indus Towers 7% Company % Others Market Share Nokia 50% FY 2016-17 4% Apple 4%
Lenovo GroupEricsson 4% 3%
Bhar Infratel ATC 3% Xiaomi Cisco 3% re T 2% o ot cr al 3% 2 T 7 ele 0,1 com `24 Inf -17 ra Revenue FY 2016 Top 10 Telecom Infra Companiesmpanies FY 2016-17 FY 2015-16 FY 2016-17 Rank Company (Revenue in `crore) (Revenue in `crore) YoY % Growth 1 Samsung 40,815 35,612 15% 2 Indus Towers 17,482 16,014 9% 3 Nokia 9,361 8,140 15% 4 Apple 9,132 -- -- 5 Ericsson 8,663 9,799 -12% 6 Lenovo Group 7,991 -- -- 7 ATC 7,949 7,900 1% 8 Cisco 6,731 6,601 2% 9 Bharti Infratel 6,084 5,400 13% 10 Xiaomi 5,708 -- -- Total Top 10 Company Revenue 119,416 110,365 8% V&D India Telecom Industry Survey FY 2016-17
A CyberMediaA CyberMedia Publication Publication | voicendata.com | voicendata.com | SEPTEMBER | SEPTEMBER 2017 2017 | VOICE&DATA | VOICE&DATA | 19 | 19 TOP 10 TELECOM INFRA Samsung
Firmly Rooted 1 A barrage of challenges came in the mid and premium smartphone segments but the brand’s strength saw it RANK through with a comfortable margin
f the South Korean major had stayed teries forced it to permanently recall the perched at the top last year while device in other countries as well. Some keeping domes c handset makers like op mis c es mates have pegged the Micromax and Intex at bay, it success- revenue opportunity loss on account of fully deflected the onslaught from a Note 7 at more than 6,000 crore rupees. Ihandful of Chinese players this year. Nevertheless, Samsung managed to see Just when Samsung saw the fierce itself through the crisis reasonably well challenge from homegrown vendors, led and moved on. by Micromax, recede in the background, Challenges and setbacks did not stop Chinese players like the Lenovo, doubly Samsung from succeeding. Samsung armed with the Moto range of stock An- brought in its S7 Edge smartphones droid products, as well as Xiaomi, Vivo, following the Note 7 debacle and was Oppo, et al, leaped forth to snatch away —HC HONG subsequently able to hold on to its some market share from the Korean 0RESIDENT¬¬#%/ ¬¬ market share in the premium segment major. This charge was aimed primarily at 3AMSUNG¬3OUTHWEST¬!SIA as well. the mid-market segment, which is seen Also, the fact that India is transi oning forming the market’s new bedrock. At the Growth Chart fast from feature phone to smart phones, same me, Apple raised the ante in the has overall worked in favor of Samsung. It premium segment. ` 15% is understood that the mid-segment com- 40,815 ` The challengers have come ba le- `35,612 prising smartphones in the range 15,000 ready from a financial standpoint, and to `20,000 has emerged as the highest crore have been growing their presence too. ` growing market segment. The premium Their bids to improve both customer- segment, with price points of `30,000 or wallet shares and market shares have more, too saw a strong enough growth, Revenue in Revenue been aggressive to say the least. The first which again helped Samsung, par cularly salvo came from Xiaomi, which switched from the standpoint of revenue market to an offline retail presence a er being share. FY 2016-17 2016 17 FY 20152015-16 16 an online-only seller for some me. It V&D India Telecom Industry Survey FY 2016-17 Samsung has exhibited the ability reportedly iden fied 200 retailers as to defend its turfs well enough so far, its preferred sellers. In fact, not just which is also a reflec on of the brand’s Xiaomi but all the major Chinese players Apple, which clearly targets the premium strength in the India market. However, including Oppo and Vivo, have worked segment, also benefits from its sharp given that the stakes are ge ng higher to amass sizeable retail presence in a focus and a lean product porolio. for all the major vendors in the India short span of me. This doesn’t bode Another setback for Samsung, albeit market, it would need to be er its act well for Samsung, which has put in years a small one as far as the India market is with each passing year. As growth in of work to dexterously build its large concerned, came from within. The com- mature markets like the US and the UK retail footprint. pany’s premium Galaxy Note 7, which are ge ng harder to come by, vendors Chinese vendors have also benefi ed was announced with much fanfare and are increasing focus on faster-growing from their rela vely leaner product rang- was expected to mop up some decent markets like India, where the transi on es as against Samsung’s presence across revenues, couldn’t even see the light of from feature phones to smartphones is multiple segments and price points. the day a er reports of exploding bat- s ll far from over.
20 | VOICE&DATA | SEPTEMBER 2017 | voicendata.com | A CyberMedia Publication Indus Towers
Green Transformation 2 By turning 50 percent of its towers into zero-diesel sites, the RANK tower company has been able to deliver direct cost benefits to its customers while also achieving operational efficiencies
he fiscal 2016-17 started off Green Mobile Award, which the com- with a change in guard at pany has received twice with a total the helm of India’s largest of four nomina ons so far. In all, Indus mobile towers company. Its has won a total of nine green awards, long- me COO Bimal Dayal including the ones from Confedera on Twas elevated to the posi on of CEO a er of Indian Industries, KPMG-Quimpro industry veteran B.S. Shantharaju re red and Amity. on March 31, 2016. Indus has also been ac vely engaged Over a period of time, Indus has with relevant stakeholders in developing put in certain best prac ces in place the scalable development model for to consistently maintain the standards smart ci es. It claims to be spearhead- in quality and performance. It uses a ing the approach of crea ng a layer of Process Excellence Scorecard approach shared and integrated communica on for each func on and circle, reflec ng —Bimal Dayal infrastructure and developing smart the current priori es of the company #HIEF¬%XECUTIVE¬/FFICER ¬¬ solutions for highways, railways and for the year. The scorecard has helped )NDUS¬4OWERS¬,IMITED buildings to enable use of smart city it achieve measurable improvements solu ons like smart ligh ng, smart park- towards process excellence. Indus con- Growth Chart ing, and smart water metering. nued its journey toward transforming Amidst all these ac vi es, a height- the business into a greener and more `17,482 9% ened competition among its telco sustainable one during the year. `16,014 customers and the resul ng waves of
Benefits have also accrued from the crore consolidation have the potential to ` transforma on of the tower opera ng impact Indus too, more so because of center (TOC), which was carried out in the composition of its stakeholding
previous year. The TOC is a fully-auto- in Revenue structure. At the me of publishing this mated centralized monitoring center ar cle, discussions were reportedly on located in the company’s Gurgaon and to create a new en ty by merging Indus
Chennai offices, and enables manage- FY 2016-17 2016 17 FY 20152015-16 16 Towers and Bharti Infratel, through ment and control all tower opera ons V&D India Telecom Industry Survey FY 2016-17 which Bharti Airtel holds 42 percent across all its sites. The TOC monitors stake in Indus. Vodafone holds another site health on a real- me basis, lead- 42 percent while Idea Cellular holds ing to op mal u liza on of resources green. This translates into direct cost 11.15 percent of the stake in Indus. and thus plays a key role in the energy benefits for Indus customers, mainly While it would be early to even management ini a ves at Indus while the telcos, who have been reeling under speculate the final shape and form of also delivering be er opera onal ef- severe compe ve and debt pressures. the combined en ty in the event of a ficiencies. Addi onally, as part of the green ini a- merger taking place, one thing is clear: Further, as part of Indus’ Green Sites ves, Indus installed 15,000 free cooling the best prac ces that Indus have devel- project, by far, 62,000 of its total sites units while also enabling 2,500 sites with oped and promoted to the fore over a have been turned green, which means smart ba ery charging solu ons. period of me would con nue to guide that there is zero usage of diesel in these These green initiatives have been the direc on in which the combined en- sites. As a result, nearly 50 percent of all well-recognized at various plaorms, ty or even the industry at large would Indus porolio of towers have become most notably in the form of the GSMA keep moving.
A CyberMedia Publication | voicendata.com | SEPTEMBER 2017 | VOICE&DATA | 21 TOP 10 TELECOM INFRA Nokia
Beating the Market Blues 3 A sharpened focus on LTE and a revved-up sales RANK engine helped it capture both mindshare and revenue share even amidst a consolidating customer base
okia considers India among its areas. Interes ngly, Vodafone awarded a high-growth markets. It cites big- cket 4G deployment and expansion manufacturing operations, contract worth `3,650 crore to Nokia early global delivery centers, and this year, covering 10 of the 22 circles, as research and development part of a larger mul -vendor contract. Nsetups in India as a reflec on of the com- The contract with Nokia allows Vodafone pany’s unwavering focus on the market to speed up its network expansion in the and its efforts to achieve enhanced prox- wake of the Airtel and RJio challenges. imity with its customers. Its new country Vodafone’s latest 4G contract is over head Sanjay Malik, who took over from and above its managed services contract Sandeep Girotra, was earlier head of net- worth 200 million Euros to Nokia, a few work implementa on business. months ago. The company has been a partner of Nokia also bagged an optical core —Sanjay Malik choice for the leading mobile service deployment contract from Reliance Jio )NDIA¬(EAD ¬.OKIA¬¬ providers in India. The global acquisi- for its pan-India 4G LTE network. In one tion of Alcatel-Lucent has given it of the biggest 100G deployments in the further impetus in terms of improved world, the transport network allows RJio completeness of the overall porolio, Growth Chart to offer high-capacity services to under- par cularly in the fixed, IP and op cal served regions as well as a na onwide segments. Nokia also sees its acquisi- `9,361 15% long-distance service. ons Withings and Gainspeed, as well as `8,140 Overall, the company can also take
a brand-licensing deal with HMD Global crore pride in the fact that it leads the pack ` and expanded intellectual property in terms of circles and base stations. cross-licensing agreement with Samsung Moreover, its market share in 4G has
as moves that would help it branch into in Revenue been higher than in 3G and in 2G. Di o new markets. These moves would likely with VoLTE solu ons, where it enjoys a add value not only as standalone ac vi- dominant share so far. Besides network- es, but also help spur more demand FY 2016-17* 2016 17* FY 20152015-16 16 ing and managed services, Nokia India is for its networks business. V&D India Telecom Industry Survey FY 2016-17 expanding into adjacent areas for man- Nokia signed pacts with operators *Alcatel-Lucent revenue included aged services, including enterprise man- like Bhar Airtel and BSNL to introduce aged services and IT managed services. 5G connec vity. It currently supplies 4G launched this year. The commercial rollout However, it lost some market share in the equipment for Airtel’s network in nine comes a er Airtel’s successful pilot for managed service space as some key deals circles including Mumbai, Gujarat, West VoLTE in a few areas. Based on ini al suc- went to the compe on. Bengal, and Kerala. The MoU with BSNL cess, Nokia would be eyeing a pan-India With the next focus already on 5G, the is to chalk out a framework for transi on contract for IP mul media solu on. Also, company is defining use cases relevant from exis ng legacy networks to futuris c in October, Nokia bagged a $230-million for the India market. The company is also 5G, the commercial launch of which is 4G network deal from Airtel for nine tele- se ng up an R&D center in Bengaluru to expected over the coming years. com service areas to expand the operator’s understand the requirements of poten al In November, Airtel awarded a $60 mil- 3G network in eight territories. 5G stakeholders in India, iden fy real- lion pan-India deal to Nokia to implement Vodafone too is understood to be world applica ons, and push its efforts VoLTE calling technology, which would be op ng for Nokia’s IMF solu on for certain towards the new technology.
22 | VOICE&DATA | SEPTEMBER 2017 | voicendata.com | A CyberMedia Publication Apple
Conducive Conditions 4 Rapid proliferation of mobile broadband and RANK smartphones seemed to have finally created the threshold for a volume growth of iPhones to take place
espite having remained Not everything went in Apple’s fa- an iconic brand across the vor though. Apple is understood to be globe ever since its incep- awai ng the government’s response on and having soared to to its requests for tax breaks and other new heights ever since the concessions, to set up its manufactur- DiPhone was launched in 2007, Apple ing facili es in India. The company’s had not focused much on the India request to sell refurbished iPhones market for long. Things have been in the country has also been refused changing in the recent years, but it was yet once again by the government on in the last fiscal that the company went grounds that it would add more to the bullish on the India market. It started country’s e-waste. inves ng a ton of energy and money, Nevertheless, India could turn out perhaps having found the country ready to be a massive sales growth oppor- —Sanjay Kaul for the growth it had been looking for. tunity for Apple in the coming years, #OUNTRY¬-ANAGER ¬¬ The rapid prolifera on of smartphones as the brand has faced the possibility !PPLE¬)NDIA¬ and rise in mobile broadband subscrip- of exhaus ng its growth opportuni es ons has certainly been instrumental in some of the satura ng markets like in whe ng the appe te of the market Growth Chart the US and Europe. However, to propel for a greater volume of premium smart- growth, Apple may also need to start phones like the iPhone. `9,132 making some strategic changes. The company par cularly ramped For example, the company could
up its focus in India post its chief ex- crore rethink its pricing strategy so as to ` ecu ve Tim Cook’s visit to the country. achieve a price-parity with the US and To increase the company’s foothold European markets. Logically, as more of
in an underpenetrated India market, in Revenue its Made in India phones start retailing several ini a ves in retail, manufactur- in the country, it would be in a posi on ing and research & development were to pass on the cost and tax benefits of
announced. Notable were the USD 25 FY 2016-17 2016 17 local manufacturing to customers. million investment in a development V&D India Telecom Industry Survey FY 2016-17 There is also much scope for Apple center in Hyderabad, and the decision to localize the experience for Indian to set up an accelerator for develop- customers. It has just taken a step in ers as well as a manufacturing plant sold over 2.5 million devices in India the right direction by adding Hindi in Bengaluru. Also, a change in top in the October–December 2016 quar- language support to iOS11 and intro- leadership was made and Sanjay Kaul ter, which turned out to be one of its ducing Cricket to Siri. But the company was elevated to the posi on of country best quarters ever. While much of the needs to put in more efforts, as India manager. He was earlier the country credit for this performance is a rib- has so many vernacular languages and sales director. uted to the pull for iPhone 7 family of varied entertainment preferences in The all-round efforts seemed to have phones, a part of the uptake may also every region. paid off, with the company’s revenues be a ributed to rival Samsung’s Note Apple is also said to be considering having grown significantly on the back fiasco, which is understood to have opening its own retail outlets in the of a boost-up in iPhone’s shipment caused a temporary churn in favor country, which could further strengthen and sales. Apple is es mated to have of Apple. its presence in the market.
A CyberMedia Publication | voicendata.com | SEPTEMBER 2017 | VOICE&DATA | 23 TOP 10 TELECOM INFRA Ericsson
A Passing Shortfall? 5 Even though the India story was better than in many RANK other key markets, a shrinking customer base particularly impacted the mainstream mobile gears business
he Swedish telecom equipment three-year contract covers operations major attributed the decline and maintenance of Vodafone’s op cal in mobile broadband sales to fiber network across east and west India, delayed spectrum auctions, spanning 45,000 km. With the addi on of which in turn, delayed operator Vodafone’s op cal fiber network, Ericsson Tinvestments into new network rollouts as would be managing a total of 2,225,000 km well. Professional services sales, however, of fiber and strengthen its exis ng fiber remained stable as operators con nued opera ons in India. to focus on network quality and cost Then there were wins for 4G network op miza on. deployment and 2G and 3G networks That said, Ericsson’s India business was transformation from Idea for select also impacted by a decline in the MNC’s telecom circles covering over 40 million global net sales. The company noted that subscribers. The gear maker gets to roll out a macroeconomic environment weaker —Nunzio Mirtillo 3G services for Idea to transform its exist- than expected had an increasing nega- )NDIA¬-ARKET¬(EAD ¬%RICSSON ing mobile radio access and core network ve effect on demand during the year in infrastructure across nine circles for 2G and many emerging markets, leading to an five circles for 3G. unexpected market decline. Growth Chart Also, in December, Airtel awarded a The turnaround may take time as $120 million network moderniza on and -12% matured markets like Europe and La n `9,799 expansion contract to Ericsson for the Delhi America are slowing down. The Swedish `8,663 circle. The contract makes Ericsson the sole
firm will need to make more concerted crore supplier for Airtel’s mobile network in the ` efforts in India, given that the market has circle, where it would be modernizing all of much upside poten al when it comes to the telco’s 2G sites and undertake expan-
data growth. in Revenue sion of the 3G network. This is besides a The first signs of green shoots were vis- four-year deal from Airtel for the expansion ible when Ericsson India bagged the $500 of its 3G WCDMA network across eight million, three-year contract from Airtel to FY 2016-17 2016 17 FY 20152015-16 16 other telecom circles. manage its 2G, 3G and 4G LTE networks in V&D India Telecom Industry Survey FY 2016-17 The gear maker has also found a foo ng all 22 circles. This includes contract renewal in the Smart Ci es segment. Ericsson and of Airtel’s 15 circles, where it was already Bhar Infratel bagged a smart city project providing managed services. The remain- worth $1 billion signed in 2014. Ericsson from Bhopal Smart City Development Cor- ing seven circles were earlier managed by had then swapped out Alcatel-Lucent, now pora on to deploy smart poles. The duo Nokia. With this deal, Ericsson emerged owned by Nokia. would install 400 smart poles across the city, as the pan-India vendor for managed ser- These deals have served as important which would be equipped with environment vices covering field maintenance, network cushions for Ericsson, which has found the sensors, EV charging points, surveillance opera ons, network op miza on, and pas- going tough in the recent quarters. There cameras, etc., to improve mobile broadband sive maintenance of sites. Ericsson is also have been some other notable wins too. coverage, energy efficiency, and public the only firm with two pan-India networks. It got a contract from Vodafone India to safety. The company also won its first deal in Apart from Airtel, it provides managed manage its op cal fiber cable network the u li es segment to install 15,000 smart services to Reliance Communications for three years in 10 telecom circles cov- meters in Assam over the next three years, under a seven-year full-scope agreement ering opera ons and maintenance. The for a public-sector power company.
