Communications in India
Encyclopedia
The Republic of India possesses a diversified communications system that links all parts of the country by Internet, telephone, telegraph, radio, and television. None of the telecommunications forms are as prevalent or as advanced as those in modern Western countries, but the system includes some of the most sophisticated technology in the world and constitutes a foundation for further development of a modern network. India has the world's second-largest mobile phone users with over 865 million as of August 2011. It has the world's fourth-largest Internet users with over 100 million as of December 2010. India has come to be regarded as the world's most competitive and one of the fastest growing telecom market.
The industry is expected to reach a size of by 2012 at a growth rate of over 26 per cent, and generate employment opportunities for about 10 million people during the same period. According to analysts, the sector would create direct employment for 2.8 million people and for 7 million indirectly. The total revenue of the Indian telecom sector grew by 7% to for 2010-11 financial year, while revenues from telecom equipment segment stood at .
methods from its meaning. Therefore, the history of Indian telecom can be started with the introduction of telegraph.
and Diamond Harbour
. In 1851, it was opened for the use of the British East India Company
. The Posts and Telegraphs department occupied a small corner of the Public Works Department, at that time.
Subsequently, the construction of 4000 miles (6,437.4 km) of telegraph lines connecting Kolkata (then Calcutta) and Peshawar
in the north along with Agra
, Mumbai
(then Bombay) through Sindwa Ghats, and Chennai
(then Madras) in the south, as well as Ootacamund
and Bangalore
was started in November 1853. Dr.William O'Shaughnessy
, who pioneered the telegraph and telephone
in India, belonged to the Public Works Department, and worked towards the development of telecom throughout this period. A separate department was opened in 1854 when telegraph facilities were opened to the public.
In 1880, two telephone companies namely The Oriental Telephone Company
Ltd. and The Anglo-Indian Telephone Company Ltd. approached the Government of India
to establish telephone exchange
s in India. The permission was refused on the grounds that the establishment of telephones was a Government monopoly and that the Government itself would undertake the work. In 1881, the Government later reversed its earlier decision and a licence was granted to the Oriental Telephone Company
Limited of England
for opening telephone exchanges at Calcutta, Bombay, Madras and Ahmedabad
and the first formal telephone service was established in the country. On the 28th January 1882, Major E. Baring, Member of the Governor General of India's Council declared open the Telephone Exchanges in Calcutta, Bombay and Madras. The exchange in Calcutta named the "Central Exchange", was opened at third floor of the building at 7, Council House Street, with a total of 93 subscribers. Later that year, Bombay also witnessed the opening of a telephone exchange.
While all the major cities and towns in the country were linked with telephones during the British
period, the total number of telephones in 1948 numbered only around 80,000. Post independence, growth remained slow because the telephone was seen more as a status symbol rather than being an instrument of utility. The number of telephones grew leisurely to 980,000 in 1971, 2.15 million in 1981 and 5.07 million in 1991, the year economic reforms were initiated in the country.
While certain measures were taken to boost the telecom industry from time to time, (for example introduction of the telex
service in Mumbai
in 1953 and commissioning of the first Subscriber trunk dialling
route between Delhi and Kanpur and between Lucknow and Kanpur in 1960), the first waves of change were set going by Sam Pitroda
in the eighties. The real transformation in scenario came with the announcement of the National Telecom Policy in 1994.
. DoT was responsible for telecom services in entire country until 1985 when Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited
(MTNL) was carved out of DoT to run the telecom services of Delhi
and Mumbai
. In 1990s the telecom sector was opened up by the Government for private investment as a part of Liberalisation-Privatization
-Globalization
policy. Therefore, it became necessary to separate the Government's policy wing from its operations wing. The Government of India
corporatised the operations wing of DoT on 1 October 2000 and named it as Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited
(BSNL). Many private operators, such as Reliance Communications
, Tata Indicom
, Vodafone
, Loop Mobile
, Airtel
, Idea
etc., successfully entered the high potential Indian telecom market.
Liberalization started in 1981 when Prime Minister Indira Gandhi
signed contracts with Alcatel CIT of France to merge with the state owned Telecom Company (ITI), in an effort to set up 5,000,000 lines per year. But soon the policy was let down because of political opposition. She invited Sam Pitroda a US based Non-resident Indian NRI
to set up a Center for Development of Telematics
(C-DOT), however the plan failed due to political reasons. During this period, after the assassination of Indira Gandhi, under the leadership of Rajiv Gandhi
, many public sector organizations were set up like the Department of Telecommunications (DoT), VSNL and MTNL. Many technological developments took place in this regime but still foreign players were not allowed to participate in the telecommunications business.
The demand for telephones was ever increasing. It was during this period that the Narsimha Rao-led government introduced the national telecommunications policy [NTP] in 1994 which brought changes in the following areas: ownership, service and regulation of telecommunications infrastructure. They were also successful in establishing joint ventures between state owned telecom companies and international players. But still complete ownership of facilities was restricted only to the government owned organizations. Foreign firms were eligible to 49% of the total stake. The multi-nationals were just involved in technology transfer, and not policy making.
During this period, the World Bank and ITU
had advised the Indian Government to liberalize long distance services in order to release the monopoly of the state owned DoT and VSNL; and to enable competition in the long distance carrier business which would help reduce tariff's and better the economy of the country. The Rao run government instead liberalized the local services, taking the opposite political parties into confidence and assuring foreign involvement in the long distance business after 5 years. The country was divided into 20 telecommunication circles for basic telephony and 18 circles for mobile services. These circles were divided into category A, B and C depending on the value of the revenue in each circle. The government threw open the bids to one private company per circle along with government owned DoT per circle. For cellular service two service providers were allowed per circle and a 15 years license was given to each provider. During all these improvements, the government did face oppositions from ITI, DoT, MTNL, VSNL and other labor unions, but they managed to keep away from all the hurdles.
After 1995 the government set up TRAI (Telecom Regulatory Authority of India) which reduced the interference of Government in deciding tariffs and policy making. The DoT opposed this. The political powers changed in 1999 and the new government under the leadership of Atal Bihari Vajpayee
was more pro-reforms and introduced better liberalization policies. They split DoT in two- one policy maker and the other service provider (DTS) which was later renamed as BSNL. The proposal of raising the stake of foreign investors from 49% to 74% was rejected by the opposite political party and leftist thinkers. Domestic business groups wanted the government to privatize VSNL. Finally in April 2002, the government decided to cut its stake of 53% to 26% in VSNL and to throw it open for sale to private enterprises. TATA finally took 25% stake in VSNL.
This was a gateway to many foreign investors to get entry into the Indian Telecom Markets. After March 2000, the government became more liberal in making policies and issuing licenses to private operators. The government further reduced license fees for cellular service providers and increased the allowable stake to 74% for foreign companies. Because of all these factors, the service fees finally reduced and the call costs were cut greatly enabling every common middle class
family in India to afford a cell phone. Nearly 32 million handsets were sold in India. The data reveals the real potential for growth of the Indian mobile market.
