MAJOR PLAYERS AND MARKET SHARES

Market Highlights:-

The Indian telecom industry can be primarily divided into basic, cellular and internet
services. It also has segments such as radio paging services, very small aperture terminals
(VSATs), public mobile radio trunked services (PMRTS) and global mobile personal
communications by satellite (GMPCS).
MTNL and BSNL are the two premier public sector companies under the Department of
Telecommunications that have been successfully meeting the growing requirements of
telephones and other related services.
MTNL had achieved a customer base of 8.87 million at the end of December, 2010.
MTNL has allowed all its GSM mobile subscribers access to 3G services in order to make the
3G services popular among its subscribers. The company had 0.914 million broadband customers
at the end of December, 2010.
BSNL formed in October, 2000, is the World's 7th largest Telecommunications Company
providing comprehensive range of telecom services in India. Within a short span of ten years, it
has become one of the largest public sector service providers in the country serving 112.36
million subscribers including 86.71 million wireless customers (including CDMA and GSM) in
December, 2010.


Major Players:-

The Indian telecom sector is largely dominated by private operators that control a share
of more than 85% share of the entire sector. Among the top players in the telecom sector, Bharti
Airtel owns the largest share, followed by Vodafone, Idea, state-owned BSNL, Tata and
Reliance. Other key players are Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited (MTNL), Aircel and Tata
Teleservices, BSNL, Videocon, Uninor, Loop Mobile. Vodafone has recorded the fastest growth
rate in the month of February 2011, at 17.61 % in its subscription base according to Telecom
Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) database.
The wireless segment includes GSM and CDMA services and is much larger than the
wire line segment in India. About 527.6 million GSM subscribers account for 83% of the market
and 107.9 million CDMA subscribers account for the remaining 17%. Private players such as
Bharti Airtel Limited, Reliance Communication, Vodafone, Tata, BSNL, Idea Cellular and
Aircel cumulatively hold a major share of the wireless market.


Top 10 Telecom Companies in India 2013:-

With over 900 million wireless subscribers, India is one of the biggest markets in the
telecom industry globally. From GSM, CDMA and even broadband subscribers, the overall
penetration in India is nearly 75 percent. Here is a list of the top 10 Indian telecom companies
based on their market share.

1. Bharti Airtel
Market Share: 27 percent
Airtel is the largest telecom service provider in India and operates in 20 countries across
south Asia, Africa and the Channel Islands and provides 2G, 3G and 4G services. Ranking third
mobile telecommunications company in the world, it has nearly 261 million subscribers out of
which 200 million are in India. The biggest mobile telephony provider, it is known as being the
first mobile phone company in the world to outsource all its business operations except
marketing. It is the first telecom service provider to achieve a Cisco Gold certification. Among
the countries where Airtel marks its presence, some are, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Chad,
Democratic Republic of Congo, Ghana, Nigeria, Zambia etc. Airtel collaborated with RIM and
launched its Blackberry services in October 2004. According to the annual survey conducted by
brand Finance, it is the sixth most valuable brand.

2. Vodafone
Market Share: 22 percent
Vodafone India, previously known as Vodafone Essar and Hutchinson Essar is one of the
well renowned telecom service providers in India headquartered in Mumbai. In 2011, Vodafone
Group agreed to buy the share of its partner Essar from the Indian mobile phone business.
Vodafone paid $5.46 billion to take 33% stake in the Indian subsidiary. It left Vodafone with
74% of the Indian business, while the other 26% is owned by Indian investors. The company is
valued to be $18.8 billion. It launched 3G services in the country in the January-March quarter of
2011 and has plans to spend up to $500 million within the next two years on its 3G networks.

3. Idea Cellular
Market Share: 19 percent
Idea Cellular is an Indian telecom service provider headquartered in Mumbai. Previously
ran by Tata Cellular, it was bought by Birla-AT&T in 2000. This merger of Birla-Tata-AT&T
was popularly known as Batata and was rebranded as IDEA. However, in the subsequent years,
AT&T and Tata sold their stake in Idea and it became an entity of Aditya Birla group. The three
companies held an equal stake in the company before AT&T decided to sell its stake. Both Tata
and Birla bought AT&Ts stake with 16.45 percent each. Tata was still holding Idea when the
company filed for a license to operate in Mumbai. For this reason, Idea could enter late in
Mumbai after the intervention of the Department of Telecom. Tata left Idea but only for a major
sum of money amounting to 44 billion. Currently, Birlas hold 49.05 percent shares in Idea and
the remaining is held by Axiata Group and Providence equity.
4. BSNL
Market Share: 15 percent
BSNL or Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited is a publically held telecom service provider in
India. With its headquarters in New Delhi, it is the largest provider of fixed-line services and
subsequently provides broadband services across the nation. Before the liberalization of Indian
economy BSNL held the monopoly across the country except for Delhi and Mumbai which were
covered by MTNL. It is Indias oldest communication service provider and enjoys a customer
base of 95 million throughout India. Among the services that BSNL provides, some are,
Universal Telecom Services, Cellular Mobile Telephone Services. BSNL has 24 telecom circles,
2 metro districts, 6 project circles, 4 maintenance regions, 5 telecom factories, 3 training
institutions and 4 specialized telecom units.