24 | VOICE&DATA | SEPTEMBER 2017 | voicendata.com | A CyberMedia Publication SMB Yatra
Associate Partners TOP 10 TELECOM INFRA Lenovo Group
All Set to Ride a Wave 6 A renewed focus on the dual-band strategy is paying RANK off, while an all-round performance across the group casts a positive spell
er a patch of challenging all price segments, with the Lenovo market situa ons and slow- branded models covering the low-to-mid ing down of growth glob- price segments and the Motorola phones ally, the Chinese technology compe ng in the higher and premium multinational reported a segments of `15,000 and above. The Asolid growth while witnessing improved group will, however, need to balance its sales and market share, specifically in focus on both the brands to make out the emerging markets of India and Brazil. the most of its unique porolio. It also An expanding consumer base in India needs to bolster its offline retail presence and the growing interest in technology to bump up smartphone uptake across products gave further impetus to Leno- different regions in the country. vo’s mobiles and tablet sales and helped This year, by deciding to con nue the brand gain a stronger foothold in the with its dual-brand strategy, the com- —Rahul Aggarwal country during the year. pany has set the tone right. To further #%/¬¬-ANAGING¬$IRECTOR¬AT¬¬ As noted in its annual report, Lenovo take on the competition posed by ,ENOVO¬)NDIA said the smartphone business con nued other Chinese and leading smartphone its focus on improving its average selling brands, the group has also taken a wise price in the region and achieved rev- Growth Chart decision of expanding its exis ng line-up enue growth while remaining a strong and venturing into offline retail. Offline player in India during the year under `7,991 retail would give the required impetus to review. This occurred despite a slight handsets distribu on, and give custom-
decline in shipments due to component crore ers a chance to come and experience the ` supply constraints and the intensified flagship Motorola devices at mul -brand compe on in some emerging areas in store outlets.
the region. in Revenue Lenovo has noted 2016-17 as a year The performance could be a ributed of transforma on—balancing growth to Lenovo’s 3-wave strategy that the and profitability in its core business,
group’s management had put in place FY 2016-17 2016 17 while building its smartphone (and data last year, though one year may not be V&D India Telecom Industry Survey FY 2016-17 center businesses) into growth engines. enough to say that the strategy has posi- *Motorola is Lenovo’s smartphone subsidiary A solid performance in the core PC busi- oned the tech firm on the path to con- ness, driven by success in fast-growing nued long-term profitable growth. areas such as gaming PCs, Chromebooks, This year, Lenovo aims to sustain its sales and sustain its growth momentum, worksta ons, detachables and millen- growth momentum in India. It is eyeing especially in the enterprise segment. nial PCs, would also have a positive a numero uno posi on in its PC and Lenovo also has higher expecta ons bearing on the overall brand and hence laptop business. For this, Lenovo has from its mobile phone business in India, on the smartphone business as well. already done some restructuring as which is one of its key strategic markets. In fact, the smartphone business has well as introduced changes in its go-to- The compe on is intense in this seg- already started to see good trac on, market strategy, and is thus, hoping to ment, but Lenovo is hopeful of having a par cularly in key growth markets such see posi ve results. Also, programs like double-digit growth this year. The task as India and Brazil, which together have Digital India and the overall economic shouldn’t be unachievable for the com- contributed significantly to the group’s growth in the country would augments pany with a decent lineup spread across overall performance in mobiles.
26 | VOICE&DATA | SEPTEMBER 2017 | voicendata.com | A CyberMedia Publication ATC
Hungry for More 7 The freshly integrated Viom assets have further RANK whetted the MNC’s appetite for more inorganic growth before the market runs out of buyout opportunities
oston-based American Tower These equity firms are also in the race to Corpora on (ATC) is already pick up Idea’s and Vodafone’s stakes in a major tower company in Indus Towers. However, ATC is unlikely to India. Post the comple on of make as much headway there as Bhar the Viom acquisi on, which Infratel, with its exis ng 42 percent stake Bwas announced in October 2015 and in Indus, is more strongly posi oned to completed in April 2016, the indepen- ramp up its holding anywhere above dent mobile tower firm now has around 50 percent. 58,000 towers, and trails segment leader Reliance Infratel is another tower Indus Towers with a lesser margin. ATC en ty, which is also currently on the now has its largest number of towers in block. However, given that a poten al India, exceeding even its home market deal with Brookfield has run into an base of around 40,000 towers. uncertain weather on concerns related —Amit Sharma India has become an important to future tenancies of the Reliance In- %XECUTIVE¬6ICE¬0RESIDENT¬AND¬ growth market for ATC, as growth in fratel, among other things, ATC may get 0RESIDENT¬!SIA ¬!4#¬)NDIA its home market USA has nearly satu- a foot into the opportunity. Indeed, it rated. Also, with fewer tower companies would need to evaluate the assets from available for purchase in its other key Growth Chart a tenancy standpoint before coming to markets, ATC has increased its focus any decision. in the India market. Also, its hunger `7,949 1% ATC has also been exploring invest- `7,900 for inorganic growth is unlikely to have ments in fiber op c networks and small
diminished even a er having spent an crore cells to build up additional revenue ` industry-leading sum of $1.2 billion to streams apart from the rental revenue acquire a majority stake in Viom. Follow- that it earns from mobile operators.
ing a successful integra on of Viom, ATC in Revenue While small cells could be used to com- is understood to be exploring more deals plement the large macro-cell towers, and or even some strategic fits. fiberiza on on the other hand, would As per some recent reports, the FY 2016-17 2016 17 FY 20152015-16 16 convert exis ng backhaul networks from company has emerged as a frontrunner V&D India Telecom Industry Survey FY 2016-17 microwave to fiber to op mally handle in a poten al buyout of Idea Cellular’s the burgeoning data flow in a growing captive towers, provided the telco 4G and a future 5G environment. ATC guarantees con nua on of the tenan- amoun ng to a tenancy ra o of 1.68. has already invested in fiber assets in cies for a period of 8–10 years for Idea ATC is also known to have shown inter- Mexico, and would stand to benefit as well for the proposed merged en ty est in Vodafone’s 11,000 cap ve towers from the learnings there. The company with Vodafone India. Such long-term valued roughly at $600 million. has a presence in 15 countries across assurances on tenancies are required Both Vodafone and Idea are likely to five con nents. to safeguard against poten al overlaps sell their standalone towers and stakes In calendar year 2016, ATC in India in an Idea-Vodafone combine’s assets. in Indus Towers, before the comple on achieved nine percent reduc on in diesel Idea had a total of 9,838 cap ve towers of their proposed merger. Private equity consump on per site per month as com- as of December 2016, i.e., excluding players Brookfield Asset Management pared to 2015 through a mix of alterna- Idea’s stake in Indus Towers. There were and IDFC Project Equity Infra have also ve power solu ons, including more than 16,549 tenants on Idea’s cap ve towers, been in the fray to buy out these assets. 3MW of installed solar capacity.
A CyberMedia Publication | voicendata.com | SEPTEMBER 2017 | VOICE&DATA | 27 TOP 10 TELECOM INFRA Cisco
Fruits of Early Labors 8 Smart cities and carrier capacity augmentation have RANK developed into key growth areas, with the early bets paying off handsomely
isco con nues to be a domi- early footholds in both the segments, nant player in the India net- and supported by its strong presence working market. It leads both in India, stands to gain significantly. the LAN switch and router Related opportunity areas include segments, though in the e-governance and citizen services, CWLAN segment it is the No. 2 player. In public safety, IoT, broadband access, the telecom ver cal, IP-fica on has been community Wi-Fi, and various Digital a key driver of growth for the company, India programs. Be ng big on digi - which won a number of deals from telcos za on, the company has ed up with for the IP-fica on of their networks in different players such as Genpact, Tech general and the backhauls in par cular. Mahindra, and Sterlite to co-innovate Besides, the government’s digi za on and create product sets catering to drive too drove business growth for the India-specific needs. networking giant, which bagged some — Sameer Garde The company is also increasing key smart-city deals as well. 0RESIDENT¬ ¬)NDIA¬¬3!!2# ¬#ISCO¬INDIA its focus on SMEs, and is reportedly Cisco has reportedly been work- working to increase its customer base ing closely with state governments to in the segment from 30,000 now to digitally transform 14 ci es as part of Growth Chart 90,000 in the next three years. There the Smart Ci es program. In the previ- are over 50 million SMEs in India, of 2% ous year too, the company had closed `6,731 `6,601 which only two percent are es mated four project proposals for the smart to have gone digital, which represents
ci es of Navi Mumbai, Pune, Jaipur and crore a huge upside growth poten al. Cisco is ` Lucknow. The opportunity for Cisco is pushing wireless connec vity security es mated to be upward of Rs 150 crore so ware and collabora on video solu-
per city over a period of me. in Revenue ons to the SMEs. In this context, Cisco Cisco is presently working on 45 unveiled its first ‘Made in India’ router projects with six states on digi za on for SMEs. It also started a produc on ini a ves. It partnered with the Telan- FY 2016-17 2016 17 FY 20152015-16 16 facility in Pune, which it plans to make gana Government on various ini a ves V&D India Telecom Industry Survey FY 2016-17 an export hub. including Smart Ci es, cyber security, Meanwhile, last year, the company IoT, digi za on of monuments and edu- earmarked $100 million to support the ca on. In December 2016, it signed two a burgeoning data traffic. As part of the country’s ambi ous plan of connec ng MoUs with the Government of Gujarat deal, Cisco will reportedly be building thousands of villages to the internet. to establish an IoT innova on hub with an all-IP/MPLS network using Open Unarguably, India is a key market Interna onal Centre for Entrepreneur- Network Architecture, designed to scale for Cisco and the company con nues ship and Technology (iCreate) and a and accommodate the exponen al traf- to execute its long-term strategic focus smart city project in Gujarat Interna- fic growth in the transport layer. on innova on, skills development, and onal Finance Tec-City (GIFT). Both smart-ci es rollouts and back- digital transforma on. As an outcome In the telco segment, the company bone capacity augmenta ons by telcos of its significant investments in R&D, won a converged network deal from are expected to remain two key drivers the company has already witnessed greenfield behemoth Reliance Jio for of growth for networking companies some early successes in the smart-ci es capacity augmenta on in the wake of going forward. Cisco, given its strong segment.
28 | VOICE&DATA | SEPTEMBER 2017 | voicendata.com | A CyberMedia Publication Bharti Infratel
Looking Beyond Telecom 9 Even though the mobile data story holds good for RANK now, the company is actively exploring emerging opportunities such as Smart Cities for future growth
har Infratel had its fair share would accrue, the Government of India’s of the ac on happening in its Smart Ci es program is one key oppor- market segment. As a result tunity area that Bhar Infratel is eyeing. of the ongoing consolida on Last year, it won Bhopal Smart City and is among their customers, i.e., working towards the project delivery. It Bthe telecom services providers, the ad- is also pinning hope on other smart ci es dressable market has been shrinking for considering this project as a model, which the tower companies. Naturally, they could poten ally open up new revenue too have been exploring various op ons streams for the company. The company to keep the growth clock cking. Even stands to leverage its shared infrastruc- though Bhar Infratel has been rela vely ture and experience in distributed opera- less impacted by these developments as ons, and has also secured NLD and ISP group company Bhar Airtel accounts for licenses to facilitate such endeavors. a significant part of its revenues, improv- —Devender Singh Rawat As part of an inorganic growth possi- ing opera onal efficiencies and tower -$¬¬#%/ ¬"HARTI¬)NFRATEL bility, the company was also reportedly in tenancy remains no less a priority for it. talks to acquire Tower Vision India, which In FY2016-17, the company’s rev- has 8,500 towers with a tenancy ra o of enue growth inched up on the back of Growth Chart 1.8. Tower Vision, which is owned by a improved tenancy and hence higher group of interna onal financial investors, sharing revenue per tower, which went `6,084 13% and is valued at around `4,000 crore, up from `74,513 per month to `78,318 `5,400 including a debt of around `1,000 crore.
per month. These improvements did crore A possibility of Bhar Airtel buying out ` contribute to its improved valua on and further stake in Indus Towers in order to hence greater benefits as the promoters become a majority stakeholder has also
offloaded as much as 10.3 percent stake in Revenue been doing the rounds. However, given in Infratel to a consor um of private eq- that the parent company Airtel has its uity firms KKR and Canada Pension Plan balance sheet already heavily leveraged, Investment Board, for a considera on FY 2016-17 2016 17 FY 20152015-16 16 a straightjacketed stake increase would of `6,193.9 crore. It was KKR’s second V&D India Telecom Industry Survey FY 2016-17 be difficult to achieve. investment in Infratel. As per the com- As part of its green ini a ves, the pany’s annual report, the foreign ins tu- company said it had a total of 38,962 onal ownership thus touched an all- me crore in fiscal 2016 to `3,513 crore in fis- green sites across its circles, which high of 34.34 percent as on March 31, cal 2017. Also, it is understood to have represented an increase of 16 percent 2017 as compared to 8.65 percent at the helped Airtel withstand its nearly $14 year-on-year. The energy conserva on me of its IPO in December 2012. billion debt load be er as it con nues measures brought over 24 percent More recently, by the me of wri ng with its 4G network rollout plans. reduc on in diesel consump on per co- this ar cle, Airtel had sold off another The company is conscious that ongo- loca on during the last two years and 35 3.65 percent stake to a group of global ing consolida on in its customer segment percent decrease in the last three years. investors, including some repeat inves- would lead to ra onaliza ons in term of The number of its solar-powered sites on tors, for a value of `2,570.2 crore. These tower tenancies, and is therefore explor- a consolidated basis stood at 3,000, with stake sales are understood to have helped ing new revenue streams as well. While more solar installa ons on the way. the company pare its debt from `6,041 the benefits from robust data growth
A CyberMedia Publication | voicendata.com | SEPTEMBER 2017 | VOICE&DATA | 29 TOP 10 TELECOM INFRA Xiaomi India
No Stone Unturned 10 HavingH made flash gains off a highly rewarding online- RANK onlyo sales strategy, the Chinese major is fortifying offline presence as it eyes a two-fold growth
iaomi India had been se ng the Chinese company stepped outside new benchmarks since mak- China and India for the first me and ing its debut in the year 2014. unveiled its much-an cipated device The Chinese manufacturer Mi5 at the Mobile World Congress 2016, saw huge growth poten al both, the device as well as the brand Xin the India smartphone market much both garnered a en on from the West. before most of its other Chinese peers However, India remains top priority did, and charted out its game plan. The markets for Xiaomi. ‘flash sale’ and ‘online-only’ business The Chinese manufacturer aims to models helped it grab a en on, while achieve the $2-billion revenue mark innova ve offerings at compe ve price in India, and has started pushing its points put the company on a steadfast boundaries. It knows well that achieving growth trajectory in no me. —Manu Kumar Jain a growth momentum to reach that goal A testament to Xiaomi’s growth is with its offerings in the low-to-mid price ¬6ICE¬0RESIDENT¬n¬8IAOMI¬AND¬ that today, it is listed among the top 3 -ANAGING¬$IRECTOR¬FOR¬8IAOMI¬)NDIA ranges would no longer be enough, smartphone vendors in the country, and given that its Chinese peers such as has unse led some erstwhile market Oppo, Vivo, OnePlus, and iTel are also leaders from their posi ons. In fact, Growth Chart rising up to the opportunity. Though the last fiscal turned out to be quite Xiaomi remains a strong contender on remarkable for the company. It not only `5,708 the turf, it has historically lacked deeper surpassed the $1-billion revenue mark, access into the India market, and has crore
but also opened up two manufactur- ` therefore started pu ng in efforts to ing units in the country, having sold strengthen its presence on fronts like over two million smartphones in one a ersales services, and offline retail.
of its strong quarters during the year. in Revenue For offline retail, Xiaomi is partnering The company’s mainstay models were with large-format retailers and is put- Redmi 3S (along with Redmi 3S Prime) ng up its store in their stores. It has and Redmi Note 3, which also happened FY 2016-17 2016 17 also established ‘Mi Preferred Partner’ to be among the best-selling models in V&D India Telecom Industry Survey FY 2016-17 stores across the country. Moreover, it the market. has opened its own Mi Home store in Xiaomi also joined hands with Bengaluru and is planning to open the Google to develop an Android One however, has been tricky for Xiaomi as second one in Delhi-NCR soon. The com- device named MiA1. The device’s specs well as other Chinese vendors, as few of pany reportedly has more than 10,000 is pped to be sibling to Mi 5x, which them have been able to hold significant stores now, and has been selling into Xiaomi had launched in China in July market share in this elusive sweet spot. more than 14,000 pin-code loca ons 2017. The only difference is the OS. Perhaps, MiU1 would help Xiaomi cast each week through its online partners. While Mi5x runs on MiUI, the MiA1 the spell. While it works to bolster its offline runs on stock Android. The device was Xiaomi’s success in India is often presence, the company would con nue yet to be launched in the country at attributed to its online strategy and to pin great hopes on the rising internet the me of this publica on going to its affordable feature-rich handsets user base in the country, which has the press, and is pegged to be priced in that don’t compromise on quality. The grown more than three-fold in not as the vicinity of `15,000. This price point, la er is also one of the reasons when many years.