In March 2008 the total GSM and CDMA mobile subscriber base in the country was 375 million, which represented a nearly 50% growth when compared with previous year.
As the unbranded Chinese cell phones which do not have International Mobile Equipment Identity
(IMEI) numbers pose a serious security risk to the country, Mobile network operator
s therefore planned to suspend the usage of around 30 million mobile phone
s (about 8 % of all mobiles in the country) by 30 April. 5–6 years the average monthly subscribers additions were around 0.05 to 0.1 million only and the total mobile subscribers base in December 2002 stood at 10.5 millions. However, after a number of proactive initiatives were taken by regulators and licensors, the total number of mobile subscribers has increased greatly to 865 million subscribers as of August 2011.
India has opted for the use of both the GSM (global system for mobile communications)
and CDMA (code-division multiple access)
technologies in the mobile
sector. In addition to landline
and mobile phones, some of the companies also provide the WLL
service. The mobile tariffs in India have also become lowest in the world. A new mobile connection can be activated with a monthly commitment of US$0.15 only. In 2005 alone additions increased to around 2 million per month in the year 2003-04 and 2004-05.
In June 2009, the Government of India
banned the import of several mobile phones manufactured in China
citing concerns over quality and the lack of IMEI
's which make it difficult for authorities in India to track the sale and use of such phones. In April 2010, the Government was also reported to be blocking Indian service providers from purchasing Chinese mobile technology citing concerns that Chinese hackers could compromise the Indian telecommunications network during times of national emergency. A series of attacks
on Indian government website
s and computer network
s by suspected Chinese hackers has also made Indian regulators suspicious with regards to the import of potentially sensitive equipment from China. The companies reported to be affected by this are Huawei Technologies and ZTE
.
's Telecommunications Regulatory Environment (TRE) index, which summarizes stakeholders’ perception on certain TRE dimensions, provides insight into how conducive the environment is for further development and progress. The most recent survey was conducted in July 2008 in eight Asian countries, including Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Maldives, Pakistan, Thailand, and the Philippines. The tool measured seven dimensions: i) market entry; ii) access to scarce resources; iii) interconnection; iv) tariff regulation; v) anti-competitive practices; and vi) universal services; vii) quality of service, for the fixed, mobile and broadband sectors.
The results for India, point out to the fact that the stakeholders perceive the TRE to be most conducive
for the mobile sector followed by fixed and then broadband. Other than for Access to Scarce
Resources the fixed sector lags behind the mobile sector. The fixed and mobile sectors have
the highest scores for Tariff Regulation. Market entry also scores well for the mobile sector
as competition is well entrenched with most of the circles with 4-5 mobile service providers.
The broadband sector has the lowest score in the aggregate. The low penetration of
broadband of mere 3.87 against the policy objective of 9 million at then end of 2007 clearly
indicates that the regulatory environment is not very conducive.
Telecommunication is the lifeline of the rapidly growing Information Technology industry. Internet subscriber base has risen to more than a 100 million in 2010. Out of this 11.47 million were broadband
connections. More than a billion people use the Internet globally. Under the Bharat Nirman Programme, the Government of India will ensure that 66,822 revenue villages in the country, which have not yet been provided with a Village Public Telephone (VPT), will be connected. However doubts have been raised about what it would mean for the poor in the country.
It is difficult to ascertain fully the employment potential of the telecom sector but the enormity of the opportunities can be gauged from the fact that there were 3.7 million Public Call Offices in December 2005 up from 2.3 million in December 2004.
The Total Revenue of Indian Telecom Services company is likely to exceed Rs 200000 Cr ( US$ 44 Bn approx) for FY 11-12 based on FY 10-11 nos and latest quarterly results. These are consolidated nos including foreign operation of Bharti Airtel. The major contributions to this revenue are as follows:
Bharti Airtel 65,060
Reliance Comm 31,468
Idea Cellular 16,936
Tata Comm 11,931
MTNL 4,380
TTML 2,248
BSNL 32,045
Voda 18,376
TataTeleservice 9,200
Aircel 7,968
SSTL 600
Uninor 660
Loop 560
Stel 60
HFCL 204
Videocon Telecom 254
DB Etisalat/ Allianz 47
Grand Total Rs 201,997 Crs
contributed by Sanjay Banka, FCA
The primary regulator of telecommunications in India is the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI). It closely regulates all of the industries mentioned below with the exception of newspapers and the Internet service provider industry. The telecommunications industry in India is dominated by private-sector and two state-run businesses. Most companies were formed by a recent revolution and restructuring launched within a decade, directed by Ministry of Communications and IT
, Department of Telecommunications and Minister of Finance. Since then, most companies gained 2G
, 3G
and 4G
licenses and engaged fixed-line, mobile and internet business in India. On landlines, intra-circle calls are considered local calls while inter-circle are considered long distance calls. Foreign Direct Investment policy which increased the foreign ownership cap from 49% to 74%. Currently Government is working to integrate the whole country in one telecom circle. For long distance calls, the area code prefixed with a zero is dialed first which is then followed by the number (i.e. To call Delhi
, 011 would be dialed first followed by the phone number). For international calls, "00" must be dialed first followed by the country code, area code and local phone number. The country code for India is 91. Several international fiber-optic links include those to Japan, South Korea, Hong Kong, Russia, and Germany. Some major telecom operators in India include Airtel, Vodafone, Idea, Aircel, BSNL, MTNL, Reliance Communications, TATA Teleservices, Infotel, MTS, Uninor, TATA DoCoMo, Videocon, Augere, Tikona Digital.
Telephone Subscribers (Wireless and Landline): 900 million (July 2011)
Land Lines: 34.07 million (August 2011)
Cell phones: 865.71 million (August 2011)
Monthly Cell phone Addition: 7.34 million (August 2011)
Teledensity: 74.96 % (August 2011)
Projected Teledensity: 1 billion, 84% of population by 2012.
The country is divided into multiple zones, called circles (roughly along state boundaries). Government and several private players run local and long distance telephone services. Competition has caused prices to drop and calls across India are one of the cheapest in the world. The rates are supposed to go down further with new measures to be taken by the Information Ministry. In September 2004, the number of mobile phone connections crossed the number of fixed-line connections and presently dwarfs the wireline segment by a ratio of around 20:1. The mobile subscriber base has grown by a factor of over a hundred and thirty, from 5 million subscribers in 2001 to over 851 million subscribers as of June 2011. India primarily follows the GSM mobile system, in the 900 MHz band. Recent operators also operate in the 1800 MHz band. The dominant players are Airtel, Reliance Infocomm, Vodafone
, Idea cellular
and BSNL/MTNL. There are many smaller players, with operations in only a few states. International roaming
agreements exist between most operators and many foreign carriers. The government allowed Mobile number portability
(MNP) which enables mobile telephone users to retain their mobile telephone numbers when changing from one mobile network operator to another. India is divided into 22 telecom circles.