5. Aircel
Market Share: 9 percent
Aircel is an Indian telecom service provider jointly held by the Maxis Communications
and Sindya Securities & Investments Private Limited. The Malaysian-based Maxis
Communications hold a majority stake of 74 percent in the company. The current share-holders
of Sindya Securities & Investments are the Reddy family that is famed for its Apollo Hospitals
Group of India. Headquartered in Chennai, it is one of the leading telecom service providers in
Tamil Nadu, North East, Assam and Chennai. With a subscriber base of nearly 51.83 million, it
is ranked seventh among the Indian mobile service providers (GSM & CDMA) and fifth among
the GSM mobile service providers.

6. Uninor
Market Share: 5 percent
Uninor is an Indian telecom service provider that is jointly held by two companies: a
Norway-based telecommunication company Telenor and an Indian real-estate company Unitech.
Telenor holds a major stake of 67.25 percent in the company. Uninor is headquartered in
Gurgaon (NCR Delhi) and provides its services in all of Indias 22 telecom circles. It offers
voice and a data service based on the GSM technology and is commercially available in the 13
circles across India. Its major target is the youth and is a pioneer in charging as per day time and
geographic location. It is targeting 8 percent market share in the coming years.



7. Videocon
Market Share: 1.78 percent
Videocon Telecommunications Limited is a Videocon group company owned by
Venugopal Dhoot. It is headquartered in Gurgaon (NCR Delhi). Launched in April 2010,
Videocon Telecommunications Limited provides GSM services in almost all parts of India
including Tamil Nadu, Punjab, Haryana, Mumbai, Gujarat, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar
Pradesh, and Himachal Pradesh among others under the brand name of Videocon. The Videocon
group, an Indian Multinational company, is a global business conglomerate that has its roots
spread in diverse markets and generates revenues worth $4 billion annually. Videocon has one
of the strongest distribution networks in the country and enjoys a well-established reputation in
the global market.

8. MTNL
Market Share: 0.76 percent
MTNL or Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited is a publically-held telecom service
provider which operates only in metro cities; Mumbai and Delhi and the island nation of
Mauritius (Africa). Before the liberalization of the Indian economy, MTNL held a monopoly in
the cities of Delhi and Mumbai which it lost after the market was opened for other service
providers. The Indian government currently holds a 56.25 percent stake in the company that has
a motto Transparency Makes Us Different. Though, MTNLs inability to stand the stiff
competition it faced from other major telecom providers later has reduced its market share to
minimal decimals.


9. Loop Mobile
Market Share: 0.46 percent
The company started its operations in 1995 as BPL Mobile. Subsequent to the change of
shareholding in 2005, the Khaitan Holdings Group took ownership control. It has recently been
nominated in 2011 ET Telecom Awards in Customer Experience Enhancement Category for
Service Guarantee and Network Challenge initiatives. Loop Mobile introduced for the 1st time in
India a Network Challenge as giving subscribers money back for every call drop since December
2010. It also created a new benchmark in service in Mumbai by launching again for the 1st time
in India in December 2010 a Service Guarantee. This has two promises - to activate any service
within 15 minutes flat or answer all calls at call center within 10 seconds or else provide a free
coffee voucher to the customer.


Sector Prospects

Even after achieving astounding growth over the past few years, Indian telecom market
has still a huge untapped potential to grow further. With a large population, India is yet to have
complete access to telecommunications across the length and breadth of India. With overall tele-
density in India still being 66.17% and rural tele-density at 31.22%, there is significant growth
opportunity for the sector, especially in rural areas, especially with 3G and BWA yet to make
significant inroads.
The future progress of telecom in India is very promising. The addition of over 18 million
connections per month during 2010 puts the telecom sector on a strong footing. The target of 600
million telephones by the end of 11th five year plan has already been achieved in February,
2010. Rural tele-density target has been set at 40% by 2014. Industry estimates suggest that there
is a potential to reach beyond one billion telephones in India by 2015. According to industry
estimates, the revenues of the Indian telecom industry are projected to reach US$ 45 billion by
2012, compared with US$ 33 billion in 2009.
It has also been projected that the users for the broadband base are going to reach 100
million mark by 2014, particularly after the telecom companies roll out their 3G services, as per
a research study conducted by Crisil.