30 | VOICE&DATA | SEPTEMBER 2017 | voicendata.com | A CyberMedia Publication CARRIER INFRA `105,372 crore
Carrier Infra: Growth by Sub Segment
Segment FY 2016-17 FY 2015-16 % Growth (in `crore) (in `crore)
Carrier Networks 21,269 19,265 10%
Core & Access Equipments 15,718 14,957 5%
Carrier Networking 5,551 4,308 29%
Passive Infra 61,388 56,364 9%
Telecom Towers 56,787 52,541 8%
Power Solutions 4,601 3,823 20%
Managed Services 8,885 9,383 -5%
OSS / BSS 3,764 3,621 4%
Software, Solutions & Consulting (SSC) 8,843 8,633 2%
Test & Measurement 1,223 1,137 8%
Total Carrier Infra Market 105,372 98,403 7%
V&D India Telecom Industry Survey FY 2016-17
A CyberMedia Publication | voicendata.com | SEPTEMBER 2017 | VOICE&DATA | 31 CARRIER INFRA Carrier Networks
Carrier Infra: By Revenue (FY 2016-17) Test & Measurement `1,223 So ware, Solu ons & Consul ng (SSC) OSS / BSS `8,843 `3,764 Managed Services `8,885
Passive Infra `61,388
Carrier Networks `21,269
Overall Carrier Infra `105,372 crore V&D India Telecom Industry Survey FY 2016-17
Carrier Infra: Sub Segment % Marketshare (FY 2016-17) Test & Measurement 1% So ware, Solu ons & Consul ng (SSC) 8% Core & Access Equipments 15% OSS / BSS 4%
Managed Services Carrier Networking 8% 5% CARRIER Power Solu ons 4% INFRA FY 2016-17 % Market of `105,372 crore
Telecom Towers 54%
V&D India Telecom Industry Survey FY 2016-17
32 | VOICE&DATA | SEPTEMBER 2017 | voicendata.com | A CyberMedia Publication A Jio Effect RJio’s greenfield rollouts spurred demand for high-speed data services and prompted the incumbents to augment their LTE footprints and capacities
t the start of 2017, industry honchos had cau oned Core & Access Equipments that the global carrier networks market would decline over the previous year, but markets such as India and China would offer good growth op- portuni es. 5% AIndia lived up to the expecta ons of the industry, with a sudden rise in demand for high-speed 4G services that led to an increased uptake of network gears. Moreover, it looked like things were only ge ng started, with RJio reportedly mulling to expand its footprint un l its network grew larger than those `15,718 cr `14,957 cr of its rivals. Incumbent players, including Bhar Airtel and Idea Cellu- lar, got compelled to match RJio in terms of 4G presence and speeds. This despite the fact that operators have been under pressure in the wake of declining revenues and margins. Bhar Airtel is determined to become the only second telco FY 2016-17 FY 2015-16 in the country a er Reliance Jio to offer the VoLTE technology V&D India Telecom Industry Survey FY 2016-17 for voice calls. At present, along with other incumbents, Airtel too offers voice services using the circuit-switch fallback (CSFB) technology, while data access is through the 4G network. While VoLTE requires ini al investments, it also allows operators to route voice calls na vely on their 4G LTE networks at a lower cost per minute. In the process, it also frees up the older spectrum bands for re-farming. Op cal & Converged Networks According to an Ericsson report, GSM remained the domi- nant technology in 2016, accoun ng for over 70 percent of all mobile subscrip ons. While 3G is going to retain its dominance 29% un l 2022 with 740 million users, LTE and 3G together would account for 85 percent of all subscrip ons.
Key Trends 4G rollouts are clearly driving the network deployments in er `5,551 cr 1 and er 2 ci es, besides the increased fiber-to-the-home `4,308 cr (FTTH) deployments by telcos, ISPs, and MSOs. The increase in fiber demand is also led by the government’s rural broadband project, BharatNet, as also the Smart Ci es mega project, the success of which hinges on having a robust op cal backbone in place. FY 2016-17 FY 2015-16 Also, operators are increasingly turning to fiber as an alterna- Total Carrier Network Market `21,269 crore ve to costly microwave technologies in the backhaul. Also, it is a well-acknowledged fact that fiber-based networks can deliver V&D India Telecom Industry Survey FY 2016-17 literally unlimited bandwidth, thus making it a preferred wireline technology in the long run. Given that the fiber kilometer per
A CyberMedia Publication | voicendata.com | SEPTEMBER 2017 | VOICE&DATA | 33 CARRIER INFRA Carrier Networks
capita in India is much less than several other telecom markets, there exists a significant upside poten al for the fiberiza on of Carrier Networking: Optical & Converged the networks, especially in the backhauls. Going forward, with the advent of 5G, there would be a mul fold increase in deploy- Top 3 Companies by Revenue ment of small cells, which would further augment the need for having fiber in the backhaul. The percentage of towers having FY 2016-17 FY 2015-16 % Company fiber for the backhaul will need to increase significantly from (in `crore) (in `crore) Growth the current 20-percent level to 70–80 percent levels. Already, BSNL and Airtel signed MoUs with Nokia for 5G, Cisco 1,952 1,415 38% while Reliance Jio is understood to be leveraging Samsung to explore various technologies and equipment for 5G. Ericsson Ciena 1,452 — — too signed a pact with IIT Delhi to jointly roll out a ‘5G for India’ program. As part of the deal, an incuba on center and a 5G test Nokia 1,377 — — bed would be set up to work on the technology. However, operators might be able to reduce the capex asso- Others 770 2,893 -73% ciated with fiber deployments using infrastructure sharing and leasing, much like in the case of passive infrastructure, which Total Carrier 5,551 4,308 29% could limit the rate at which fiber is deployed in the coming Networking Market years. Right of way (RoW) issues too con nue to pose prac cal deterrents in fiber rollouts. In FY2016-17 Cisco is the leader in the Converged Networks segment. Ciena leads the Optical Networks segment Major Players Nokia established a lead in the 4G LTE market on the basis of V&D India Telecom Industry Survey FY 2016-17 all deals concluded before and a er the spectrum auc on. It Others include Juniper, Brocade holds the fort in terms of circles and the number of base sta ons to be rolled out. In fact, its market share in 4G is higher than in case of 3G and 2G. In terms of VoLTE solu ons, it enjoys a near monopoly. Considering the business poten al, the Finnish TOP COMPANIES % MARKETSHARE (BY( REVENUE)) equipment maker is upping the ante with all its R&D energies focused on high-end technologies. Its two centers in Benga- luru and Chennai, with over 6,000 employees, are working on solu ons like VoLTE, IoT, customer experience management, 14% and LTE. Others Arch-rival Ericsson is not far behind. Recently, it introduced a new radio product, AIR 3246, for massive mul ple input mul ple 33%33% output (Massive MIMO) that enables operators to bring 5G to SamsungSamsun35%g subscribers using mid-band spectrum and boost capaci es in Cisco their LTE networks. AIR 3246 supports both 4G LTE and 5G NR 25% (New Radio) technologies and is Ericsson’s first 5G NR radio Nokia for frequency division duplexing (FDD). Ericsson’s 5G Plaorm includes three previously launched me division duplex (TDD) radios capable of suppor ng 5G and Massive MIMO, as well as core, transport, digital support, and security elements. It enables operators to enhance 4G capaci es and be ready for 26% 5G, using the same hardware. Ciena Another significant preference is to go for all-IP networks, which offer operators a unique combina on of high-speed data, mobile video, VoLTE, digital commerce, media, cloud, and pay- ment services. All-IP networks not only promise to deliver higher Company % share in overall Carrier Networking revenue ` data volumes, but can also be leveraged to provide end-to-end of 5,551 crore digital solu ons and broadband. V&D India Telecom Industry Survey FY 2016-17
34 | VOICE&DATA | SEPTEMBER 2017 | voicendata.com | A CyberMedia Publication Core & Access Equipments
Top 3 Companies by Revenue
FY 2016-17 FY 2015-16 % Company (in `crore) (in `crore) Growth
Nokia 5,571 4,721 18%
Ericsson 4,572 5,664 -19%
telco in the world to provide digital services over an end-to- Samsung 2,018 — — end IP network at a massive scale. The network allows RJio to deliver services at faster speeds as it is built on an Open Net- Others 3,557 4,572 -22% work Architecture and Cloud Scale Networking technologies, featuring IP/MPLS. Total Core & Access 15,718 14,957 5% Equipment Market Looking Ahead Others include Alcatel Lucent, ZTE, C-DOT, Tejas With network conges on increasingly becoming a problem across almost all ci es, the gear makers are placing their bets V&D India Telecom Industry Survey FY 2016-17 on a rela vely economic solu on called small cells, in order to improve network density. Globally, the small cells market grew 56 percent in 2016. Ericsson es mates that within five years, small cells may ac- TOP COMPANIES % MARKETSHARE (BY REVENUE) count for 20 percent of the overall radio access network (RAN) market. Ericsson India started deploying both 3G and 4G small cells together using its dual-band Radio Dot offering a few months ago. It rolled out a solu on where 1,800 MHz LTE and 2100 MHz 3G were built inside a small Radio Dot cell to transmit 23% both 3G and 4G signals in two different bands. Such a technol- Others 35% ogy is easy to install, and increases the 3G and 4G capacity Nokia and coverage. Like conven onal telecom towers, small cells can also work 13% 33%33% with mul ple operators to further reduce the ownership cost. Samsungamsung Ericsson is in dialogue with tower firms for deploying small cells, Samsung both outdoors and indoors. Going forward, small cells would help carriers increase the 29% density of their metro networks, and provide data and voice Ericsson coverage in pockets where it is not viable to build the macro mobile base sta ons. A pickup in 3G and 4G small cells deployment is expected as operators work to augment their in-building coverages to Company % share in overall Core & Access Equipments be er serve real- me data needs of customers. According to revenue of `15,718 crore es mates, small cells accounted for just about four percent of V&D India Telecom Industry Survey FY 2016-17 the overall RAN market in India in 2016. RJio, which procured small cell equipment from Airspan, is already understood to Recently, networking major Cisco bagged an all-IP converged have deployed over 1,00,000 small cells and is planning to network deal from Reliance Jio to expand the operator’s exis ng scale it up to 1,50,000. It is only a ma er of me that others mul -terabit capacity. According to RJio, it would be the only will also follow suit.
A CyberMedia Publication | voicendata.com | SEPTEMBER 2017 | VOICE&DATA | 35 CARRIER INFRA Passive Infra
Consolidation is the New Engine A shift toward larger, fewer players is driven by the expectation that it would lead to better operational efficiencies and hence lower costs to telcos in the long run
Telecom Towers he telecom towers sector, which comprises a mix of telco-owned cap ve tower en es, independent tower players and third-party tower operators, is 8% undergoing a consolida on. This, at a me when the telecommunica ons industry is under siege Towing to quality-of-service issues like call drops and falling ARPUs, even as operators engage in an intense, never-ending tariff war and rising debt levels threatening the very existence `56,787 cr `52,541 cr of some players. Telecom is a high stakes-game with as much as 40-60 percent of the capex ploughed into infrastructure. Sharing of passive infrastructure, i.e., the non-electronic infrastructure at cell sites including steel towers, BTS shelters, power supplies, generators, ba eries, air condi oners, and fire ex nguishers, FY 2016-17 FY 2015-16 not only eases the burden on telcos but has also evolved as V&D India Telecom Industry Survey FY 2016-17 a mainstay model for the industry, with around half a million towers and 15 lakh BTS enabling connec vity for 1.2 billion users.
Growth Trends Considering the increase in telecom services, an es mated 360,000 BTSs are to be added by 2019, which could poten- ally increase the tenancy ra o from the current level of Power Solu ons 2.6 to around 3.5 by 2021, according to an Assocham-KPMG joint study. Around 66 percent of India’s 454,521 towers are 20% owned and operated by tower firms. That is set to reach 82 percent. A number of factors are contribu ng to the growth of tower companies, including the expansion of 4G networks, affordability of smartphones, and lowered broadband tariffs. `4,601 cr Also, telcos need to respond to QoS issues, most notably `3,823 cr the call drops, by adding new towers and BTSs. In all, the industry is es mated to be adding around 1,500 BTS per day on an average. However, there also are a number of hurdles that the sector has to contend with. These include issues related to FY 2016-17 FY 2015-16 cellular radia on, which con nues to be perceived as a health hazard despite assurances given at a ministerial level in the past. Then, there is the right-of-way (RoW) deterrent, given ` Total Passive Infra Market 61,388 crore that the RoW policy allows only a telecom licensee to deploy V&D India Telecom Industry Survey FY 2016-17 telecom infrastructure while there con nues to be ambiguity on the rights being available for towercos.
36 | VOICE&DATA | SEPTEMBER 2017 | voicendata.com | A CyberMedia Publication TELECOM LEADERSHIP FORUM
EMPOWERING LEADERS IN TELECOMMUNICATIONS
XVIIth ANNUAL MEETING OF THE TELECOM ECOSYSTEM
NEW TELECOM FOR NEW INDIA
7 DECEMBER 2017, NEW DELHI
KEYNOTES XVII th Annual Meeting of the CORPORATE DIALOGUE Telecom Ecosystem CXO PANEL 1 Day Forum & Awards FEATURED SESSIONS LUNCHEON Power Hour CEO Roundtable INDUSTRY FACE -OFF 200+ Telecom Leaders ROUNDTABLE INTERVIEW ZONE 25+ Eminent Speakers NETWORKING OPPORTUNITY TLF AWARDS Power Packed Sessions SUCCESS STORIES 360 Degree Marketing Platform Jury + Telco Category Awards
Shine out from the crowd. Write to us Now Rajiv Pathak, [email protected], +91 8010757100 For more details, Kindly visit tlfindia.in CARRIER INFRA Passive Infra
One of the most significant benefits of tower sharing is that TelecomTowers the number of towers is op mized, which in turn reduces the diesel consump on and hence the emissions. Even though Top 3 Companies by Revenue operators are working to make the sites diesel-free, at least 50 percent of the sites are s ll on diesel. Sharing also allows FY 2016-17 FY 2015-16 operators to op mize capex, and focus on service delivery. Company % Growth (in `crore) (in `crore) By outsourcing day-to-day management of telecom infra, the opex costs too are significantly reduced. Indus Towers 17,482 16,014 9% Key Players Indus Towers con nues to be the market leader, followed by ATC * 7,949 7,900 1% American Tower Corp. (ATC) and Bhar Infratel, among oth- ers including Reliance Infratel and Idea Cellular Infrastructure Bharti Infratel 6,085 5,400 13% Services. While Indus and Bhar Infratel have mostly grown organically, ATC has pursued an inorganic growth strategy Others 25,271 23,227 9% for India. The US-based towerco had earlier acquired Viom Networks, which helped it to become the second-largest Total Telecom 56,787 52,541 8% towerco in the country. Towers Market The market is expected to consolidate further, to the extent that the possibility of even Indus and Bhar Infratel Others include Reliance Infratel, BSNL-MTNL, ATC, Essar being part of a merger deal is not being ruled out. On the Telecom, GTL other hand, state-run BSNL has been mulling to mone ze its * ATC acquired Viom passive infrastructure comprising op cal fiber, having already earned an es mated Rs 1,000 crore from tower sharing in V&D India Telecom Industry Survey FY 2016-17 the previous year. The state-run operator had submi ed a proposal to the government for forming a subsidiary for the tower business, which has been approved in a cabinet meet- ing. As per the decision, around 65,000 towers would be part TOP COMPANIES % MARKETSHARE (BY REVENUE) of the new en ty. As the demand for data increases, the need for superior infrastructure needs an overhaul. Currently, tower companies use a combina on of in-building solu ons, small cells, public Wi-Fi, and fiberiza on of backhaul networks to maximize capacity. Going forward, operators would be banking on in- nova ons that could further reduce rental and energy costs 31% besides delivering savings in capital expenditure and faster 45% Indus Towers rollouts. Others Looking Ahead If 3G adop on helped drive data usage up, rising 4G adop on, thanks to greenfield behemoths like Reliance Jio, is expected to grow it mul fold. Moreover, 4G poten ally offers many 14% mes higher data speeds than 3G, which would lead to 11% ATC * higher energy consumption by the telecom equipment Bhar and consequently also raise the fuel consump on at the Infratel cell sites. In 2012, based on Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI)’s recommenda ons, the Department of Telecommuni- Company % share in overall Telecom Towers revenue ca ons (DoT) had mandated the operators to run at least 50 of `56,787 crore percent of their rural towers and 20 percent of the urban towers
V&D India Telecom Industry Survey FY 2016-17 on hybrid energy, i.e., a mix of renewable energy and grid power
38 | VOICE&DATA | SEPTEMBER 2017 | voicendata.com | A CyberMedia Publication Power Solutions by 2015. It further s pulated that 75 percent of the rural towers and 33 percent of urban towers should go green by 2020. The strict mandate is likely to benefit both the operators Top 3 Companies by Revenue and the towercos in the long run. Consider that a 15 kVA gen- erator consumes three liters of diesel per hour, and one liter FY 2016-17 FY 2015-16 Company % Growth of diesel emits 2.629 kg of carbon dioxide, which increases (in `crore) (in `crore) the carbon footprints of operators. Given that operators have to maintain a network availability higher than 99.5 Amara Raja 1,495 1173 27% percent, they cannot reduce their carbon footprint without down mes. To ensure connec vity, operators rely excessively Delta 1,012 810 25% on emission-causing generators, which also increases their opera onal expenses. The green mandate from the govern- ment is forcing the stakeholders to explore innova ng ways Mahindra Powerol 960 727 32% and means of finding alterna ve solu ons to the emissions problem, which in turn would also help them reduce their Others 1,134 1,113 2% opera onal expenses. In certain sites, companies have tried using rechargeable Total Power 4,601 3,823 20% ba eries, but those too are dependent on electricity supply Solutions Market from the grid, which unfortunately is inadequate and erra c, especially in rural areas. While solar-powered inverters and Others include Emerson, Pace, HBL, Exide, Eicher, Crompton, UPSs may be the solu ons for certain regions with mostly Schneider Electric, Su-Kam sunny weather condi ons, not all regions would be ame- nable to such solu ons. A large chunk of towers is therefore V&D India Telecom Industry Survey FY 2016-17 yet to become diesel-free, due to various prac cal difficul- es, including non-feasibility of green-energy op ons in certain terrains. Nevertheless, the players are not saying no. Indus Towers, for instance, is aiming to become diesel-free in the next four TOPTOP COMPANIESCOMPANIES % MMARKETSHAREARKETSARKETSHARE (B(BYY RREVENUE)EVENUE) to six years, and as part of its Green Sites project, has made 62,000 of its total sites diesel-free. As a result, nearly 50 per- cent of all Indus porolio of towers have become green. This translates into direct cost benefits for Indus customers, mainly the telcos. Addi onally, as part of the green ini a ves, Indus installed 15,000 free cooling units while also enabling 2,500 25% sites with smart ba ery charging solu ons. Bhar Infratel said it had a total of 38,962 green sites Others 32% across its circles, which represented an increase of 16 percent Amara Raja 41% year-on-year. The energy conserva on measures brought over 24 percent reduc on in diesel consump on per co-loca on Others during the last two years and 35 percent decrease in the last 21% three years. The number of its solar-powered sites on a con- solidated basis stood at 3,000, with more solar installa ons Mahindra on the way. Powerol 22%15% Annual savings of 20-25 percent on fuel cost are 13% DeltaApple es mated to be achieved by using efficient energy storage applications. For instance, lithium-ion batteries are now Lenovo considered a preferred source for power back-up due to fast charging capaci es, longer life cycle, enhanced safety, low Company % share in overall Power Solutions revenue maintenance costs and the ability to operate in a wide range of `4,601 crore of environmental condi ons for long periods as compared to V&D India Telecom Industry Survey FY 2016-17 tradi onal ba eries.