A list of states (including the metros Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai in their respective states and excluding National Capital Territory Delhi
) with the largest subscriber base
is given below
and Mumbai
and BSNL servicing all other areas of the country. Due to the rapid growth of the cellular phone industry in India, landlines are facing stiff competition from cellular operators. This has forced land-line service providers to become more efficient and improve their quality of service. Land-line connections are now also available on demand, even in high density urban areas. India has over 35 million main line customers.
Internet Service Provider
s (ISPs): 180 (2010)
Internet hosts: 4,536,000;
Internet users: 100 million;
Broadband Internet users: 13 million (June 2011)
Internet access in India is largely provided by the private sector and two state-run companies and is available in a variety of forms, using a variety of technologies, at a wide range of speeds and costs. The country has the world's fourth largest Internet users with over 100 million users (of whom 40 million use the Internet via mobile phones) as of December 2010. However, the Internet penetration in India is one of the lowest in the world and only accounts for 8.4% of the population compared to OECD counties where average penetration rate is over 50%. The number of broadband Internet subscribers in India has started to become more significant, having more than doubled in the two-year period to end-2009. DSL, whilst holding slightly more than 75% of the local broadband market, was steadily losing market share to other non-DSL broadband platforms, especially to wireless broadband platforms. The 3G auction was followed by an equally high profile auction of 4G spectrum that set the scene for a competitive and invigorated wireless broadband market.
The growth in number of broadband connections in India has accelerated since 2006. As of June 2011, total broadband Internet connections in India had reached 13 million constituting 1.0% of the population. India has one of the lowest penetrations of broadband connectivity in the world.
A number of private Internet Service Provider
s (ISPs) offer services in India, many with their own local loop and gateway infrastructures. BSNL and MTNL have continued to dominate the ISP market because of their existing massive copper infrastructure in the last-mile across the nation. An estimated 60% of Internet users were still regularly accessing the Internet via the country’s more than 10,000 cybercafes.
According to International Telecommunication Union
, the international average broadband speed is at 5.6 Mbps, whereas in India the average speed hoovers at 256 kbit/s which is the minimum speed set by TRAI
. The government declared 2007 to be “the year of broadband.” Four years later, Indian broadband failed to deliver a download speeds of which other developed nations delivers. South Korea led the list with an average of 43 Mbps, followed by Japan (10.6 Mbps) and United States (4.6 Mbps).
India broadband growth is hampered by various challenges, including a complicated tariff structure, metered billing, higher charges for right of way and absence of local-loop unbundling.
FTTB services are currently supplied in Hyderabad by Beam Telecom, offering a variety of plans for home users up to 6 Mbit/s, "power users" up to 20 Mbit/s and enterprises up to 30 Mbit/s. Beam Telecom have also launched fristever FTTH Solution in Hyderabad in three major townships by end of 2010, they have planned to complete FTTH setup in 20 upcoming townships by the end of 2011.
Triple-play FTTH services are due to be launched in 2011 by Hayai Broadband. Services will be offered via an entirely Passive Optical Network, allowing speeds of 100+ Mbit/s to the Internet and 1000+ Mbit/s (1 Gbit/s) within its own network. The coverage area will include most suburbs in Mumbai and the company has announced intentions to spread to other cities and even rural areas. It has coverage ready in the Northern Suburbs of Mumbai based on a UTStarcom platform, however the company expects to replace this with a platform by either Alcatel Lucent or Motorola.
Radio broadcast stations: AM
153, FM
91, shortwave
68 (1998), Domestica Radio, Broadcasting
Radios: 116 million (1997)
Television broadcast stations: 1,400 (of which 82 stations have 1 kW or greater power and 480 stations have less than 1 kW of power) (2009)
Televisions: 110 million (2006)
In India, only the government owned Doordarshan
has the license for terrestrial television broadcast. Over the years, Doordarshan services have grown from a single national channel to six national and eleven regional channels.
Satellite/Cable television took off during the first Gulf War
with CNN
. There are no regulations against ownership of satellite dish
antennas, or operation of cable television systems, which led to an explosion of viewership and channels, led by the Star TV
group and Zee TV
. Initially restricted to music and entertainment channels, viewership grew, giving rise to several channels in regional language
s, especially Hindi
. The main news channels available were CNN
and BBC World
. In the late 1990s, many current affairs and news channels sprouted, becoming immensely popular because of the alternative viewpoint they offered compared to Doordarshan. Some of the notable ones are Aaj Tak
(means Till Today, run by the India Today
group) and STAR News
, CNN-IBN, Times Now
, initially run by the NDTV
group and their lead anchor, Prannoy Roy
(NDTV
now has its own channels, NDTV 24x7, NDTV Profit and NDTV India).New Delhi TeleVision.
, multiple access networks can connect customers to a core network based on IP
technology. These access networks include fibre optics or coaxial cable
networks connected to fixed locations or customers connected through wi-fi
as well as to 3G
and 4G
networks connected to mobile
users. As a result, in the future, it would be impossible to identify whether the next generation network is a fixed or mobile network and the wireless access
broadband
would be used both for fixed
and mobile services. It would then be futile to differentiate between fixed and mobile networks – both fixed and mobile users will access services through a single core network
. Most telecom companies won 3G and 4G licences in a competitive auction
. They have now rolled out their third-generation (3G) mobile services since early 2010, but most companies will officially launch fourth-generation (4G) mobile services based on LTE
or Long Term Evolution technology from 2012.
Indian telecom networks are not so intensive as developed country’s telecom networks and India's teledensity is low only in rural areas. 670,000 route kilometers (419,000 miles) of optical fibres has been laid in India by the major operators, even in remote areas and the process continues. BSNL alone, has laid optical fibre to 30,000 Telephone Exchanges
out of their 36 Exchanges. Keeping in mind the viability of providing services in rural areas, an attractive solution appears to be one which offers multiple service facility at low costs. A rural network based on the extensive optical fibre network, using Internet Protocol
and offering a variety of services and the availability of open platforms for service development, viz. the Next Generation Network, appears to be an attractive proposition. Fibre network can be easily converted to Next Generation network and then used for delivering multiple services at cheap cost.
The industry is expected to reach a size of by 2012 at a growth rate of over 26 per cent, and generate employment opportunities for about 10 million people during the same period. According to analysts, the sector would create direct employment for 2.8 million people and for 7 million indirectly. The total revenue of the Indian telecom sector grew by 7% to for 2010-11 financial year, while revenues from telecom equipment segment stood at .
History
Telecom in the real sense means the transfer of information between two distant points in space. The popular meaning of telecom always involves electrical signals and as a result, people often exclude postal or any other raw telecommunicationTelecommunication
Telecommunication is the transmission of information over significant distances to communicate. In earlier times, telecommunications involved the use of visual signals, such as beacons, smoke signals, semaphore telegraphs, signal flags, and optical heliographs, or audio messages via coded...
methods from its meaning. Therefore, the history of Indian telecom can be started with the introduction of telegraph.
Introduction
The Indian postal and telecom sectors saw a slow and uneasy start. In 1850, the first experimental electric telegraph line was started between KolkataKolkata
Kolkata , formerly known as Calcutta, is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal. Located on the east bank of the Hooghly River, it was the commercial capital of East India...
and Diamond Harbour
Diamond Harbour
Diamond Harbour is in the southern suburbs of Kolkata, on the banks of the Hooghly River quite near where the river meets the Bay of Bengal. This small town is a popular weekend tourist spot located in South 24 Parganas district....
. In 1851, it was opened for the use of the British East India Company
British East India Company
The East India Company was an early English joint-stock company that was formed initially for pursuing trade with the East Indies, but that ended up trading mainly with the Indian subcontinent and China...
. The Posts and Telegraphs department occupied a small corner of the Public Works Department, at that time.
Subsequently, the construction of 4000 miles (6,437.4 km) of telegraph lines connecting Kolkata (then Calcutta) and Peshawar
Peshawar
Peshawar is the capital of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and the administrative center and central economic hub for the Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan....
in the north along with Agra
Agra
Agra a.k.a. Akbarabad is a city on the banks of the river Yamuna in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh, India, west of state capital, Lucknow and south from national capital New Delhi. With a population of 1,686,976 , it is one of the most populous cities in Uttar Pradesh and the 19th most...
, Mumbai
Mumbai
Mumbai , formerly known as Bombay in English, is the capital of the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is the most populous city in India, and the fourth most populous city in the world, with a total metropolitan area population of approximately 20.5 million...
(then Bombay) through Sindwa Ghats, and Chennai
Chennai
Chennai , formerly known as Madras or Madarasapatinam , is the capital city of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu, located on the Coromandel Coast off the Bay of Bengal. Chennai is the fourth most populous metropolitan area and the sixth most populous city in India...
(then Madras) in the south, as well as Ootacamund
Ootacamund
Ootacamund , is a town, a municipality and the district capital of the Nilgiris district in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. Ootacamund is a popular hill station located in the Nilgiri Hills...
and Bangalore
Bangalore
Bengaluru , formerly called Bengaluru is the capital of the Indian state of Karnataka. Bangalore is nicknamed the Garden City and was once called a pensioner's paradise. Located on the Deccan Plateau in the south-eastern part of Karnataka, Bangalore is India's third most populous city and...
was started in November 1853. Dr.William O'Shaughnessy
William Brooke O'Shaughnessy
William Brooke O'Shaughnessy MD FRS was an Irish physician famous for his work in pharmacology and inventions related to telegraphy...
, who pioneered the telegraph and telephone
Telephone
The telephone , colloquially referred to as a phone, is a telecommunications device that transmits and receives sounds, usually the human voice. Telephones are a point-to-point communication system whose most basic function is to allow two people separated by large distances to talk to each other...
in India, belonged to the Public Works Department, and worked towards the development of telecom throughout this period. A separate department was opened in 1854 when telegraph facilities were opened to the public.
- 1960 - First subscriber trunk dialing route commissioned between LucknowLucknowLucknow is the capital city of Uttar Pradesh in India. Lucknow is the administrative headquarters of Lucknow District and Lucknow Division....
and Kanpur. - 1975 - First PCM system commissioned between MumbaiMumbaiMumbai , formerly known as Bombay in English, is the capital of the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is the most populous city in India, and the fourth most populous city in the world, with a total metropolitan area population of approximately 20.5 million...
City and Andheri telephone exchanges. - 1976 - First digitalDigitalA digital system is a data technology that uses discrete values. By contrast, non-digital systems use a continuous range of values to represent information...
microwaveMicrowaveMicrowaves, a subset of radio waves, have wavelengths ranging from as long as one meter to as short as one millimeter, or equivalently, with frequencies between 300 MHz and 300 GHz. This broad definition includes both UHF and EHF , and various sources use different boundaries...
junction
In 1880, two telephone companies namely The Oriental Telephone Company
Oriental Telephone Company
The Oriental Telephone Company "was established on January 25, 1881, as the result of an agreement between Thomas Edison, Alexander Graham Bell, the Oriental Bell Telephone Company of New York and the Anglo-Indian Telephone Company, Ltd. The company was licensed to sell telephones in Greece,...
Ltd. and The Anglo-Indian Telephone Company Ltd. approached the Government of India
Government of India
The Government of India, officially known as the Union Government, and also known as the Central Government, was established by the Constitution of India, and is the governing authority of the union of 28 states and seven union territories, collectively called the Republic of India...
to establish telephone exchange
Telephone exchange
In the field of telecommunications, a telephone exchange or telephone switch is a system of electronic components that connects telephone calls...
s in India. The permission was refused on the grounds that the establishment of telephones was a Government monopoly and that the Government itself would undertake the work. In 1881, the Government later reversed its earlier decision and a licence was granted to the Oriental Telephone Company
Oriental Telephone Company
The Oriental Telephone Company "was established on January 25, 1881, as the result of an agreement between Thomas Edison, Alexander Graham Bell, the Oriental Bell Telephone Company of New York and the Anglo-Indian Telephone Company, Ltd. The company was licensed to sell telephones in Greece,...
Limited of England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
for opening telephone exchanges at Calcutta, Bombay, Madras and Ahmedabad
Ahmedabad
Ahmedabad also known as Karnavati is the largest city in Gujarat, India. It is the former capital of Gujarat and is also the judicial capital of Gujarat as the Gujarat High Court has its seat in Ahmedabad...
and the first formal telephone service was established in the country. On the 28th January 1882, Major E. Baring, Member of the Governor General of India's Council declared open the Telephone Exchanges in Calcutta, Bombay and Madras. The exchange in Calcutta named the "Central Exchange", was opened at third floor of the building at 7, Council House Street, with a total of 93 subscribers. Later that year, Bombay also witnessed the opening of a telephone exchange.
Further milestones and developments
- Pre-1902 - Cable telegraphTelegraphyTelegraphy is the long-distance transmission of messages via some form of signalling technology. Telegraphy requires messages to be converted to a code which is known to both sender and receiver...
- 1902 - First wireless telegraph station established between Sagar Islands and Sandheads.
- 1907 - First Central Battery of telephones introduced in Kanpur.
- 1913-1914 - First Automatic Exchange installed in ShimlaShimlaShimla , formerly known as Simla, is the capital city of Himachal Pradesh. In 1864, Shimla was declared the summer capital of the British Raj in India. A popular tourist destination, Shimla is often referred to as the "Queen of Hills," a term coined by the British...