A CyberMedia Publication | voicendata.com | SEPTEMBER 2017 | VOICE&DATA | 39 CARRIER INFRA Managed Services
Focus Changes, not the Game The challenges presented in wake of shrinking telco numbers could soon be offset by the opportunities that lie in integrating different networks and operations
Managed Services Managed Services Top 3 Companies by Revenue
-5% FY 2016-17 FY 2015-16 Company % Growth (in `crore) (in `crore)
Ericsson 3,702 3,664 1% `8,885 cr `9,383 cr Nokia 3,013 3,419 -12% Huawei 1,249 1,390 -10%
Others 921 910 1%
Total Managed 8,885 9,383 -5% FY 2016-17 FY 2015-16 Services Market V&D India Telecom Industry Survey FY 2016-17 Others include ZTE, Samsung
V&D India Telecom Industry Survey FY 2016-17 ndia might be among the fastest growing telecommunica- ons markets in the world, but it is also one with the lowest average revenue per users (ARPUs). As telecom services TOP COMPANIES % MARKETSHARE (BY REVENUE) become heavily data-centric, owing the adop on of 3G and 4G technologies, the prevailing low ARPUs could weigh Iheavier on the sector. 10% Telcos are already struggling to comply with TRAI’s service Others quality benchmarks, and are also under pressure to differen ate from their rivals and ensure customer reten on. These factors would necessitate the use of advanced analy cs for business 14% opera ons as well as network management. 42% Huawei41% Also, the ongoing consolida on in the telecom services mar- Ericsson ket is posing fresh set of challenges for the telcos, as integra ng Others the opera ons and the networks of the merged en es would 21% need to be taken care of on an immediate basis. Mahindra These challenges for the telecom service providers also Powerol34% present opportunities for the managed service providers Nokia 22%2215%1515%% (MSPs). For instance, Vodafone India is expected to extend its DeltaAppleppltple outsourcing contracts to cover Idea Cellular. Such a develop- ment would mean that Idea’s exis ng contracts might not be renewed separately. However, in reality, such a move would 13%13% also simplify the integra on process. Company % shareLLenovoe nin ooverallvo Managed Services revenue Managed services, broadly broken into network, hosted of `8,885 crore services and IT, are increasingly seeing trac ons from both V&D India Telecom Industry Survey FY 2016-17
40 | VOICE&DATA | SEPTEMBER 2017 | voicendata.com | A CyberMedia Publication vendors of telecom equipment, which Technological billion in 2017 to $22.58 billion by 2022, leverage their exper se to supply addi- at a CAGR of 13.7%. The cost reduc on onal services to customers, and other advancement is forcing in managing enterprise infrastructure, non-tradi onal telecom vendors. telcos to continuously management of business outcomes and From network management to a er- overhaul networks core ac vi es, and minimizing the risk sales maintenance, field operations, associated with business operations manual maintenance and system integra- in terms of security have led to the in- on, the scope of deals is being widened creased demand for telecom managed to include business support areas such Technological advancement is forcing services solu ons. as CRM, provisioning and billing, which telcos to con nuously overhaul networks. some of the operators have handled in- In a way, operators have to behave like Major Players house so far. infrastructure firms, whose primary task Network infrastructure vendors such as is to build and maintain connectivity. Ericsson, Nokia, and Huawei also offer Major Trends However, the core competency of telcos end-to-end managed services, along with Faster technology developments, chang- is to provide quality service, which is why tradi onal products. ing consumer needs, growing compe - the market for managed services, which Sensing the business poten al, Erics- on and the resul ng pricing pressures involves outsourcing of non-core ac vi- son India expanded its offerings from only have prompted operators to broaden the es such as network building to MSPs, is radio applica ons and advanced systems scope of managed service deals from just all the more relevant. to exhaustive managed services. The outsourcing network and services-related According to Markets and Markets, company’s managed services agreement ac vi es to also include opera ons and the global telecom managed services with Reliance Communica ons (recently maintenance. market is expected to grow from $11.90 renewed) includes a full-scope managed services deal to operate and manage the telco’s wireline and wireless networks, field management, network opera ons, and planning across the country. Ericsson also renewed a deal with Bhar Airtel, which is a mul -vendor, mul -technology managed services deal, for two years. Under the terms, Ericsson will manage 2G, 3G, 4G/LTE, Intelligent Network, LAN/WAN and Wi-Fi technolo- gies in 15 circles. The company will also provide the full suite of managed services via a centralized, state-of-the-art global network operation center, as well as field services via a distributed network of service centers. Prior to this, Vodafone also awarded a three-year contract to Ericsson to man- age its op cal fibre cable network in 10 circles, spanning about 45,000 km. Nokia too got its share of deals, which kept the intense competition alive. It renewed a mul -year managed services contract from Vodafone India worth Rs 1,420 crore, covering several telecom circles. Nokia, which claims to have bagged 120 deals in 2016, also lost some business in the managed service space, but is not losing hope.
A CyberMedia Publication | voicendata.com | SEPTEMBER 2017 | VOICE&DATA | 41 CARRIER INFRA Managed Services
Instead, the Finnish firm is moving be- Huawei was seen making leads to a loss of control. Clearly, giving yond mobility-managed services, and away decision-making on network plan- expanding into adjacent areas such as inroads into the country’s ning and deployment does take away enterprise managed services, and IT telecom managed services flexibility over network expansion. managed services. segment, which was until Managed services in telecom is in Meanwhile, Shenzhen, China-based a high-growth phase, characterized by Huawei was seen making inroads into recently held by Ericsson deals evolving in scope and size. Increas- the country’s telecom managed services and Nokia ingly, equipment vendors are gravita ng segment, which was un l recently held towards managed services to comple- by Ericsson and Nokia. ment exis ng competencies, which in Huawei won a major managed ser- turn, widens the value chain covering vices and network opera ons contract Looking Ahead network building, planning and design- from Vodafone India for five circles for Unarguably, network is the most cri cal ing, field operations, network center the next three years. The contract, for func on, with operators’ service qual- opera ons, applica ons, service develop- providing managed services, was previ- ity being directly proportional to the ment, and billing. ously handled by Nokia, which con nues scale of networks. Although regarded Originally, managed services began to service par ally. As per the agreement, as the core component, telcos no longer when operators’ financial pressures un- Huawei will offer managed services, view planning, building, maintaining ravelled amid rising compe on. With including network opera ons. The new and opera ons of the network as their increasing complexi es, the need to build contract follows a recent big- cket deal core functionality. It was among the networks and services-related competen- that Huawei got from Bhar Airtel for first components that laid the genesis cies is strengthening the case for MSPs, the upgradation of wireline network for managed services business. As the which are now building their strengths with vectoring, and G. Fast technologies, sector evolved, related parts such as in related areas such as business sup- which helped the carrier in launching 100 core network, radio network, towers, port systems, network and services to Mbps broadband services in 87 ci es. and passive infrastructure joined the maximize end-to-end coverage. This agreement is unique from other managed services outsourcing party. Operators now face a multi-tech- deals as it absorbs the third-party em- Interes ngly, rival equipment providers nology environment that is changing ployees working with exis ng vendors work closely with each other as the seg- quickly. For example, telcos need to into Huawei, along with some of Voda- ment is heavily fragmented and favors add new, complex services quickly and fone and Huawei’s on-roll employees, mul -vendor deals. cost-efficiently. Thus, the inherent risk reflec ng the ways in which the scope While outsourcing network mainte- of technology choice, the challenges in of managed services deals could be wid- nance and management allows operators transi oning between technologies, and ened in the future. to focus on their core business, it also the opera onal challenges of managing and maximizing poten al of co-exis ng mul ple technologies becomes a her- culean task. The ongoing consolida on also makes a stronger case for managed services, as the resul ng complexi es are best handled by the MSPs. It is useful to have a third-party service provider that could facilitate the merger of two networks and opera ons, while the merged en ty could focus on new revenue-genera ng opportuni es. The emergence of new technolo- gies and converged networks, with the appearances of, for example, mul ple- access networks, will support a con nued interest among operators for managed services.
42 | VOICE&DATA | SEPTEMBER 2017 | voicendata.com | A CyberMedia Publication TestCarrier & Measurement Networks
QoS Is a Moving Target With 4G LTE gone mainstream and with IoT adoption picking up, testing equipment must keep pace with newer benchmark expectations
Test & Measurement Test & Measurement Top 3 Companies by Revenue 20% FY 2016-17 FY 2015-16 Company % Growth (in `crore) (in `crore)
Keysight Technologies 484 438 11% `1,223 cr `1,137 cr Rohde & Schwarz 252 237 6% Tektronix 133 123 8%
Others 354 339 4%
FY 2016-17 FY 2015-16 Total Test & 1,223 1,137 8% Measurement Market Total Passive Infra Market `61,388 crore Others include Spirent, Toshniwal, National Instruments, Fluke V&D India Telecom Industry Survey FY 2016-17 Networks, JDSU, Aishwarya, Yokogawa India
he test and measurement (T&M) market in India is V&D India Telecom Industry Survey FY 2016-17 witnessing a fresh wave of growth opportuni es. Driven by the rapid demand upsurge for bandwidth intensive applications and the rollout of next- TOP COMPANIES % MARKETSHARE (BY REVENUE) genera on cellular and other wireless technologies, Tthe T&M segment is finally seeing the trac on that was mostly missing for the past few years. In the recent past, telcos were largely busy adding new sub- scribers without pu ng any major emphasis on upgrading their network infrastructures. However, as the telecom penetra on 29% grew and the network traffic got heavier, issues such as call Others drops, radia on compliance, and field management gained 40% prominence. This increased the pressure on telecom service Keysight providers to upgrade their network infrastructures to meet Technologies the growing demand while also ensuring quality of service (QoS) at all levels. 11% T&M caters to all the stages of a network gear’s lifecycle— Tektronix research and development, simula on and prototyping, produc- 21% on, deployment, and service assurance. In telecom, the T&M Rohde & stakeholders comprise the telecom equipment vendors, the service providers or telcos, and managed service providers. All Schwarz three, along with their various tes ng partners, unswervingly work in sync to address these growing challenges. Company % share in overall Test & Measurement The key areas where the T&M equipment and services revenue of `1,223 crore is being leveraged now include so ware-defined network- V&D India Telecom Industry Survey FY 2016-17
A CyberMedia Publication | voicendata.com | SEPTEMBER 2017 | VOICE&DATA | 43 CARRIER INFRA Test & Measurement
ing, fiber management, high grit chips, The telcos clearly need According to a survey conducted by system-on-a-chip (SoC), internet of Department of Telecom (DoT), three out things, mobile broadband, and space to step up to improve of every five mobile phone users recently communica ons. their quality of service. par cipated in a na on-wide feedback Their current investments survey between December 2016 and Market Dynamics March 2017 and 60 percent of them said The launch of new mobile services, in T&M solutions are they did not get quality telecom service. with a focus on be er connec vity and not adequate and hence The survey showed that none of the enhanced user experience, was an impor- result in poor customer telcos met the QoS benchmarks against tant driver for the overall growth of the the five prescribed parameters for which T&M market. In recent years, the T&M experience the customer percep on of service was industry has seen a significant shi due to evaluated. the changes in the telecom users’ require- In order to improve the QoS bench- ments. Today, 70 to 80 percent of the marks, TRAI has taken several decisions. me spent by users on their devices is on Looking at the current industry It recently no fied that operators would data-related ac vi es. Right from social trends, the telcos clearly need to step be liable to pay up to Rs 5 lakh in fines media applica ons to browsing ac vi es, up in a big way to improve their quality if they failed to meet the new call-drop the consump on pa ern of non-voice is of service. Their current investments in benchmark. The regulator further said rising at an unprecedented rate. T&M solu ons are not adequate and that in the event of a default by an opera- This warrants the need for new genres hence result in poor customer experi- tor in mee ng the benchmarks for two of T&M equipment, right from the net- ence. Time and again, the sector regu- quarters consecu vely, the fine would work tes ng stage to the quality assur- lator TRAI has reprimanded telcos for be increased by 1.5 mes, and if the ance level. Industry experts are of the their lethargic approach towards QoS. operator failed to meet the benchmark view that the T&M products and services Besides, the government has also taken even a er two quarters then the fine today need to be high-precision in order stringent measures to ensure the tes ng would be increased by two mes. to ensure seamless user experiences on and cer fica on of telecom equipment TRAI’s recent ini a ve MyCall Mo- these advanced mobile data networks. in recent years. bile App, is another significant effort that also empowers the consumers to rate the voice call experience and share it with TRAI. It also provides an opportunity for the telecom users to share the issues they are facing during the conversa on such as noise or audio delay or call-drop.
Trends & Growth Areas Extensive rollouts and expansion of 4G LTE has further fueled the demand for T&M solutions for designing, manu- facturing and deploying solu ons that could ultimately improve QoS. For example, telcos are laying much focus on developing robust mechanisms to offload mobile data traffic so that their mobile networks are not overloaded. One approach is to orchestrate intel- ligent offloading of data traffic from 4G LTE to Wi-Fi. Also, the increased network complex- ity due to the heterogeneous nature of the networks comprising a mix of 2G,
44 | VOICE&DATA | SEPTEMBER 2017 | voicendata.com | A CyberMedia Publication 3G, 4G technologies has made telcos explore unconventional solutions for evalua ng and addressing the intricacies associated with the networks. High- bandwidth measurements, multiple- input mul ple-output tes ng, protocol tes ng, and exclusive tests for 4G LTE are some of the focus areas expected to drive growth ahead. Going forward, a government push for 5G could drive the demand for yet another genera on of T&M solu ons. Also, while M2M or IoT are s ll at a very early stage in consumer technology, it is slowly making its presence felt in the B2B segment. This would create a new stream of opportuni es for advanced T&M equipment.
Major Players Keysight Technologies con nues to be a strong player in the T&M segment. The company recently announced that it would work with Vignan to establish a radio frequency (RF) and wireless research center using state-of-the-art 36.141. The Rohde & Schwarz test so- Looking Ahead equipment for wireless technologies for lu on is based on the R&S SMW200A In a scenario where network complexity both system-level design and measure- vector signal generator. is increasing, it is important for T&M ment. It has also partnered with Granite Another major player Anritsu recently players and equipment makers to have River Labs — a test center for many high- expanded its product porolio to cater the right tools and resources to test the speed standards, to offer valida on of to industry’s growing demand in the designs and capabili es of the solu ons next-genera on USB 3.1 designs. areas of M2M, LTE, and 5G. The com- they offer. It is also cri cal that they Keysight is be ng big on its range pany’s new spectrum analyzers have 5G comply with industry standards. One of solu ons for IoT, and claims to offer tes ng capabili es including wideband of the major challenges being faced world’s first wireless test set solu on tes ng. According to the company, the by the industry is poor margins and that connects with a standard-compliant MS2805A analyzer can support up to lack of quality labor. Most of the local NB-IoT device. eight 100 megahertz channels and has companies lack the exclusive skills and Rohde & Schwarz recently announced analysis bandwidth up to 1 GHz. It has technology support required to meet to develop a tester for measuring over- also introduced a new conformance test the compliance-related requirements. the-air transmit power in millimeter wave system for manufacturers of LTE chipsets Debt pressures would tend to frequencies, with support for develop- and modules, and IoT devices. dampen telcos’ interest to invest in ment of both cellular 5G as well as the T&M because even if they are forced frequencies planned for use in 802.11ad to invest in the tes ng capabili es be- and 802.11ay. According to the company, A government push cause of poor QoS, they would con nue the solu on has an antenna module and to put excessive pricing pressure on a three-channel sensor module designed for 5G could drive the manufacturers and testers. To tackle to support measurement of up to three demand for yet another the situa on, the government should antenna modules. take extra effort to provide training and The Huawei eRAN 12.0 wireless ver- generation of T&M development support; set up labs and sion is tested using the Rohde & Schwarz solutions tes ng centers, and provide incen ves solution in compliance with 3GPP TS to T&M players.