. - 1927 - Radio-telegraph system between the UKUnited KingdomThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
and India, with Imperial Wireless ChainImperial Wireless ChainThe Imperial Wireless Chain, also known as the Empire Wireless Chain, was a strategic international wireless telegraphy communications network, created to link the countries of the British Empire. Although the idea was conceived prior to World War I, Britain was the last of the world's Great Powers...
beam stations at KhadkiKhadkiThere is also an Andean instrument called the Kirki.Khadki is a city neighbourhood of Pune. It has an army base, two ordinance factories and several breweries....
and DaundDaundDaund is a city and a municipal council in Pune district in the state of Maharashtra, India. In ancient times a sage, 'Dhaumya Rishi' used to stay here, hence people started calling this place after him: 'Dhaum'. Gradually 'Dhaum' became 'Dhoand', then 'Dhaundh', and before it getting corrupted to...
. Inaugurated by Lord Irwin on 23 July by exchanging greetings with King George VGeorge VGeorge V was king of the United Kingdom and its dominions from 1910 to 1936.George V or similar terms may also refer to:-People:* George V of Georgia * George V of Imereti * George V of Hanover...
. - 1933 - RadiotelephoneRadiotelephoneA radiotelephone is a communications system for transmission of speech over radio. Radiotelephone systems are not necessarily interconnected with the public "land line" telephone network. "Radiotelephone" is often used to describe the usage of radio spectrum where it is important to distinguish the...
system inaugurated between the UK and India. - 1953 - 12 channel carrier systemoduced.
- 1979 - First optical fibreOptical fiberAn optical fiber is a flexible, transparent fiber made of a pure glass not much wider than a human hair. It functions as a waveguide, or "light pipe", to transmit light between the two ends of the fiber. The field of applied science and engineering concerned with the design and application of...
system for local junction commissioned at PunePunePune , is the eighth largest metropolis in India, the second largest in the state of Maharashtra after Mumbai, and the largest city in the Western Ghats. Once the centre of power of the Maratha Empire, it is situated 560 metres above sea level on the Deccan plateau at the confluence of the Mula ...
. - 1980 - First satellite earth stationSatellite earth stationA ground station, earth station, or earth terminal is a terrestrial terminal station designed for extraplanetary telecommunication with spacecraft, and/or reception of radio waves from an astronomical radio source. Ground stations are located either on the surface of the Earth, or within Earth's...
for domestic communications established at SikandarabadSikandarabadSikandarabad is the located in Hunza-Nagar District of Gilgit-Baltistan in Pakistan.-See also:* Former State of Hunza* Baltit Fort* Altit Fort* Northern Areas* Karakoram Highway* Karakoram Mountains* Nagar Valley* Burusho* Ganish Village...
, U.P.Uttar PradeshUttar Pradesh abbreviation U.P. , is a state located in the northern part of India. With a population of over 200 million people, it is India's most populous state, as well as the world's most populous sub-national entity...
. - 1983 - First analogAnalog signalAn analog or analogue signal is any continuous signal for which the time varying feature of the signal is a representation of some other time varying quantity, i.e., analogous to another time varying signal. It differs from a digital signal in terms of small fluctuations in the signal which are...
Stored Program Control exchange for trunk lines commissioned at Mumbai. - 1984 - C-DOTC-DOTThe Centre for Development of Telematics is an Indian Government owned Telecom Technology development Centre,. It was established in 1984 with initial mandate of designing and developing digital exchanges. Today, C-DOT has expanded itself in the area of Telecom. C-DOT is now a Next Generation...
established for indigenous development and production of digitalDigitalA digital system is a data technology that uses discrete values. By contrast, non-digital systems use a continuous range of values to represent information...
exchanges. - 1995 - First mobile telephone service started on non-commercial basis on 15 August 1995 in DelhiDelhiDelhi , officially National Capital Territory of Delhi , is the largest metropolis by area and the second-largest by population in India, next to Mumbai. It is the eighth largest metropolis in the world by population with 16,753,265 inhabitants in the Territory at the 2011 Census...
. - 1995 - Internet Introduced in India starting with Delhi, Bombay, Calcutta, Chennai and Pune on 15 August 1995
While all the major cities and towns in the country were linked with telephones during the British
British Raj
British Raj was the British rule in the Indian subcontinent between 1858 and 1947; The term can also refer to the period of dominion...
period, the total number of telephones in 1948 numbered only around 80,000. Post independence, growth remained slow because the telephone was seen more as a status symbol rather than being an instrument of utility. The number of telephones grew leisurely to 980,000 in 1971, 2.15 million in 1981 and 5.07 million in 1991, the year economic reforms were initiated in the country.
While certain measures were taken to boost the telecom industry from time to time, (for example introduction of the telex
Telex
Telex may refer to:* Telex , , a communications network** Teleprinter, the device used on the above network* Telex , a Belgian pop group...
service in Mumbai
Mumbai
Mumbai , formerly known as Bombay in English, is the capital of the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is the most populous city in India, and the fourth most populous city in the world, with a total metropolitan area population of approximately 20.5 million...
in 1953 and commissioning of the first Subscriber trunk dialling
Subscriber trunk dialling
Subscriber trunk dialling is a term for a telephone system allowing subscribers to dial trunk calls without operator assistance.- Terminology :...
route between Delhi and Kanpur and between Lucknow and Kanpur in 1960), the first waves of change were set going by Sam Pitroda
Sam Pitroda
Satyanarayan Gangaram Pitroda popularly known as Sam Pitroda is an inventor, entrepreneur and policymaker. Currently Advisor to the Prime Minister of India on Public Information Infrastructure & Innovations, he is also widely considered to have been responsible for India’s communications revolution...
in the eighties. The real transformation in scenario came with the announcement of the National Telecom Policy in 1994.
Modern policies
- All villages shall receive telecom facilities by the end of 2002.
- A Communication Convergence Bill introduced in the Parliament on August 31, 2001 is presently before the Standing Committee of Parliament on Telecom and IT.
- National Long Distance Service (NLD) is opened for unrestricted entry.
- The International Long Distance Services (ILDS) have been opened to competition.
- The basic services are open to competition.
- In addition to the existing three, a fourth cellular operator, one each in four metros and thirteen circles, has been permitted. Cellular operators have been permitted to provide all types of mobile services including voice and non-voice messages, data services and PCOsPublic call officeA Public call office is a telephone facility located in a public place in India and Pakistan. It is also another name in the United Kingdom for a public telephone box .-PCO in India:...
utilizing any type of network equipment, including circuit and/or package switches that meet certain required standards. - Policies allowing private participation have been announced as per the New Telecom Policy (NTP), 1999 in several new services, which include Global Mobile Personal Communication by Satellite (GMPCS) Service, digital Public Mobile Radio Trunked Service (PMRTS) and Voice Mail/ Audiotex/ Unified Messaging Services.
- Wireless Local Loop (WLL)Wireless local loopWireless local loop , is a term for the use of a wireless communications link as the "last mile / first mile" connection for delivering plain old telephone service and/or broadband Internet to telecommunications customers....
has been introduced to provide telephone connections in urban, semi-urban and rural areas promptly. - Two telecom PSUs, VSNL and HTL have been disinvested.
- Steps are being taken to fulfill Universal Service Obligation (USO), funding, and administration.
- A decision to permit Community Phone Service has been announced.
- Multiple Fixed Service Providers (FSPs) licensing guidelines were announced.
- Internet Service Providers (ISPs) have been allowed to set up International Internet Gateways, both Satellite and Landing stations for submarine optical fiber cables.
- Two categories of infrastructure providers have been allowed to provide end-to-end bandwidth and dark fiber, right of way, towers, duct space etc.
- Guidelines have been issued by the Government to open up Internet telephony (IP).
Emergence as a major player
In 1975, the Department of Telecom (DoT) was separated from Indian Post & Telecommunication Accounts and Finance ServiceIndian Post & Telecommunication Accounts and Finance Service
The Indian Post & Telecommunication Accounts and Finance Service is a Group "A" Central Civil service of the Union of India...
. DoT was responsible for telecom services in entire country until 1985 when Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited
Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited
Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited is a state-owned telecommunications service provider in the metro cities of Mumbai and New Delhi in India. The company was a monopoly until 1992, when the telecom sector was opened to other service providers. Transparency makes us different- is the motto of the...
(MTNL) was carved out of DoT to run the telecom services of Delhi
Delhi
Delhi , officially National Capital Territory of Delhi , is the largest metropolis by area and the second-largest by population in India, next to Mumbai. It is the eighth largest metropolis in the world by population with 16,753,265 inhabitants in the Territory at the 2011 Census...
and Mumbai
Mumbai
Mumbai , formerly known as Bombay in English, is the capital of the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is the most populous city in India, and the fourth most populous city in the world, with a total metropolitan area population of approximately 20.5 million...
. In 1990s the telecom sector was opened up by the Government for private investment as a part of Liberalisation-Privatization
Privatization
Privatization is the incidence or process of transferring ownership of a business, enterprise, agency or public service from the public sector to the private sector or to private non-profit organizations...
-Globalization
Globalization
Globalization refers to the increasingly global relationships of culture, people and economic activity. Most often, it refers to economics: the global distribution of the production of goods and services, through reduction of barriers to international trade such as tariffs, export fees, and import...
policy. Therefore, it became necessary to separate the Government's policy wing from its operations wing. The Government of India
Government of India
The Government of India, officially known as the Union Government, and also known as the Central Government, was established by the Constitution of India, and is the governing authority of the union of 28 states and seven union territories, collectively called the Republic of India...
corporatised the operations wing of DoT on 1 October 2000 and named it as Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited
Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited
Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited is a state-owned telecommunications company headquartered in New Delhi, India. It is the largest provider of fixed telephony and fourth largest mobile telephony provider in India, and is also a provider of broadband services...
(BSNL). Many private operators, such as Reliance Communications
Reliance Communications
Reliance Communications Ltd. is an Indian broadband and telecommunications company headquartered in Navi Mumbai, India. RCOM is the world's 16th largest mobile phone operator with over 144 million subscribers. Established on 2004, a subsidiary of the Reliance Group...
, Tata Indicom
Tata Indicom
Tata Teleservices Limited is a Indian broadband and telecommunications provider based in Mumbai, India. It is a subsidiary of the Tata Group, an Indian conglomerate...
, Vodafone
Vodafone Essar
Vodafone Essar, formerly Hutchison Essar, is a cellular operator in India that covers 23 telecom circles in India. It is based in Mumbai. On July 2011, Vodafone Group agreed terms for the buy-out of its partner Essar from its Indian mobile phone business. The UK firm paid $5.46 billion to its...
, Loop Mobile
Loop Mobile India
Loop Mobile , usually referred to as LOOP is a mobile phone service provider in India. It offers both prepaid and postpaid GSM cellular phone coverage in Assam, Kolkata, North East, Mumbai, Madhya Pradesh, Haryana, Orissa, Punjab, Rajasthan after receiving a license to operate across 21 telecom...
, Airtel
Bharti Airtel
Bharti Airtel Limited , commonly known as Airtel, is an Indian telecommunications company that operates in 20 countries across South Asia, Africa and the Channel Islands. It operates a GSM network in all countries, providing 2G or 3G services depending upon the country of operation...
, Idea
Idea cellular
Idea Cellular, usually referred to as Idea, is an Indian wireless telecom company based in Mumbai, India. Idea is the 3rd largest mobile services operator in India, in revenue terms, and recorded of over 98.4 million customers as of August 2011....
etc., successfully entered the high potential Indian telecom market.
Privatization
The Indian government was composed of many factions (parties) which had different ideologies. Some of them were willing to throw open the market to foreign players (the centrists) and others wanted the government to regulate infrastructure and restrict the involvement of foreign players. Due to this political background it was very difficult to bring about liberalization in telecommunications. When a bill was in parliament a majority vote had to be passed, and such a majority was difficult to obtain, given to the number of parties having different ideologies.Liberalization started in 1981 when Prime Minister Indira Gandhi
Indira Gandhi
Indira Priyadarshini Gandhara was an Indian politician who served as the third Prime Minister of India for three consecutive terms and a fourth term . She was assassinated by Sikh extremists...
signed contracts with Alcatel CIT of France to merge with the state owned Telecom Company (ITI), in an effort to set up 5,000,000 lines per year. But soon the policy was let down because of political opposition. She invited Sam Pitroda a US based Non-resident Indian NRI
Non-resident Indian and Person of Indian Origin
A Non-Resident Indian is an Indian citizen who has migrated to another country, a person of Indian origin who is born outside India, or a person of Indian origin who resides permanently outside India. Other terms with the same meaning are overseas Indian and expatriate Indian...
to set up a Center for Development of Telematics
C-DOT
The Centre for Development of Telematics is an Indian Government owned Telecom Technology development Centre,. It was established in 1984 with initial mandate of designing and developing digital exchanges. Today, C-DOT has expanded itself in the area of Telecom. C-DOT is now a Next Generation...
(C-DOT), however the plan failed due to political reasons. During this period, after the assassination of Indira Gandhi, under the leadership of Rajiv Gandhi
Rajiv Gandhi
Rajiv Ratna Gandhi was the sixth Prime Minister of India . He took office after his mother's assassination on 31 October 1984; he himself was assassinated on 21 May 1991. He became the youngest Prime Minister of India when he took office at the age of 40.Rajiv Gandhi was the elder son of Indira...
, many public sector organizations were set up like the Department of Telecommunications (DoT), VSNL and MTNL. Many technological developments took place in this regime but still foreign players were not allowed to participate in the telecommunications business.