A CyberMedia Publication | voicendata.com | SEPTEMBER 2017 | VOICE&DATA | 45 CARRIER INFRA OSS/BSS
Heavyweights Put on New Muscles Having acquired new capabilities through series of buyouts, the biggies are geared up to meet demands of a high-speed data era
OSS/BSS OSS / BSS
4% Top 3 Companies by Revenue FY 2016-17 FY 2015-16 Company % Growth (in `crore) (in `crore)
Ericsson 389 471 -17% `3,764 cr `3,621 cr Redknee 345 336 3% Amdocs 237 201 18%
Others 2,793 2,613 7%
Total OSS/BSS 3,764 3,621 4% FY 2016-17 FY 2015-16 Market V&D India Telecom Industry Survey FY 2016-17 Others include CGS Systems, IBM, Nokia, Oracle
V&D India Telecom Industry Survey FY 2016-17 ecreasing ARPUs in a predominantly prepaid tele- com market have forced telcos to explore alternate revenue streams, create new value-added services, TOP COMPANIES % MARKETSHARE (BY REVENUE) and increase focus on customer sa sfac on and re- ten on. Amidst a changing technological landscape, Dtelcos have to constantly upgrade IT architectures to cope up with changing customer preferences. Market consolida on as well as regulatory and compliance requirements also need to 10%
be adhered to. These, and various other such factors are driv- Ericsson 9% ing growth for OSS and BSS solu ons, including service delivery plaorms (SDPs), which help in faster rollouts of services. Redknee6% Given the complexi es of today’s hetnet environment, Amdocs backend services integra on in real me is a difficult task. On top of that, addressing enormous capacity needs, especially in a low-ARPU context, makes things challenging from a financial 74% perspec ve as well. Others Tradi onally, OSS has comprised so ware applica ons that support operators’ back office ac vi es and maintain customer services, while BSS has involved customer interfaces such as billing, CRM and call center automa on. Hitherto business and opera onal-centric, these systems have now evolved to become customer-centric and are enabling faster me-to- Company % share in overall OSS/BSS revenue market, stronger integra on, and inclusion of analy cs for of `3,764 crore decision-making. V&D India Telecom Industry Survey FY 2016-17
46 | VOICE&DATA | SEPTEMBER 2017 | voicendata.com | A CyberMedia Publication Of late, thanks to the ongoing 4G LTE deployments, data consumption has been growing at an even faster pace, and is bound to grow exponen ally going for- ward, owing to the falling smartphones prices, changing consumer behaviour, quick adop on of OTT applica ons, and the availability of affordable data plans. As for the business models, strategic outsourcing is the most domina ng mod- el, followed by business transforma on and applica on maintenance services. Unlike in developed markets, out-tasking is not preferred by Indian telcos, and for a good reason. The scalability of IT systems is a major concern, and hence, it is outsourced as an end-to-end system, rather than out-tasking certain selected func onali es. In terms of func onality, CRM and ment of OSS stack being considered by owned companies – Vindicia, Birte:Bill billing solu ons account for the largest far the largest deployment by any single and Pon s last year, indica ng its re- chunk of revenues. While CRM is increas- operator in the world. The deal helped newed commitment in next-genera on ingly more sought-a er, billing receive a the operator in critical areas such as solu ons. As the Indian telecom market high degree of customer (read telcos) order management and ac va on solu- evolves with the deployment of 4G focus for obvious business reasons. ons, giving customers an enhanced user LTE services, Amdocs sees growth in Other significant areas include network experience. areas such as big data, mobile financial management and the emerging SDP The company does a large part of services, so ware powered networks, segment. its R&D on OSS/BSS at its centers in managed services, and customer experi- Gurugram and Chennai, which cater to ence solu ons. It counts Vodafone India, Major Players customers not only in India, but also Reliance Communications, and Tata For Ericsson, India con nues to be one of global operators. Communica ons among its customers. the key markets as operators increasingly As one of the leading OSS/BSS play- The Vodafone deal in the past, wherein focus on improving opera onal efficiency ers, Amdocs too beefed up its solu ons Amdocs migrated all postpaid customers and customer experience. The Swedish porolio by acquiring three privately- onto a consolidated billing plaorm, re- company is understood to have in its cli- mains one of the biggest transforma on ent list almost all major telcos including programs ll date. Airtel, Vodafone, Reliance Jio, and Idea The role of OSS/BSS Early this year, Sterlite Technolo- Cellular. Strengthening its presence in solution providers is gies roped in Amdocs’ veteran Anshoo the evolving OSS/BSS porolio, Ericsson particularly significant Gaur as strategic advisor for its telecom has, over the past few years, pulled off a so ware business. The move is likely to ba ery of strategic acquisi ons, including as operators are faced enable Sterlite to tap into global oppor- Telcordia, Conceptwave, Op mi, MetraT- with fierce competition tuni es and posi on itself as a service ech, TeleOSS, and Telcocell. from OTT players such provider with integrated offerings to Ericsson India has deployed an end- telcos. The company is also a emp ng to-end OSS fulfillment suite for RJio as WhatsApp, and are to enhance its BSS packet-core and car- that helped the 4G entrant to achieve adapting to the changed rier Wi-Fi solu ons to address opera- faster on-boarding and provide quality customer expectations by tors’ needs for faster me-to-market, services to its over 100 million users. reduc on in total cost of ownership, The three-year OSS deal involved order accelerating technology and mone za on across all networks. management, inventory management innovation. Sterlite had earlier acquired specialist and ac va on solu ons, with the deploy- solu ons provider Elitecore.
A CyberMedia Publication | voicendata.com | SEPTEMBER 2017 | VOICE&DATA | 47 CARRIER INFRA OSS/BSS
Not one to be le behind, Nokia too recently bought Comptel Corp. to com- plement its service assurance porolio. As operators move towards ‘closed loop’ automated OSS, service providers need to combine fulfillment and assurance ghtly to maximize benefits, which the Nokia- Comptel deal strives to achieve. On the other hand, Huawei signed a pact with Infosys to explore joint solu- tions in the BSS segment. It will also expand its Telco OS Partner program to s mulate joint go-to-market approaches and solu ons with service partners in India. Huawei’s Telco OS Partner program is a communications industry-specific program designed to establish partner rela onships that accelerate the digital transforma on of communica on service providers across their BSS, OSS, and big data func onal domains. The role of OSS/BSS solu on provid- Looking Ahead ers is par cularly significant in the wake For long, service providers have banked Major Trends of the fact that operators are faced with on OSS/BSS systems to keep core cus- 4G deployments are helping operators fierce competition from OTT players tomer facing and opera onal func ons deliver higher data speeds, and are such as WhatsApp, and are adap ng running smoothly. The rapid convergence also driving the adop on of innova ve to the changed customer expecta ons in the industry requires them to improve OTT services. There is an opportunity by accelera ng technology innova on. opera onal efficiencies and drive new for service providers to differen ate This pu ng pressure on OSS/BSS play- ini a ves. They would also need to focus in their service offerings such as HD ers to enable telcos to quickly offer on customer autonomy by improving self- video and TV content, telepresence, new services, op mize their network service op ons for making purchases and media collaboration, connected car resources, improve quality, and enhance changing tariff plans, among other things. or home, online gaming. OSS/BSS and personalize customer experience. In The OSS/BSS systems should be able to vendors and solu on providers would this context, the market is likely to wit- support these and other such customer help operators to achieve the desired ness more so ware-powered network requirements. Moreover, the processing efficiencies to drive enhanced customer solu ons such as network op miza on delays in fulfillment of new orders must satisfaction and hence build new solu ons and services, network virtual- be addressed through intui ve user in- revenue streams. iza on func ons, and big data analy cs terfaces and process transparency. Such Indian telcos have invested heavily and solu ons going forward. delays could lead to customer churn, on spectrum and deployment of 4G/LTE given the prepaid-heavy composi on of network, and have come under pressure Ericsson India has the market. Efforts should also be made to control capex, cut IT and opera onal to improve network capacity manage- costs, op mise applica on landscape, deployed an end-to-end ment by dynamically incen vizing service and introduce new products and services OSS fulfillment suite for usage during non-peak hours, among quickly and effec vely. This is where play- RJio that helped the 4G other things. ers such as Amdocs, Redknee, Ericsson, Some players are also exploring ‘coo- and Huawei are expected to chip in with entrant to achieve faster pe on,’ by forging new partnerships solu ons that ensure superior customer on-boarding and provide and cul va ng new revenue streams in experience, yet assist operators’ lower areas such as OTT video and IoT, where their total cost of ownership and drive quality services to its over mone za on opportuni es may not get down the time period to launch new 100 million users addressed through the tradi onal OSS products and services. and BSS stacks with ease.
48 | VOICE&DATA | SEPTEMBER 2017 | voicendata.com | A CyberMedia Publication Software, Solutions & Consulting
Cooptition Opportunities Telcos are not just customers but partners as well when it comes to tapping into emerging markets such as IoT and big data
So ware, Solu ons & Consul ng Software, Solutions & Consulting (SS&C)
2% Top 3 Companies by Revenue
FY 2016-17 FY 2015-16 Company % Growth (in `crore) (in `crore)
IBM 1,866 1,830 2% `8,843 cr `8,633 cr TCS 1,294 1,263 2%
Tech Mahindra 1,119 1,009 11%
Others 4,564 4,531 1%
FY 2016-17 FY 2015-16 Total SS&C Market 8,843 8,633 2% V&D India Telecom Industry Survey FY 2016-17 Others include Wipro, HCL, Infosys, Cognizant besides a number of Tier 2 & 3 players
V&D India Telecom Industry Survey FY 2016-17 ndia, with around 1,199 million subscribers in April 2017, as per the data from Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), is one of the most compe ve and fastest growing TOP COMPANIES % MARKETSHARE (BY REVENUE) telecom markets in the world. With the mass adop on of technologies like 4G LTE, telecom subscribers in India Iare rapidly shi ing from voice to data. Also, with machine-to- machine (M2M) and internet of things (IoT) on the horizon and with digital technologies such as big data and cloud go- ing mainstream, telcos need a significant effort to transform 21% their processes, evaluate their capabili es, and improve their IBM overall infrastructure comprising the network, security, and IT controls. 52% Others 15% Major Trends As the tradi onal revenue models are slowly but surely drying TCS up, telcos are increasing focus on innova ve solu ons and con- 13% sulta ve approaches in order to respond quickly to the changing market needs, and stay afloat in a cu hroat market. Tech In this backdrop, the telcos are engaging IT service pro- Mahindra viders such as IBM, Accenture, TCS, Wipro, Tech Mahindra, through deals that could help them cut costs and complexi es. During the last few years, the industry has witnessed some new Company % share in overall Software, Solutions & partnerships and collabora ons between telcos and IT service Consulting revenue of `8,843 crore providers. The IT services providers are diversifying their of- V&D India Telecom Industry Survey FY 2016-17
A CyberMedia Publication | voicendata.com | SEPTEMBER 2017 | VOICE&DATA | 49 CARRIER INFRA
ferings, from integra on of private and and-a-half now, and is understood to be ra on on 5G standardiza on ac vi es in public clouds to providing advanced exploring opportuni es to engage all the areas including NFV, SDN, and IoT. Airtel security-based solu ons. This is in addi- telcos in the post-merger landscape. The and government-owned Bharat Sanchar on to their conven onal offerings that US-based company has already renewed Nigam Ltd (BSNL), have also signed span systems integra on, applica on its outsourcing contracts with Airtel and agreements with Finnish vendor Nokia development and deployment, business Vodafone, the two leading telcos in the Corp to work on the development of 5G process outsourcing, and network man- country as of date. Vodafone India re- technologies. agement, among others, which con nue newed its outsourcing deal – valued at to be significant parts of their revenues around US $800 million – with IBM for five Looking Ahead from telecom customers. years in August 2016. IBM’s outsourcing Telcos will con nue to iden fy their tech- IT service providers are also keen on contract with Idea Cellular would be up nology needs, and outsource non-core mone zing the opportuni es in cloud for renewal in the year 2020. ac vi es to IT service providers. There compu ng and 4G applica ons and are The company is looking at poten al will be a greater focus on solu ons that understood to be devo ng both me and opportunities in the M2M space by could help telcos increase their reach and resources in developing new solu ons. providing services ranging from con- range of connec vity to remote loca ons nec vity to near-real- me analysis of for businesses that operate out of these Key Players big data generated by M2M traffic. IBM areas. A special emphasis would be on In 2016, Wipro, HCL and Tech Mahindra is also exploring partnerships with telcos security solutions, especially because put together were reported to have around network func ons virtualiza on the telcos are exploring partnerships for spent around $1.5 billion on acquisi- (NFV). In an interes ng collabora on, it M2M-based solu ons. Cost effec veness ons. India’s second-largest IT services has recently entered into a partnership will remain essen al. firm Infosys too has recently completed with Telecom Sector Skill Council (TSSC) to As the usage of mobile devices has the acquisi on of London-based Brilliant explore how the organiza ons could build been increasing, enterprises con nue Basics. Infosys aims to further expand technology skills across the telecom sec- to face challenges related to adequate its global connected network of digital tor ecosystem in India. Organiza ons plan response me. There is a need for con- studios, through this acquisi on. Ac- to provide students and young profes- sistent monitoring to ensure smooth cording to the IT services major, the sionals with a program designed to train collabora on across devices within the buyout would enhance its expertise them in emerging technologies, including organiza on. Telcos will also leverage the across financial services, retail, and big data, cloud, IoT, and mobile applica- exper se of IT service providers to ana- telecom sectors. Infosys currently has on development, among others. lyze the consumer data, through which digital studios in Bengaluru, Pune, New According to media reports, com- they can iden fy customer preferences York, London, and Melbourne. panies such as Vodafone, TCS, Larsen and provide them enhanced customer Infosys has also joined hands with & Toubro, Tech Mahindra, Tata Power, experience. Huawei to jointly develop various solu- and France’s EDF are bidding for govern- Telcos’ conven onal business is under ons in the business support system (BSS) ment’s procurement of 50 lakh smart a lot of stress, and they constantly need domain. This alliance leverages Huawei’s meters. This would help them get access new revenue streams to keep going. product innova on and Infosys’ services to big data on power consump on and Some of the areas where the focus would innova on to create solu ons that could create a market for 50 lakh SIM cards be growing include M2M, loca on-based help renew and create value for their cus- for connec ng the devices. The contract services, and cloud-based voice services. tomers in the communica ons services includes meter procurement, meter This is because the tradi onal business industry. As part of the agreement, the installation, data storage on cloud, is coming under pressure, and telcos are par es would be jointly exploring solu- and preparing dashboards, apart from looking for new revenue streams that on innova on and labs, and promo ng other things. would come from new areas like IoT, joint solu ons to customers and business A majority of Indian telcos have be- loca on-based services, and cloud-based partners. While Huawei would bring the gun exploring the new IP technologies, voice services. BSS products to the table, Infosys would engaging with vendors like Brocade Com- While outsourcing non-core ac vi es focus on consul ng, systems integra on, munica ons Systems Inc. to understand have been a key to telcos’ successes in the and applica on development and main- its benefits and deployment scenarios past, they are expected to do a thorough tenance services. in India. In another development, In- analysis of the needs and ac vi es that Global IT services major IBM has dia’s Bhar Airtel and South Korea’s SK would be outsourced before proceeding been partnering the telcos for a decade- Telecom have announced their collabo- on the same.
50 | VOICE&DATA | SEPTEMBER 2017 | voicendata.com | A CyberMedia Publication ENTERPRISE COMMUNICATION `16,006 crore
Enterprise Communication: Growth by Sub Segment
Segment FY 2016-17 FY 2015-16 FY 2015-16 (in `crore) (Revenue in `crore) YoY % Growth
Enterprise Networking 8,118 8,432 -4%
Active Networking Components 6,047 6,493 -7%
Structured Cabling Systems 2,071 1,939 7%
Communication Equipment & Devices 4,778 4,744 1%
Desk Phones 2,972 2,949 1%
PBX Systems 1,806 1,795 1%
Software & Applications 3,110 2,991 4%
Enterprise Security 1,824 1,722 6%
Conferencing & Collaboration 1,286 1,269 1%
Total Enterprise Communication Market 16,006 16,167 -1%
V&D India Telecom Industry Survey FY 2016-17
A CyberMedia Publication | voicendata.com | SEPTEMBER 2017 | VOICE&DATA | 51 ENTERPRISE COMMUNICATION
Enterprise Communication by Segment Revenue (FY 2016-17)
So ware & Applica ons `3,110
Communica on Equipment & Devices `4,778
Enterprise Networking `8,118
Overall Enterprise Communication Market `16,006 crore V&D India Telecom Industry Survey FY 2016-17 Enterprise Communication: Sub Segment % Marketshare (FY 2016-17)
Conferencing & Collabora on 8% Enterprise Security 11% Ac ve Networking Components 38% PBX Systems 11%
Desk Phones Structured 19% Cabling Systems 13%
V&D India Telecom Industry Survey FY 2016-17
52 | VOICE&DATA | SEPTEMBER 2017 | voicendata.com | A CyberMedia Publication CarrierEnterprise Networks Networking
Digital Effects 4G deployments by carriers, smart-city rollouts by the government, and cloudification in the enterprises were key growth drivers
Ac ve Networking Components Active Networking Components
-7% Top 3 Companies by Revenue FY 2016-17 FY 2015-16 YoY % Company (in `crore) (in `crore) Growth
Cisco 3,406 3,832 -11%
D-Link 439 — — `6,493 cr `6,047 cr HPE 350 439 -20%
Others 1,852 2,372 -22%
Total Active Networking 6,047 6,643 -9% FY 2016-17 FY 2015-16 Components Market V&D India Telecom Industry Survey FY 2016-17 Others include Alcatel Lucent Enterprise, Brocade, SmartLink, Tejas, DLink, Netgear, DAX
V&D India Telecom Industry Survey FY 2016-17 ndia is slowly but firmly on the path of an all-round digi za on, with the government’s Digital India program having set the agenda loud and clear. This requires extensive rollout of next-generation networking TOP COMPANIES % MARKETSHARE (BY REVENUE) infrastructure and upgrading the legacy networks, at Ian op mal pace. Financial constraints notwithstanding, organizations are understanding the importance of priori zing investments in networks as a fundamental step in the digital transforma on journey. 14% Major Trends Others Today e-marketplaces have already gone mainstream to the extent that they are even giving the tradi onal stores a run for 56% their money, especially in certain consumer goods segments. Cisco In other words, the digital economy, albeit small at the moment, is beginning to disrupt the prevailing order. To stay 6% relevant and compe ve, exis ng businesses must reinvent HPE their process and align those to the emerging digital order. 7% For example, businesses ought to understand the need D-Link to proac vely engage their customers on new channels and plaorms such as social media. In order to do that, they must create social-media windows in their otherwise closed Company % share in overall Active Networking network walls. At the same me, they also need to open Components revenue of `6,047 crore pathways into the cloud, where some if not all of the enterprise V&D India Telecom Industry Survey FY 2016-17
A CyberMedia Publication | voicendata.com | SEPTEMBER 2017 | VOICE&DATA | 53 ENTERPRISE COMMUNICATION CarrierEnterprise Networks Networking
applica ons and data could be hosted, vertical, IP-fication has been a key as 3G and 4G but also from the WLAN stored, and retrieved, so that the driver of growth for the company, which networks that dotted not just the employees could be more responsive to won a number of deals from telcos enterprise landscapes but also that of customers, irrespec ve of their loca on for the IP-fica on of their networks in the telcos, which con nued to grow their at a given instance and the device they general and the backhauls in par cular. hotspot presence in mul ple ci es. are using to engage the customers at Besides, the government’s digi za on In the WLAN segment, D-Link that point in me. drive too drove business growth for the continued to lead both in terms of The story is no different for the networking giant, which bagged some shipment as well as revenues, while government, which has already launched key smart-city deals as well. Cisco has remained No. 2. The India a number of e-governance programs Cisco has reportedly been working market may be said to be quite unique under the Digital India umbrella. More closely with state governments to in this context, given that globally as well and more of these services are available digitally transform 14 ci es as part of as in many key markets, Cisco con nues to citizens not only through a web- the Smart Ci es program. In the previous to be a WLAN leader as well. based interface but also through apps year too, the company had closed four that could be installed on the smart project proposals for the smart ci es Looking Ahead phones and tablets. The rapidly growing of Navi Mumbai, Pune, Jaipur and Both smart-ci es rollouts and backbone mobile broadband footprint and the Lucknow. capacity augmenta ons by telcos are affordability-led rise in smartphone In the telco segment, the company expected to remain two key drivers adop on means that these apps would won a converged network deal from of growth for networking companies potentially be used by hundreds of greenfield behemoth Reliance Jio for going forward. Related opportunity million ci zens on a daily basis. This, capacity augmenta on in the wake of areas include e-governance and ci zen in turn, means that the government- a burgeoning data traffic. As part of the services, public safety, IoT, broadband to-ci zen (G2C) access and backbone deal, Cisco will reportedly be building access, community Wi-Fi, and various networks must be geared to handle an all-IP/MPLS network using Open Digital India programs. Be ng big on the traffic. Further, with the Smart Network Architecture, designed to scale digi za on, the networking majors have Ci es program steadily moving toward and accommodate the exponential ed up with different players such as its goals, the internet of things (IoT) is traffic growth being witnessed in the Genpact, Tech Mahindra, and Sterlite also an emerging reality, for which too transport layer. to co-innovate and create product sets the infrastructure needs to be readied. Nokia too, with a product porolio catering to India-specific needs. Incidentally, the smart ci es opportunity enriched through the Alcatel- In the enterprise segment, the is es mated to be upward of Rs 150 Lucent acquisition it did earlier, virtualization theme is expected to crore per city over a period of me for found itself be er geared in tapping become stronger, driven by growing a networking player. the opportunities of a converged maturity and demand for technologies Last but not the least, there are network era. In particular, capacity like so ware defined networking (SDN) the telcos rolling out next-genera on augmenta ons in the backhauls as well that hold the promises of greater cellular networks like 4G LTE, duly as the backbones are significant, given agility, ease-of-management, and cost- complemented by IP-centric voice that the exponen al rise in wireless effectiveness, among other benefits. technologies like VoLTE. In fact, the data traffic is causing bo lenecks in the While SDN has been around for some telecom services sector is a live example wirelines that were primarily designed me now, the digi za on story would of the incumbents suffering on account to carry mostly voice traffic. be accelera ng SDN’s adop on going of a disrup on against which they could Talking of the burgeoning wireless forward. not gear themselves up in me in spite traffic, the swell came not just from Likewise, the cloudifica on of Wi- of the fact that they had enough me to the cellular broadband networks such Fi, especially in the enterprise and prepare beforehand. telecom segments, has the poten al of delivering transforma onal benefits, and Key Players In the enterprise segment, is expected to gather steam. However, Cisco continues to be a dominant the virtualization theme vendors would need to build awareness player in the India networking market. is expected to become in the market around the benefits of the It leads both the LAN switch and router cloud Wi-Fi model so that it reaches a segments, though in the WLAN segment stronger threshold from where it could command it is the No. 2 player. In the telecom a demand-pull.