The demand for telephones was ever increasing. It was during this period that the Narsimha Rao-led government introduced the national telecommunications policy [NTP] in 1994 which brought changes in the following areas: ownership, service and regulation of telecommunications infrastructure. They were also successful in establishing joint ventures between state owned telecom companies and international players. But still complete ownership of facilities was restricted only to the government owned organizations. Foreign firms were eligible to 49% of the total stake. The multi-nationals were just involved in technology transfer, and not policy making.
During this period, the World Bank and ITU
Itu
Itu is an old and historic municipality in the state of São Paulo in Brazil. The population in 2009 was 157,384 and the area is 641.68 km². The elevation is 583 m. This place name comes from the Tupi language, meaning big waterfall. Itu is linked with the highway numbered the SP-75 and are flowed...
had advised the Indian Government to liberalize long distance services in order to release the monopoly of the state owned DoT and VSNL; and to enable competition in the long distance carrier business which would help reduce tariff's and better the economy of the country. The Rao run government instead liberalized the local services, taking the opposite political parties into confidence and assuring foreign involvement in the long distance business after 5 years. The country was divided into 20 telecommunication circles for basic telephony and 18 circles for mobile services. These circles were divided into category A, B and C depending on the value of the revenue in each circle. The government threw open the bids to one private company per circle along with government owned DoT per circle. For cellular service two service providers were allowed per circle and a 15 years license was given to each provider. During all these improvements, the government did face oppositions from ITI, DoT, MTNL, VSNL and other labor unions, but they managed to keep away from all the hurdles.
After 1995 the government set up TRAI (Telecom Regulatory Authority of India) which reduced the interference of Government in deciding tariffs and policy making. The DoT opposed this. The political powers changed in 1999 and the new government under the leadership of Atal Bihari Vajpayee
Atal Bihari Vajpayee
Atal Bihari Vajpayee is an Indian statesman who served as the tenth Prime Minister of India three times – first for a brief term of 13 days in 1996, and then for two terms from 1998 to 2004. After his first brief period as Prime Minister in 1996, Vajpayee headed a coalition government from...
was more pro-reforms and introduced better liberalization policies. They split DoT in two- one policy maker and the other service provider (DTS) which was later renamed as BSNL. The proposal of raising the stake of foreign investors from 49% to 74% was rejected by the opposite political party and leftist thinkers. Domestic business groups wanted the government to privatize VSNL. Finally in April 2002, the government decided to cut its stake of 53% to 26% in VSNL and to throw it open for sale to private enterprises. TATA finally took 25% stake in VSNL.
This was a gateway to many foreign investors to get entry into the Indian Telecom Markets. After March 2000, the government became more liberal in making policies and issuing licenses to private operators. The government further reduced license fees for cellular service providers and increased the allowable stake to 74% for foreign companies. Because of all these factors, the service fees finally reduced and the call costs were cut greatly enabling every common middle class
Middle class
The middle class is any class of people in the middle of a societal hierarchy. In Weberian socio-economic terms, the middle class is the broad group of people in contemporary society who fall socio-economically between the working class and upper class....
family in India to afford a cell phone. Nearly 32 million handsets were sold in India. The data reveals the real potential for growth of the Indian mobile market.
In March 2008 the total GSM and CDMA mobile subscriber base in the country was 375 million, which represented a nearly 50% growth when compared with previous year.
As the unbranded Chinese cell phones which do not have International Mobile Equipment Identity
International Mobile Equipment Identity
The International Mobile Equipment Identity or IMEI is a number, usually unique, to identify GSM, WCDMA, and iDEN mobile phones, as well as some satellite phones. It is usually found printed inside the battery compartment of the phone...
(IMEI) numbers pose a serious security risk to the country, Mobile network operator
Mobile network operator
A mobile network operator , also known as mobile phone operator , carrier service provider , wireless service provider, wireless carrier, or cellular company, or mobile network carrier is a telephone company that provides services for mobile phone subscribers.One essential...
s therefore planned to suspend the usage of around 30 million mobile phone
Mobile phone
A mobile phone is a device which can make and receive telephone calls over a radio link whilst moving around a wide geographic area. It does so by connecting to a cellular network provided by a mobile network operator...
s (about 8 % of all mobiles in the country) by 30 April. 5–6 years the average monthly subscribers additions were around 0.05 to 0.1 million only and the total mobile subscribers base in December 2002 stood at 10.5 millions. However, after a number of proactive initiatives were taken by regulators and licensors, the total number of mobile subscribers has increased greatly to 865 million subscribers as of August 2011.
India has opted for the use of both the GSM (global system for mobile communications)
Global System for Mobile Communications
GSM , is a standard set developed by the European Telecommunications Standards Institute to describe technologies for second generation digital cellular networks...
and CDMA (code-division multiple access)
Code division multiple access
Code division multiple access is a channel access method used by various radio communication technologies. It should not be confused with the mobile phone standards called cdmaOne, CDMA2000 and WCDMA , which are often referred to as simply CDMA, and use CDMA as an underlying channel access...
technologies in the mobile
Mobile phone
A mobile phone is a device which can make and receive telephone calls over a radio link whilst moving around a wide geographic area. It does so by connecting to a cellular network provided by a mobile network operator...
sector. In addition to landline
Landline
A landline was originally an overland telegraph wire, as opposed to an undersea cable. Currently, landline refers to a telephone line which travels through a solid medium, either metal wire or optical fibre, as distinguished from a mobile cellular line, where transmission is via radio waves...
and mobile phones, some of the companies also provide the WLL
Wireless local loop
Wireless local loop , is a term for the use of a wireless communications link as the "last mile / first mile" connection for delivering plain old telephone service and/or broadband Internet to telecommunications customers....
service. The mobile tariffs in India have also become lowest in the world. A new mobile connection can be activated with a monthly commitment of US$0.15 only. In 2005 alone additions increased to around 2 million per month in the year 2003-04 and 2004-05.
In June 2009, the Government of India
Government of India
The Government of India, officially known as the Union Government, and also known as the Central Government, was established by the Constitution of India, and is the governing authority of the union of 28 states and seven union territories, collectively called the Republic of India...
banned the import of several mobile phones manufactured in China
People's Republic of China
China , officially the People's Republic of China , is the most populous country in the world, with over 1.3 billion citizens. Located in East Asia, the country covers approximately 9.6 million square kilometres...
citing concerns over quality and the lack of IMEI
International Mobile Equipment Identity
The International Mobile Equipment Identity or IMEI is a number, usually unique, to identify GSM, WCDMA, and iDEN mobile phones, as well as some satellite phones. It is usually found printed inside the battery compartment of the phone...