54 | VOICE&DATA | SEPTEMBER 2017 | voicendata.com | A CyberMedia Publication Structured Cabling
Preventing Bottlenecks The next leg of growth is being driven by an immediate need to support new data-intensive applications and the next-gen Wi-Fi
Structured Cabling Systems Structured Cabling Systems 7% Top 3 Companies by Revenue
FY 2016-17 FY 2015-16 YoY % Company `2,071 cr (in `crore) (in `crore) Growth `1,939 cr CommScope 912 850 7%
FY 2016-17 FY 2015-16 Schneider Electric 432 421 3% Total Enterprise Networking Market `8,118 crore D-Link 276 245 13% V&D India Telecom Industry Survey FY 2016-17 Others 451 423 7% he rapid expansion of both telecom and enterprise infrastructure and an extensive focus on digi za on by Total Structured Cabling 2,071 1,939 7% the government have led to a significant trac on for the Systems Market structured cabling market as well. In the age of a growing reliance on smartphones, India’s need for faster, reliable, Others include Molex, DLink, R&M, Belden, Panduit, Belkin, DAX Tand future-oriented solu ons is rising at an unprecedented rate. V&D India Telecom Industry Survey FY 2016-17 Government’s push for smart ci es and a host of e-governance projects are touching more and more aspects of the ci zen lives, and so is the near-ubiquitous mobile broadband, thanks to a pro- lifera on of affordable services and smart devices. TOP COMPANIES % MARKETSHARE (BY REVENUE) All these things are changing the ways businesses work and interact with their suppliers on one hand and the customers on the other hand. They need to be increasingly nimble and mobile; not just in the field but also within the premises. This means that the 22% employees should be less and less tethered to their desktops and more and more engaged through their mobile devices, including Others notebooks, tablets and smartphones. With social media channels 44% becoming mainstream engagement plaorm for communica ng with their customers, smartphones are moving up the ladder as CommScope primary access devices. 13% This is leading to an exponen al rise in the traffic on wireless D-Link networks, including the wireless LAN aka Wi-Fi. While enterprises have been quick to upgrade their Wi-Fi networks, as it is easy 21% enough to do that, the exponen al growth in wireless traffic is Schneider leading to bo lenecks in the underlying wired LANs. These LAN Electric backbones have mostly been somewhat old and are not geared up to take the manifold rise in traffic. The need for a dependable communica on network, is almost Company % share in overall Structured Cabling an immediate priority now. In other words, the structured cabling Systems revenue of `2,071 crore upgrades are crying to happen. V&D India Telecom Industry Survey FY 2016-17
A CyberMedia Publication | voicendata.com | SEPTEMBER 2017 | VOICE&DATA | 55 ENTERPRISE COMMUNICATION Structured Cabling
Market Trends The structured cabling vendors are col- expansion of growing telecom infrastruc- The market is broadly segmented into labora ng with equipment manufacturers ture. The network company has a strong hardware, so ware and services. Hard- to come up with several new technologies presence in SME and large enterprises and ware is further classified into copper that could meet the new-age requirements. eying to win some large-scale projects. cables, racks and patches, fiber cables, However, copper will con nue to form a The company’s new line of products patch panels and cross connects among significant chunk of the market because includes Cat5e, Cat 6, and Cat 6A copper other components. Globally, there has of its less expensive and easy-to-deploy cabling solu ons, keystones, face plates, been a huge trac on in demand of op - nature. Moreover, consistent efforts have UTP/STP LAN cables, patch panels, and cal fiber cables over copper. This is largely been going on to innovate for the Cat 8 patch cords. The fiber range would have because data centers increasingly rely on technologies that would enable businesses fiber cables, pigtails, fiber patch cords, LIU fiber to support-mission cri cal applica- to achieve superior data transmission rates couplers and a complete range of FTTH ons. A fiber backbone allows more data at rela vely lower costs. Products. to run for longer distances than copper, Nevertheless, due to the massive Its cabling products are compliant with without data loss or degrada on. increase in demand for voice, data, and RoHS and EIA/TIA & ISO/IEC interna onal While the installa on of op cal fiber video streams, from both digital homes and standards, and the company offers 25 years cables is rela vely expensive as compared digital enterprises, many telecom operators of interna onal product warranty. to conven onal copper cabling solu ons, it are also working to deploy FTTH and FTTx has several future benefits that can support technologies. Looking Ahead the enterprise mobility needs. Addi onally, Enterprises in India, both in the public and fiber is also a preferred medium for longer Major Players private sectors, are transcending from distances and is immune to electromagne c As the market leader, CommScope Sys max legacy establishments to digital setups. interferences. This a ribute makes it a really con nues to invest in driving new standards Although at an early stage, the adop on useful technology where one needs to run with innova ve copper and fiber cabling of M2M solu ons and automa on are also applica ons that require high-speed instal- systems. Its offerings enable customers to gaining ground, which will likely give a fillip la ons such as campuses and hospitals. invest in technologies that support mul ple to the demand for automated infrastructure Then why hasn’t fiber replaced copper genera ons of applica ons while ensur- management (AIM) solu ons. completely? While the higher cost of the ing standards compliance. In July 2017, AIM solutions help enterprises in technology is an obvious growth deterrent, Compuage Infocom received the rights monitoring their networks remotely and the cost of the components and the skillsets for distribu on of the complete range of take preven ve maintenance measures in also add to the cost. Sys max products from CommScope on case of any anomalies, which helps them According to a recent study by Research an all-India basis. to reduce down me. and Markets, around 60 percent of the Schneider Electric, the global auto- There will also be a greater demand for telecommunica on network facili es are ma on specialist and a leader in energy intelligent building solu ons as companies expected to be data centers by 2025, and efficiency, is set to increase its industrial are trying to make world-class facili es at around 79 percent of the global telecom- automa on footprint in India. Catering to a reduced cost. Intelligent cabling system munica ons companies would be making increased demand across various sectors, provides complete up-to-date accurate coloca on facili es a part of their networks. the company plans to launch as many as 365 documenta on in real- me, which enables Their convergence is expected to drive more products and solu ons this year, many of organiza ons to minimize costly network standardiza on in the technologies that those focusing on increasing the value they failures and down mes. With intelligent ca- support voice and data services. In the next provide to their process automa on cus- bling, network integra on layer and physical few years, as consumers’ demand for faster tomers. In July 2016, the company opened layer management can also be integrated, bandwidth would increase, it is expected to its first green office in Ahmedabad, Gujarat. which in turn reduces staff load by auto- be one of the major growth drivers for the The new environment friendly workspace ma ng the processes. Ultra-high-density structured cabling market. also aims at providing be er working envi- solu ons, also called pre-terminated op cal Today’s enterprise customers demand ronment, and modern technologies for a cabling solu ons, are also expected to gain robust yet cost-effec ve solu ons for reli- larger employee base. demand going forward. able transmission. This is also driving a shi Digisol Systems is the latest entrant in Further, a growing embrace of e-com- from the conven onal cabling to intelligent the market. The company is a subsidiary merce in the country is pushing the growth cabling systems, which is also increasing of Smartlink Network Systems and forayed of hos ng and coloca on data centers, thus the role of so ware in the overall cable into the passive range of structured cabling helping the structured cabling market to management solu ons. business in India in 2016, to leverage the grow in a big way.
56 | VOICE&DATA | SEPTEMBER 2017 | voicendata.com | A CyberMedia Publication CommunicationCarrier Networks Equipment & Devices
Desk Phones Desk Phones
1% Top 3 Companies by Revenue
FY 2016-17 FY 2015-16 YoY % Company (in `crore) (in `crore) Growth ` `2,972 cr 2,949 cr Cisco 657 642 2%
Avaya 435 423 3%
FY 2016-17 FY 2015-16 Alcatel Lucent 259 252 3% Enterprise V&D India Telecom Industry Survey FY 2016-17
Others 1,621 1,632 -1% PBX Systems Total Desk Phones 2,972 2,949 1% Market 1%
Others include Snom, Grandstream, Pansonic, Siemens
V&D India Telecom Industry Survey FY 2016-17 `1,806 cr `1,795 cr TOP COMPANIES % MARKETSHARE (BY REVENUE)
FY 2016-17 FY 2015-16 V&D India Telecom Industry Survey FY 2016-17 22% Cisco
Conferencing & Collabora on
1% 55% 15% Others Avaya
`1,286 cr `1,269 cr 9% Alcatel Lucent FY 2016-17 FY 2015-16 Enterprise Total Enterprise Networking Market `8,118 crore Company % share in overall Desk Phones revenue of `2,972 crore V&D India Telecom Industry Survey FY 2016-17 V&D India Telecom Industry Survey FY 2016-17
A CyberMedia Publication | voicendata.com | SEPTEMBER 2017 | VOICE&DATA | 57 ENTERPRISE COMMUNICATION CommunicationCarrier Networks Equipment & Devices
Decisively Over-the-Top Equipment such as PBXs and devices such as handsets continue to be there, but the new genres of UC&C solutions promise to live and thrive sans any boxes
ffec ve communica on is a key pillar of success for any organiza on. Whether between employees and PBX Systems customers or between a company and its partners, every rela onship is built on the founda on of seam- Top 3 Companies by Revenue less communica on. FY 2016-17 FY 2015-16 YoY % EToday, there are a number of technologies that act as en- Company ` ` (in crore) (in crore) Growth ablers of real- me communica on and collabora on. While IP and VoIP technologies have ruled the roost for many years, Cisco 337 336 0% these are now integral parts of the broader suite of unified Avaya 297 291 2% communica ons (UC) technologies. From integra ng instant messages, emails, or audio and Alcatel Lucent 271 265 2% video conferencing solu ons to bringing various remote teams Enterprise together, UC solu ons can create a profound impact on the Others 901 903 0% way enterprises converse and collaborate. Total PBX Systems 1,806 1,795 1% Major Trends Market As the economy gets digi zed, fields are ge ng levelled and Others include SingTel, Panasonic, NEC, Accord Tadiran, Matrix the compe on is becoming intense. Businesses, driven by rising customer expecta ons, must remain ever agile and ultra- V&D India Telecom Industry Survey FY 2016-17 responsive, and in turn expect their employees to be available at all mes irrespec ve of their loca ons and me-zones. In order to communicate to the sa sfac on of the customer, TOP COMPANIES % MARKETSHARE (BY REVENUE) they also need to collaborate and exchange informa on with other employees, o en on a real- me basis. This is where a comprehensive unified communica ons solu on comes to the aid and enables employees to communicate through apps on their PCs, tablets, or smart phones, depending on how and 19% where they are placed. Cisco Thanks to a near-ubiquitous usage and adop on of social media and the need for 24x7 connec vity, enterprises are be er equipped to transi on themselves into collabora ve 50% 16% and borderless organiza ons. They have understood the im- Others portance of harnessing the efforts and collec ve wisdom of Avaya teams across and outside the organiza on, in their quest to become agile and nimble to outpace the compe on in today’s fast changing and ultra-compe ve environment. 15% In today’s scenario, CIOs are looking for those UC solu- Alcatel Lucent ons that offer ease of deployment both on premises and Enterprise in the cloud, or a hybrid that mixes the on-premise and hosted models. Another considera on for them is whether the solu on supports mul ple plaorms such as PCs, mobile Company % share in overall PBX Systems revenue phones, and if it works seamlessly across different operat- of `1,806 crore ing systems and browsers. From a long-term perspec ve, V&D India Telecom Industry Survey FY 2016-17
58 | VOICE&DATA | SEPTEMBER 2017 | voicendata.com | A CyberMedia Publication however, enterprises are increasingly ALE also offers the Rainbow app vendors, service providers, and operat- preferring cloud-based models, given as a freemium cloud-based UC ser- ing systems. Deploying UC solu on for that when combined with mobility, UC vice (UCaaS) that makes additional global loca ons in an organiza on can as a service (UCaaS) has a poten ally collaboration services available to be very challenging in a mul -vendor transforming effect on organiza ons, users, regardless of their exis ng com- environment, especially because the while also cu ng costs. munications systems. As an overlay technologies, standards and regulatory Keeping these demand-side dynam- solu on, Rainbow brings rich feature regimes can be really different across all ics in view, UC solu ons provider, have capabili es, like contact management, geographies. been enriching their solu ons to meet presence, chat, audio/video call, screen In this context, the ability to federate the customer requirements. Today’s and file sharing. across mul ple products and plaorms UC tools are not only easy to deploy, Avaya launched its Equinox solu on could give vendors a significant edge. but can also help companies achieve in October 2016, to deliver simple, However, given that proprietary plat- be er ROIs. mobile-first unified communica ons and forms are not amenable to mul -vendor supported on the desktops as well. It’s a federa on requirements, this would be Key Players plaorm that brings all the func onality easier said than done. The major players in India’s UC and of voice communications, video collaboration market include Cisco, conferencing, and collabora on into a Looking Ahead Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise, Microsoft, single plaorm that can also enclose and UC&C solutions have become a Google, Tata Communications, and add third-party systems and plaorms. mainstay of next-genera on business Avaya, among others. According to the company, Equinox communication and will continue to Globally, Cisco has launched a solu- not only delivers greater autonomy to be a key enabler of enterprise agility. on called Spark, which has been well companies, it also gives their employees Cloud and mobility paradigms would received in the market. Spark delivers the freedom to decide how to work be providing a further impetus to end-to-end message encryp on plus be er. The solu on enables collabora on UC&C solutions, by freeing users of the compliance features that enter- from within HTML5 browsers with no dependencies on devices and networks. prises need. The tool delivers seamless downloads or plugins needed, leveraging In fact, there already is strong momentum collabora on experience for users with the WebRTC technology. in favor of UC as a service (UCaaS) not chat, embedded video mee ngs, white Microso has generated significant just in the SMB customer segment but boarding, file sharing, and more. An trac on in the market for its Skype for also among large enterprises. There is a easy-to-deploy and intuitive-to-use Business solu on. Its ecosystem of part- significant increase in the demand and solu on, it also offers the enterprise ners and complimentary applica ons uptake of UcaaS because the model also controls for deployment, with the are growing consistently. The bundling eliminates mul ple on-premise costs security features required through end- of UC&C solu ons with the Office 365 associated with deploying the tradi onal to-end encryp on. suite of office produc vity applica ons UC solu ons. Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise (ALE) has par cularly worked to Microso ’s The government’s focus on Digital solu ons are designed to connect all advantage. India would only further improve the the communica ons channels across The demand for unified communica- cloud and mobility infrastructure in the an enterprise. Applica ons like Open- ons and collabora on market in India country, which in turn would contribute Touch empower employees to work as is driven by several factors such as the to the growth of UCaaS solu ons all one team to give the fastest response, growing need for be er communica on the more. with multiple channels at their fin- channels, rollout of 4G services, and However, there are some key inhibi- gertips, including PCs, deskphones, increase in awareness among large, me- tors to UCaaS, such as lack of awareness smartphones, and applica ons such as dium, and small-scale enterprises. around the security concerns, apart instant messaging, voicemail, instant However, there are also various from certain compliance issues that document sharing, group calls, web challenges faced by the companies require the UC&C applications and conferences, etc. OpenTouch Enterprise while selec ng appropriate solu ons data to be hosted on servers within the Cloud (OTEC), offered via the cloud, to suit their needs. Given that UC is not country. The vendors have been taking delivers innova ve consump on-based a standalone technology, application the necessary measures to address telephony, unified communications, or service, but an amalgamation of these concerns, which would expect- contact center and specialized industry mul ple collabora on tools, equipment edly keep the growth momentum in service applica ons. and services, it may include mul ple IT favor of UCaaS.
A CyberMedia Publication | voicendata.com | SEPTEMBER 2017 | VOICE&DATA | 59 ENTERPRISE COMMUNICATION CarrierSoftware Networks & Applications
The Bar Rises An accelerating shift to digital platforms such as the cloud and an increasingly mobile workforce are driving a speedier evolution of the security landscape
Enterprise Security Conferencing & Collaboration 6% Top 3 Companies by Revenue
FY 2016-17 FY 2015-16 YoY % Company (in `crore) (in `crore) Growth `1,824 cr `1,722 cr Cisco 379 376 1% Avaya 291 288 1%
Microsoft 177 172 3%
Others 439 433 1% FY 2016-17 FY 2015-16 Total Conferencing & 1,286 1,269 1% V&D India Telecom Industry Survey FY 2016-17 Collaboration Market Conferencing & Collabora on Others include Alcatel Lucent Enterprise, Polycom
1% V&D India Telecom Industry Survey FY 2016-17
TOP COMPANIES % MARKETSHARE (BY REVENUE) `1,286 cr `1,269 cr
34% 29% FY 2016-17 FY 2015-16 Cisco Overall Software & Applications Market Comprising Security and Others Conferencing & Collaboration is `3,110 crore V&D India Telecom Industry Survey FY 2016-17
he network architectures at enterprises have been 23% evolving in a mul pronged manner, thanks to the 14% Avaya rapid prolifera on of the digital technologies such Microso as cloud, mobility, social media, and analytics. These are well reflected in growing trends such as Tbring your own device (BYOD), cloud-compu ng, and mass adop on of smartphones and collabora on tools, which have Company % share in overall Conferencing & transformed the way organiza ons work. In the next few years, Collaboration revenue of `1,286 crore a lot of businesses would also be focusing on robo cs and au- V&D India Telecom Industry Survey FY 2016-17
60 | VOICE&DATA | SEPTEMBER 2017 | voicendata.com | A CyberMedia Publication toma on to make their processes more Security threats and users’ personal devices, and on-premises- seamless and to grow their businesses like security. more predictably. vulnerabilities are Under Spark, the company has also While all these developments are becoming more complex introduced several changes that make contribu ng to make enterprises more and enterprises are it easier for technology heads to control responsive and are also helping to im- mobile security on BYOD plaorms. One prove employee produc vity, the gains facing a daunting task of the features is Web-smart meouts are not without challenges. to monitor hundreds of that automatically log out users run- Given an increasingly ever-connected Mbps of data traffic on ning Spark outside of the organiza on’s environment, the enterprise security network. landscape is swi ly changing. It calls for their networks In another ini a ve, Airtel and Sy- an advanced security network, which is mantec Corp have announced a strategic fast becoming less of an op on and more partnership to serve the growing cyber of a cri cal need. Security threats and The findings showcase how cri cal it security requirements of businesses in In- vulnerabili es are becoming more com- is to protect informa on, especially when dia, providing protec on and preven on plex and enterprises are facing a daun ng we are moving to a digital era, where a of online threats in an increasingly digi- task to monitor hundreds of Mbps of data breach could inflict a real- me and ir- tally connected world. As per the agree- traffic on their networks. reparable loss to enterprises and their ment, Airtel will be the exclusive Cyber customers. For governments too, the Security Services partner for Symantec Changing Landscape threat is very much for the real, as they in India, and will distribute Symantec’s In view of the above developments, pursue the Digital India goals. enterprise security so ware. the network security market in India is For Symantec, data loss preven on coming of age. As the country is moving (DLP) and endpoint protec on are the toward high-speed technologies such as Major Players fastest-growing sub segments of its en- 4G LTE, the number of people accessing Cisco has recently introduced new Spark terprise security so ware business. The data on the go has grown manifold. An services for advanced compliance, data security vendor had acquired Blue Coat increasingly large number of employees loss prevention and identity manage- and Fireglass recently, which further today use smartphones to access emails, ment. It claims that users can control strengthened its presence in the security make voice and video calls, and explore the network through Spark’s centralized segments of endpoint, email, data loss social media sites. management hub. The new Spark Control preven on, and data center security. An increased focus on digi za on and Hub also adds new ‘breakthrough’ sup- More recently, in SEPTEMBER 2017, demone za on has further raised the port for end-to-end message encryp on, Juniper Networks announced its plan risk of data breach and data the among detailed analy cs, mobile security on to acquire Cyphort, a so ware security organiza ons. According to the Ernst & Young’s Global Information Security Survey 2016-17, While India is spending more on cyber security each year, organiza- ons are s ll not confident of their abil- ity to sense, resist and respond to cyber threats. The report, tled ‘Path to Cyber Resilience: Sense, Resist, React,’ adds that outdated informa on security ar- chitectures and controls have increased the risk exposure for India over the last 12 months. Careless or unaware em- ployees are the second-most important concern, while vulnerabili es related to mobile compu ng, social media, and cloud compu ng came across as another key area of concern.
A CyberMedia Publication | voicendata.com | SEPTEMBER 2017 | VOICE&DATA | 61 EDITORIAL
62 | VOICE&DATA | JANUARY 2017 | voicendata.com | A CyberMedia Publication EDITORIAL
A CyberMedia Publication | voicendata.com | JANUARY 2017 | VOICE&DATA | 63 ENTERPRISE COMMUNICATION CarrierSoftware Networks & Applications
focus being on security monitoring and detec on. The early days of enterprise mobility saw the adop on of basic mobile device management (MDM) solu ons due to limited BYOD uptake. However, with enterprise mobility gaining steam in re- cent years and with business-cri cal and sensi ve informa on residing on mul ple devices used by employees, MDM is be- coming increasingly sophis cated. Some of the benefits of MDM include usage analy cs, repor ng and tracking, visibility of devices on the network, protecting data and preventing loss, circumven ng new a ack vectors, and managing the exponen al increase in the number of connected devices. Going forward, enterprises are ex- pected to adopt new-age mobile device management solu ons, which can also act as secure vessels to thwart data leakage between business and personal company. Cyphort is a provider of threat billion on acquisi ons that included Good applica ons hosted on the same device. detection and security analytics. The Technology and WatchDox. Filtering malicious app behaviors would company provides organiza onal solu- Kaspersky Lab has recently unveiled also be a prerequisite feature for enter- ons to enhance security metrics. its next genera on of Kaspersky Private prises op ng for such solu ons. The acquisi on would allow Juniper Security Network, which enable orga- On a broader level, the biggest growth to expand the coverage of its flagship nizations to enhance their detection driver for the industry would be the security solu on, Sky Advanced Threat speed, and provide access to real- me mission-cri cal need for enterprises to Prevention. With this acquisition, Ju- global threat intelligence from 80 mil- become nimble and agile to outpace niper will also be able to amalgamate lion sensors. the compe on in a fast-approaching its solu ons with features that are in digital era. sync with cloud as well as on-premises Outlook According to industry experts, due to infrastructure. Security services will con nue to be a a con nuous increase in the adop on of After repositioning itself from a growing segment, with considerable cloud-based applica ons and services, mobile phone manufacturer to a so - CIOs are expected to take immediate ware and security vendor, BlackBerry is measures to secure their cloud environ- exploring opportuni es to strengthen With enterprise mobility ments, more so because they also need its posi on in the market segment. The gaining steam in recent to ensure that compliance issues are duly company’s strong brand recall in markets taken care of in the course of a shi to such as India and Indonesia is expected to years and with business- the cloud. Organiza ons will con nue to give it a head-start if not an edge. Recent critical and sensitive explore comprehensive mobile security developments suggest that the erstwhile information residing on management solu ons that are primarily enterprise mobility player is firming up designed to manage user permissions. its consul ng offerings to help enterprise multiple devices used A significant effort will also likely go customers address security gaps. by employees, MDM is into developing advanced vulnerability As part of its transi on, Blackberry becoming increasingly assessment tools that could frequently has taken noteworthy steps to boost identify and scan new vulnerabilities, its capabili es in mobile and enterprise sophisticated so that these could be fixed before any mobility. It has reportedly spent US$1 zero-day a acks.
64 | VOICE&DATA | SEPTEMBER 2017 | voicendata.com | A CyberMedia Publication Other Services Other Serrvivicces OOther Services Other Servicces Othheer Servicess
Other Services Other Servicices OOther Services Other Servicesc Other Seervicrvrvices Other SeServices Otherr SerS vices Othhere Serervices Othther Servici es Othtther SerS vicceses
USER DEVICES `118,795 crore
User Devices: Growth by Sub Segment
FY 2016-17 FY 2015-16 Company % Growth (in `crore) (in `crore)
Mobile Phones 114,154 103,982 10%
Tablets 3,607 4,847 -26%
Data Cards 1,034 1,053 -2%
Total User Devices Market 118,795 109,882 8%
V&D India Telecom Industry Survey FY 2016-17
A CyberMedia Publication | voicendata.com | SEPTEMBER 2017 | VOICE&DATA | 65 USER DEVICES
Segments by Revenue (FY 2016-17)
User Devices by Revenue Mobile Phones Data Cards `1,34 Cr 10% Tablets `3,607 Cr
`114,154 cr Mobile Phones `103,982 cr `114,154 Cr
FY 2016-17 FY 2015-16 Overall User Devices Market `118,795 crore V&D India Telecom Industry Survey FY 2016-17 V&D India Telecom Industry Survey FY 2016-17 Sub Segment % Marketshare Data Cards 0.87% Tablets 3.04%
USER DEVICES Sub Segment % Marketshare
Mobile Phones 96.09%
V&D India Telecom Industry Survey FY 2016-17
66 | VOICE&DATA | SEPTEMBER 2017 | voicendata.com | A CyberMedia Publication Mobile Phones
Smarter by the Year Driven largely by the Chinese brands in the mid-price segment, the rise in smartphone uptake also shored up revenues
he India mobile phone market witnessed a growth spurt in FY 2016-17. The overall market recorded Mobile Phones double-digit growth of around 10 percent in terms of revenues. When compared with the near-flat Top 3 Companies by Revenue revenue growth of one percent the year ago, the FY 2016-17 FY 2015-16 Company % Growth Tperformance looks even more impressive. (in `crore) (in `crore) The growth was driven in part by the availability and uptake Samsung 37,671 34,258 10% of 4G smartphones in the mid-price segments, which gave a big boost to the market. This growth is pped to be further Apple 9,132 7,900 16% propelled by the affordable 4G phones launched by Reliance Lenovo Group 7,991 7,300 9% Jio this year, understood to have been pre-booked in record numbers. Priced at `1,500, these devices would be ed to Others 59,360 54,524 9% the operator and would come with a usage incen ve of 100 Total 114,154 103,982 10% percent money-back (of the device price) a er three years. Over three million of these handsets were booked within days Others include Karbonn, Panasonic, HTC, Micromax, Intex, Lava, of launch on August 24. The compe on in this segment is BlackBerry, Sony, MTS, Videocon, Spice, Xiaomi, Oppo, Vivo and many others set to intensify, as the leading incumbent Bhar Airtel too is expected to be coming up with a 4G handset launch ahead V&D India Telecom Industry Survey FY 2016-17 of the next fes ve season. However, despite being the fastest growing smartphone TOP COMPANIES % MARKETSHARE (BY REVENUE) market in the world, India still lags far behind China, US and other major markets on the average selling price (ASP) front.
Market Performance New feature sets, strong revenue growth, and realigned sales strategies of Chinese vendors were among the key highlights of the year gone by. Unlike the previous year, when Chinese 33% vendors focused on e-retail, flash sales and other online Samsung sales strategies, in fiscal 2017 they ramped up their brick- 52% and-mortar presence in a big way. They were quick to realize Others that their market share gains would not be sustainable if they restricted themselves to a single plaorm and did not embrace a balanced online-offline approach. So, while on one hand, 8% brands such as Oppo, Vivo, and Gionee, which were focusing Apple more on offline plaorms and big marke ng spends to boost sales, took baby steps towards e-retail, players like Xiaomi set 7% up their physical retail channels so as to reach consumers in Lenovo er 2 and er 3 ci es. These moves helped Xiaomi to make Group its debut in the Voice&Data Top 10 list. The overall moble phone segment sales and shipment Company %Share in Overall Mobile Phone Revenue numbers showed an upward trend in the first two quar- of `114,154 crore ters, but dipped in Q3 because of demone za on. Budget V&D India Telecom Industry Survey FY 2016-17
A CyberMedia Publication | voicendata.com | SEPTEMBER 2017 | VOICE&DATA | 67 USER DEVICES Mobile Phones
phones priced below `10,000 were hit Homegrown Players Need However, as the homegrown brands the most. However, shipment numbers Course Correction reinvent their game and come up with and revenues picked up pace by the In a complex market like India, which handsets be er aligned to the market end of Q4. When the year ended, the is both price-sensi ve and value-con- needs, they should also be able to mobile handset vendors had posted a scious, the growth of Chinese brands has differen ate from their Chinese coun- combined revenue of `1.14 lakh crore been logical. However, it also raises the terparts, so that they are not seen as in FY2017, as against a revenue of `1.03 ques on as to why the more affordable me-too vendors. lakh crore in 2016. Samsung con nued devices from homegrown vendors are to be have the largest revenue share at losing their sheen. Industry observers Outlook 33 percent, Apple, on account of its high are of the view that these brands need This is going to be an interes ng year. ASV and strong presence in the premium complete course correc on if they want The 4G handset strategies of telcos like segments garnered a revenue share of to be back in the game. Among other RJio and Airtel is expected to change eight percent despite rela vely small things, first they must devise a new the game significantly for all handset shipment numbers. gameplan to a ract customers. It would vendors, and pave way for a more be important for them to refocus on vibrant market in the lower-mid price Competitive Landscape the mid-segment range. Of late, these segments. Add to this, Chinese handset As the year progressed, the compe on vendors have been relying more on the vendors’ growing foothold, and the took the form of a Samsung-versus- entry-level segment for growth, and various Make in India plans in place, Chinese brands ba le. As these players have not been able to duly recognize and the stage is all set for a strong eco- went aggressive on marke ng and pro- the customer’s increasing preference system for affordable and feature-rich mo onal spends, the homegrown ven- for a superior device even if they have smartphones. dors were literally pushed aside to the to shell out a few extra bucks. The Chi- With Nokia making a comeback in extent that even Micromax and Intex, nese brands have been smart and quick 2017, the compe on would also be which had stayed in the Voice&Data Top enough to tap into this need, and have growing in multiple price segments 10 club for the past few years, did not responded with a range of products to for global brands including Samsung, find a place in this year’s ranking. suit different sub-segments in the mid- Apple, and Google. This would encour- The aggressive pricing, well-support- range, both above and below `10,000. age vendors to pack in more features ed by marke ng and sales strategies and The other important thing that Indian and capabilities in their existing and budgets, enabled the Chinese brands to brands must consider is to strengthen upcoming models. They would likely add rapidly gain market shares and surpass their 4G portfolio. They do have an more RAM, be er primary and second- Indian brands on their home ground. overwhelming porolio of 3G phones ary cameras, more internal storage, and The only Chinese brand that recorded but are not strong enough on the 4G higher ba ery capaci es. a subdued performance during the year front, whereas the last year’s 4G ship- Regardless, the growth momentum was LeEco. Excessive marke ng spends ments clearly indicate the shi toward of the India handset market would and poor overall management led to 4G. Notably, the Chinese brands won con nue. the downfall of the brand when it had hands down on this front as well. In terms of technology, the 4G hand- barely set its foot in the county. It exited sets are all set to become more and more the Indian smartphone industry by the ubiquitous across both smartphone me the fiscal ended, and is right now The 4G handset strategies and feature phone categories, and the only focusing on bringing its smart TVs VoLTE support is likely to become a to India. of telcos like RJio necessary feature. The emergence of In terms of technology, the 4G and Airtel is expected 4G handsets led to a slight surge in the handsets segment got a big boost with to change the game demand for feature phones, and in the the pan-India launch of the Reliance Jio coming months, feature phones would network, which pushed down the uptake significantly for all handset likely get an extended life on account of of 2G and 3G phones. Going forward, vendors, and pave way this. At the same me, the sub-`10,000 with other mobile service providers for a more vibrant market smartphones would keep seeing trac on also expanding their VoLTE-capable 4G as more exis ng feature phone users networks, the smartphone market is in the lower-mid price consider to upgrade. The vendors would bound to see a steadily growing share segments be targe ng the late adopters as well as of the 4G handsets segment. the technology leggards.
68 | VOICE&DATA | SEPTEMBER 2017 | voicendata.com | A CyberMedia Publication Data Cards
Second Life with 4G With RJio rolling out Mi-Fi devices boosting 4G LTE services, there was a radical shift towards 4G LTE-based data cards
Data Cards Data Cards -2% Top 3 Companies by Revenue
FY 2016-17 FY 2015-16 Company % Growth (in `crore) (in `crore)
RJio 628 — — ` Huawei 168 402 -58% ` 1,053 cr 1,034 cr ZTE 91 88 3%
Others 147 563 -74%
Total Data Cards 1,034 1,053 -2% FY 2016-17 FY 2015-16 Market V&D India Telecom Industry Survey FY 2016-17 Others include Micromax, iball, SmartLink, DLink, Mercury, Binatone, Beeline, Teracom he data card market in India had an evenul fiscal 2016–17. The segment, which un l last year was V&D India Telecom Industry Survey FY 2016-17 dominated by 3G data cards, started witnessing a radical shi towards 4G LTE-based data cards this year. By the end of the fiscal, 4G LTE had replaced 3G TOP COMPANIES % MARKETSHARE (BY REVENUE) Tas the most favored technology in the data cards segment. Also, there was a clear preference for Mi-Fi devices. This phenomenon was most notably driven by Reliance Jio, which as part of its big- cker pan-India rollout of 4G services, shipped millions of Mi-Fi 16% devices as a bundled offering. The devices were understood to have been procured from mul ple manufacturers but branded Huawei as RJio devices, though co-branding also existed. The RJio Mi-Fi device shipments were also unique in the 14% sense that it was for the first me that these devices were used 61% as the primary access devices to log users into the data-only 4G Others networks. This helped the operator to overcome any teething Rjio issues such as interconnect with the voice networks of incum- bent operators, as RJio users could at least use the OTT voice 9% applica ons like WhatsApp as workarounds. ZTE The preference of consumers for 4G data cards was reflected in the overall numbers, with the 4G data cards forming a major chunk of shipments. The 4G adop on was driven primarily by two factors: one, because of the increasing 4G network pen- etra on across the country, and two, because of Reliance Jio. Company %Share in Overall Data Card Revenue The telco intensified the compe on in the 4G space for both of `1,034 crore the smartphone vendors and the data card vendors, with its Jio V&D India Telecom Industry Survey FY 2016-17
A CyberMedia Publication | voicendata.com | SEPTEMBER 2017 | VOICE&DATA | 69 USER DEVICES Data Cards
devices and bundled ‘free data’ offers. Key Trends The poten al market for data cards RJio’s strategy became a new normal The market has moved at a fast pace could be huge. The country has an es - for the market by the end of the year, as towards 4G, and the transi on from 3G mated internet penetra on of around 23 other vendors also partnered with telcos to 4G might be completed in 2018. A percent at the close of fiscal 2017, which to come up with similar offers. In the first testament of this is the overall growth looks like a huge leap when compared half of the year, around 60 percent of data that 4G LTE data cards have witnessed to just about 10 percent recorded at the cards were sold with operator bundling, in the last one year. The overall data card close of fiscal 2015. In absolute terms, the a number that went up to an es mated market witnessed the most rapid growth broadband subscribers have grown from 95 percent by the me the fiscal ended. in the second half of the fiscal 2017, i.e., a li le over 99 million in 2015 to around Among the top selling devices with the period in which RJio rolled out its 277 million in 2017, which amounts to a bundled offers were Reliance JioFi 3, JioFi greenfield 4G services and shipped the growth of 180 percent in a short span of 2, and Huawei’s E3372H-607. Mi-Fi devices as bundled offerings. Data just two years. cards with 150 Mbps data rate gained Yet, the broadband penetration in Major Players more prominence. India is nowhere close to the world aver- Reliance’s aggressive entry into the 4G While 4G data card shipments wit- age of around 50 percent. This presents space with its JioFi devices infused some nessed an unprecedented rise in the significant headroom for the growth of life in an otherwise bland category of second half of the fiscal, the 3G data data cards, at least from a theore cal data cards. The segment had Huwaei in card shipments declined sequen ally. standpoint. the leading posi on un l last year, but It is expected that 3G might lose most Historically, data cards have competed the tables turned this year. Reliance Jio of its sheen and 4G would emerge as with smartphones in the mid-to-low replaced Huawei as the most favoured the sole contender in the data card price segments, as the smartphones also vendor and emerged as the undisputed segment. double up as Mi-Fi devices. Why would a leader in the category. At the close of the data card make sense as a standalone de- year, it held a majority market share, ow- Looking Ahead vice, when users can get a calling device ing to rela vely low-priced data cards that Mi-Fi devices with inbuilt ba eries and that can also serve as a Wi-Fi hotspot? served the cap ve purpose of building bundled with affordable data plans are However, the RJio model, changes things RJio’s service subscriber base. considered as the future trend. Since as the Mi-Fi devices are no longer canni- Reliance Jio’s market share did not the devices offer access support to large balized by the smartphones but instead grow overnight. In the first half of FY2016, number of users, it is already one of the enable access for the smartphones. Huawei s ll had 33 percent market share, key reasons why Mi-Fi devices are slowly The corporate customers and heavy but Huawei’s shipments plunged sequen- yet steadily becoming the preferred data users would find even greater value ally in the second half of the fiscal. Other choice for consumers. This trend has the in these devices as alterna ves to wire- vendors such as ZTE, Alcatel, and D-Link poten al to further strengthen, if a sig- line and Wi-Fi access networks. Also, as also faced a similar fate, and had to be nificant push is given by telecom service long as the price points remain aggressive content with single-digit market shares. providers as well. enough, a good number of users may retain Mi-Fi-based offerings as secondary subscrip ons. However, it remains to be seen if the telcos would con nue to use Mi-Fi de- vices as mainstream growth vehicles for developing their mobile subscriber bases. Even though RJio has done that in the fis- cal 2017, it may turn out to be a tac cal move rather than a strategic one. If operators chose to defocus the data-card bundling approach then the segment faces the risk of slipping into a decline. As such, the growth of the segment may be directly linked to the operator strategies for growing their data subscriber bases.
70 | VOICE&DATA | SEPTEMBER 2017 | voicendata.com | A CyberMedia Publication Tablets
Must Get Ideas to Live Once a sunrise market, the segment now needs to be resurrected through innovative offerings that could differentiate from phablets and convertibles
Tablets Tablets
-26% Top 3 Companies by Revenue FY 2016-17 FY 2015-16 Company % Growth (in `crore) (in `crore)
Samsung 1,127 1,354 -17% `3,607 cr `4,847 cr Apple 532 464 15% Lenovo 453 343 32%
Others 1,494 2,686 -44% FY 2016-17 FY 2015-16 Total Tablets 3,607 4,847 -26% V&D India Telecom Industry Survey FY 2016-17 Market
Others include Micromax, Karbonn, HP, Datawind, Acer, Asus, nce perceived as PC killers, tablets have since HCL, Dell,Sony, Penta, Google, Huawei, Lava, Lenovo, LG receded in the background as secondary or even V&D India Telecom Industry Survey FY 2016-17 ter ary access devices. Sandwiched between the phablets on one side and the conver ble PCs on the other side, tablets have literally struggled to TOP COMPANIES % MARKETSHARE (BY REVENUE) Ogrow a space of their own. The India tablets market has par cularly been sailing in troubled waters, given that only a small segment of customers is inclined to buy a tablet when one already has a smartphone or a small form-factor notebook. Moreover, even fewer customers feel a compelling need to upgrade their tablets, especially if it happens to be an occasional indulgence for them. 31% Not surprisingly, for the last three years, the market has been 41% Samsung recording a dip both on the sales and shipment fronts. Lack of innova on and inadequate marke ng push from vendors have Others worked to further disinterest the retailers. Also, neither the margins nor the volumes are a rac ve enough for the channel partners to lay enough focus on the segment. While the government’s interest and investments in the 15% tablet space earlier to realize the Digital India dreams did infuse Apple some life into the enterprise segment, that could do li le to 13% rev-up the consumer segment. More so, because for today’s Lenovo consumers tablets hold no u litarian value over the newer breeds of smartphones offering be er features—including Wi- Company %Share in Overall Tablet Revenue Fi, calling capability, 4G and even VR—for comparable prices, of `3,607 crore depending on the price segment of the consumer. V&D India Telecom Industry Survey FY 2016-17
A CyberMedia Publication | voicendata.com | SEPTEMBER 2017 | VOICE&DATA | 71 USER DEVICES Tablets
Simply put, unlike smartphones, which drivers. In par cular, Lenovo and Sam- Going forward, while offering more are coming up with be er and newer sung are understood to have inked some features at a rac ve prices may drive features every week, the tablets are not good deals with the government, which some demand, that is unlikely to revive evolving much. In the low-end segment, helped them offset the dismal uptake in the market from a long-term perspec ve. vendors are still offering tablets with the consumer segment. The simple reason being that the larger- very basic features such as SIM-enabled Datawind was the only player that screen smartphones, and par cularly the tablets with calling features, or vanilla focused more on the consumer segment phablets, would con nue to cannibalize offerings without calling features. as compared to the enterprise and also the tablets on account of their greater The premium tablets category is the managed to reap the benefits, which versa lity. only excep on, where the vendors have helped it retain a posi on among the top Also, the absence of over-the-top call- been able to continuously enrich the five vendors in shipment terms. ing and messaging apps like WhatsApp features. However, only a small segment Apple too saw an increase in its overall on the tablet plaorms have made the of consumers with enough disposable shipment numbers. The growth could devices even less compelling to consum- income are able to afford these devices, par cularly be a ributed to its 9.7-inch ers in general and the youth segment while most of the other consumer seg- tablet, which it launched to replace iPad in par cular. Vendors will need to work ments tend to shy away from these Air2 as part of a pricing strategy aimed at with other players in the ecosystem to high-price tablets. In an effort to woo the price-sensi ve Indian consumer. bring such popular apps onto the tablet the mid-price segment customers into plaorm, in order to give the segment a its fold, Apple launched a 9.7-inch tablet A Lost Battle? leg-up. Developing local content relevant as a replacement for iPad Air2 for under The market’s decline for a third consecu- to the consumers con nues to be a key `30,000 last year, which saw a good ve year raises a very important ques on: considera on that the players must pay uptake. This helped Apple grow its ship- Will tablets con nue to exist as a stand- a en on to. ments and revenues to an extent. alone category going forward, or will they Likewise, to increase the u lity and ap- Samsung has retained its leadership in get phased out over years? peal of the tablets for enterprise buyers, the tablets market by retaining a strong This segment had shown a stupen- vendors could work with security vendors presence in the premium segment but dous growth poten al four to five years to bring PC-grade security features on the also extending its reach to the mid-price ago and the vendors saw a great oppor- tablets while also ge ng the so ware segment. tunity in it, but the tables have turned vendors to extend enterprise apps onto Lenovo has upped the innova on ante since then. Looking at the current state these devices. in the premium segment a er it launched of the market, it won’t be wrong to say the Yoga Tablet 3 Pro, with integrated that the tablets market faces the threat Outlook projector that promises to ‘turn any room of dying an un mely death. While the future looks somewhat dull into a theater’ by projec ng an image of Globally, enterprise tablets are being at this juncture, there can be mul ple up to 70 inch on any wall or ceiling. looked at as the last chance for the device ways to turn the market around, as category itself. Enterprise segment is discussed above. Also, by employing Competitive Landscape the only segment that has kept showing the right promo onal strategies, there Given a stagna ng market, FY 2016-17 some signs of growth. In terms of access exists a fair amount of opportunity to saw no new players entering the fray. The technology, the detachable 4G and 3G upgrade existing users to 4G devices, brands that were selling their products tablets are gaining trac on, but 2G tablet which are understandably the fastest in the country in the previous year con- shipments have been down to half. The growing segment at present. Likewise, nued to fight it out in the ring. Brands trend is expected to con nue in the com- well-cra ed promo onal strategies could such as Karbonn, HP, Datawind, Acer, ing year as well. push 802.11n and 802.11ac-based Wi-Fi Asus, HCL, Dell, Sony, Google, and Hua- The continued decline in the con- tablets in specific customer segments, wei, among others, were present in the sumer segment could mostly be a rib- such as educa on. segment but none of them managed to uted to lack of promo onal ac vi es, In terms of opera ng systems, the grab a considerable market share despite innova ons and feature upgrades in all market has decisively moved in favor of having some good enough offerings. but the higher price segments. Apart Android-based devices, which have cap- Vendors’ focus this year was more on from Datawind, which ran an integrated tured the majority of the market, while striking commercial deals in the govern- marke ng campaign, no other vendor Windows-based tablets have seen a con- ment and education sectors, both of showed the enthusiasm to establish a nuous decline. The scenario is unlikely which happened to be the key growth consumer connect. to change in the near future.
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Arto Nummela steps down Tushar Sighat appointed TeamF1 as HMD Global CEO Networks Chairman TeamF1 Networks Private Limited (TeamF1) – a subsidiary of D-Link (India) Limited (D- Link), has appointed Tushar Sighat as its Chairman. With this Sighat will now be at the realm of TeamF1 opera ons globally and direct the company towards success. TeamF1 is a provider of networking and security so ware for embedded devices and is headquartered in Hyderabad. TeamF1 was acquired by D-Link in June 2014 as a wholly owned, but independently operated sub- sidiary. TeamF1 is a network security, WiFi management, CPE turnkey and component HMD Global announced that through so ware provider using its core plaorm TFOSTM – ‘TeamF1 Opera ng System’. mutual agreement between CEO Arto Sighat also con nues to lead D-Link India. Nummela and the HMD Global Board of Directors, Arto Nummela will leave HMD with immediate effect. COMIO India appoints Sumit Sehgal as Florian Seiche has been appointed to the role of acting CEO, starting im- Chief Marketing Officer mediately. This is in addi on to Seiche’s current role as president. Florian has been COMIO India has appointed Sumit Sehgal co-leading HMD Global as president since as the Chief Marke ng Officer (CMO) of the the start of the company. company. In this role, Sehgal will lead the marke ng mandate in building COMIO as a differen - ated, strong and conversa onal brand in the Uber India names Sanjay mobile handset market. With over two decades of experience Gupta Head of Marketing in sales and marke ng, Sehgal is a tenured marketer with a profound understanding of the Indian market. An alumnus of IMT Ghaziabad, Sehgal’s prior assignments have been with JWT, ITC, Bhar Teletech, Max Life, and Intex Technologies. During this period, he has built many brands and led mul ple marke ng ini a ves aimed at delivering meaningful brand and business outcomes. Chinese original device maker (ODM) Topwise Communica on has entered the Indian handset market with the launch of its COMIO handset brand.
San Francisco-based Uber has appointed Gionee CEO & MD Arvind Vohra resigns Sanjay Gupta as the Head of Marke ng Arvind Vohra has stepped down as Gionee India CEO for Uber India. Prior to joining Uber, Gupta & MD a er serving the company for nearly five years. was the Chief Marke ng Officer at Urban He, however, will con nue in the company as its execu- Ladder. One of the sharp marke ng minds ve director. in the country, he was recognised as India’s The Chinese smartphone brand will announce the ‘Top 40 Under 40 Ho est Business Lead- replacement for the post of CEO soon. The company ers’ in 2015. Several marke ng campaigns entered India in 2012 and competes with Chinese rivals created by him have also won recogni on including Xiaomi and Lenovo that together have taken at EMVIE and Effie, leading adver sing and nearly 56% share of the Indian smartphone market as media awards in the industry. of June 2017.
A CyberMedia Publication | voicendata.com | SEPTEMBER 2017 | VOICE&DATA | 73 PEOPLE
Citrix appoints Makarand Joshi as Apple names Deirdre Country Head for Indian subcontinent O’Brien new VP of People Global IT giant Citrix has appointed Ma- karand Joshi as its area vice president and country head for Citrix in the Indian subcon nent. As part of this role, he will be respon- sible for accelera ng and transforming the business in the Indian subcon nent (India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Mauri us and Ne- pal), as well as building a robust partner ecosystem and driving sales revenue. Makarand joins Citrix with over 22 years US-based iPhone maker Apple said of experience in various leadership roles has appointed Deirdre O’Brien as Vice that include building sales and partner President of People, who will report to networks across Asia. CEO Tim Cook. Makarand will report to Stanimira A nearly 30-year Apple veteran, Koleva, group vice president of sales and services for the Asia Pacific Japan re- O’Brien, currently Vice President of gion and will be responsible for growing Citrix’s business in enterprise and field Worldwide Sales and Opera ons, will sales, consul ng services, technical pre-sales and the post sales func ons across lead all HR func ons including talent the Indian subcon nent. He will also focus on nurturing the presence of Citrix development, recrui ng, benefits, com- in emerging areas of business geared towards contribu ng to the technology pensa on and business support, as well revolu on, as well as the company’s foray in new areas. as overseeing Apple University. Prior to joining Citrix, Makarand was associated in various leadership roles O’Brien joined Apple in 1988 and in Sales, Marke ng and Opera ons with Microso . runs a global organiza on.
Route Mobile names Nassia Indus Towers appoints Shankar Iyer as Skoulikariti as Senior VP- Voice & IoT Chief Sales & Marketing Officer Messaging and voice API Telecom tower company, Indus services company Route Towers, has appointed Shankar Mobile has appointed Iyer as the Chief Sales & Market- Athanasia Skoulikari as ing Officer (CSMO). Senior Vice President- With over 24 years of experi- Voice & IoT (Internet of ence in diverse industries, Iyer Things). holds in-depth business under- Skoulikariti will be standing of international and based out of the London domestic telecom and tower office and will be respon- industry. sible for setting-up the He joins Indus Towers from team and growing the Sixth Energy Technologies and has previously been associated Route Mobile’s Voice and with Indus Towers as a founding Employee Member and Re- IoT businesses organically gional Director. In the past, Shankar has also been associated and inorganically. with Titan Industries, Diageo, Coca-Cola, Hutchison Essar A seasoned profes- (Vodafone), Bhar Infratel, and Quippo Telecom (SREI Group) sional, Skoulikari comes with 21 years of experience in the in various capaci es. He is a graduate in Economics and an Telecom and IT sector. Prior to joining Route Mobile, she was alumnus of IIM – Bangalore and Wharton School, University the VP Global Sales, South Asia, EMEA & Americas at CITIC of Pennsylvania. Telecom. She is credited for having set up CITIC’s product Iyer succeeds Sameer Sinha who has served as the CSMO A2P (applica on to person) messaging business as well as in the company and was responsible for sales, business de- following it up with driving the global voice business (apart velopment, marke ng communica ons and collec ons for from Asia) for CITIC. the company.
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