's which make it difficult for authorities in India to track the sale and use of such phones. In April 2010, the Government was also reported to be blocking Indian service providers from purchasing Chinese mobile technology citing concerns that Chinese hackers could compromise the Indian telecommunications network during times of national emergency. A series of attacks
GhostNet
GhostNet is the name given by researchers at the Information Warfare Monitor to a large-scale cyber spying operation discovered in March 2009. The operation is likely associated with an Advanced Persistent Threat...
on Indian government website
Website
A website, also written as Web site, web site, or simply site, is a collection of related web pages containing images, videos or other digital assets. A website is hosted on at least one web server, accessible via a network such as the Internet or a private local area network through an Internet...
s and computer network
Computer network
A computer network, often simply referred to as a network, is a collection of hardware components and computers interconnected by communication channels that allow sharing of resources and information....
s by suspected Chinese hackers has also made Indian regulators suspicious with regards to the import of potentially sensitive equipment from China. The companies reported to be affected by this are Huawei Technologies and ZTE
ZTE
ZTE Corporation formerly Zhongxing Telecommunication Equipment Corporation is a Chinese multinational telecommunications equipment and systems company headquartered in Shenzhen, China...
.
Regulatory environment
LIRNEasiaLIRNEasia
LIRNEasia is an information and communication technology policy and regulation think-tank active across the Asia Pacific region. The organization is incorporated under the Sri Lankan law as a non-profit organization. It was launched in September 2004 under the leadership of...
's Telecommunications Regulatory Environment (TRE) index, which summarizes stakeholders’ perception on certain TRE dimensions, provides insight into how conducive the environment is for further development and progress. The most recent survey was conducted in July 2008 in eight Asian countries, including Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Maldives, Pakistan, Thailand, and the Philippines. The tool measured seven dimensions: i) market entry; ii) access to scarce resources; iii) interconnection; iv) tariff regulation; v) anti-competitive practices; and vi) universal services; vii) quality of service, for the fixed, mobile and broadband sectors.
The results for India, point out to the fact that the stakeholders perceive the TRE to be most conducive
for the mobile sector followed by fixed and then broadband. Other than for Access to Scarce
Resources the fixed sector lags behind the mobile sector. The fixed and mobile sectors have
the highest scores for Tariff Regulation. Market entry also scores well for the mobile sector
as competition is well entrenched with most of the circles with 4-5 mobile service providers.
The broadband sector has the lowest score in the aggregate. The low penetration of
broadband of mere 3.87 against the policy objective of 9 million at then end of 2007 clearly
indicates that the regulatory environment is not very conducive.
Revenue and growth
The total revenue in the telecom service sector was in 2005-06 as against in 2004-2005, registering a growth of 21%.estimted revenue of FY'2011 is Rs.835 crore (US$ 19 Bn Approx).The total investment in the telecom services sector reached in 2005-06, up from in the previous fiscal.Telecommunication is the lifeline of the rapidly growing Information Technology industry. Internet subscriber base has risen to more than a 100 million in 2010. Out of this 11.47 million were broadband
Broadband
The term broadband refers to a telecommunications signal or device of greater bandwidth, in some sense, than another standard or usual signal or device . Different criteria for "broad" have been applied in different contexts and at different times...
connections. More than a billion people use the Internet globally. Under the Bharat Nirman Programme, the Government of India will ensure that 66,822 revenue villages in the country, which have not yet been provided with a Village Public Telephone (VPT), will be connected. However doubts have been raised about what it would mean for the poor in the country.
It is difficult to ascertain fully the employment potential of the telecom sector but the enormity of the opportunities can be gauged from the fact that there were 3.7 million Public Call Offices in December 2005 up from 2.3 million in December 2004.
The Total Revenue of Indian Telecom Services company is likely to exceed Rs 200000 Cr ( US$ 44 Bn approx) for FY 11-12 based on FY 10-11 nos and latest quarterly results. These are consolidated nos including foreign operation of Bharti Airtel. The major contributions to this revenue are as follows:
Bharti Airtel 65,060
Reliance Comm 31,468
Idea Cellular 16,936
Tata Comm 11,931
MTNL 4,380
TTML 2,248
BSNL 32,045
Voda 18,376
TataTeleservice 9,200
Aircel 7,968
SSTL 600
Uninor 660
Loop 560
Stel 60
HFCL 204
Videocon Telecom 254
DB Etisalat/ Allianz 47
Grand Total Rs 201,997 Crs
contributed by Sanjay Banka, FCA
Telephones
| Communications in India | ||
|---|---|---|
| Television broadcast stations (2009) | 1,400 | |
| Radio broadcast stations (1997) | 800 | |
| Fixed lines (2011) | 34 million | |
| Mobile phones (2011) | 865 million | |
| Internet access | ||
| Percent household access (total), 2010 | 8.5% of households (100 million) | |
| Percent broadband household access | 1.0% of households (12.69 million) | |
| Internet Service Provider Internet service provider An Internet service provider is a company that provides access to the Internet. Access ISPs directly connect customers to the Internet using copper wires, wireless or fiber-optic connections. Hosting ISPs lease server space for smaller businesses and host other people servers... s (2010) |
180 | |
| country code top-level domain Country code top-level domain A country code top-level domain is an Internet top-level domain generally used or reserved for a country, a sovereign state, or a dependent territory.... |
.in .in .in is the Internet country code top-level domain for India. The domain is operated by INRegistry under the authority of NIXI, the National Internet Exchange of India. INRegistry was appointed by the government of India.... |
|
The primary regulator of telecommunications in India is the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI). It closely regulates all of the industries mentioned below with the exception of newspapers and the Internet service provider industry. The telecommunications industry in India is dominated by private-sector and two state-run businesses. Most companies were formed by a recent revolution and restructuring launched within a decade, directed by Ministry of Communications and IT
Ministry of Communications and Information Technology (India)
The Ministry of Communication and Information Technology is an Indian government ministry. It contains three departments:*Department of Telecommunications*Department of Information Technology*Department of Posts...
, Department of Telecommunications and Minister of Finance. Since then, most companies gained 2G
2G
2G is short for second-generation wireless telephone technology. Second generation 2G cellular telecom networks were commercially launched on the GSM standard in Finland by Radiolinja in 1991...
, 3G
3G
3G or 3rd generation mobile telecommunications is a generation of standards for mobile phones and mobile telecommunication services fulfilling the International Mobile Telecommunications-2000 specifications by the International Telecommunication Union...
and 4G
4G
In telecommunications, 4G is the fourth generation of cellular wireless standards. It is a successor to the 3G and 2G families of standards. In 2009, the ITU-R organization specified the IMT-Advanced requirements for 4G standards, setting peak speed requirements for 4G service at 100 Mbit/s...
licenses and engaged fixed-line, mobile and internet business in India. On landlines, intra-circle calls are considered local calls while inter-circle are considered long distance calls. Foreign Direct Investment policy which increased the foreign ownership cap from 49% to 74%. Currently Government is working to integrate the whole country in one telecom circle. For long distance calls, the area code prefixed with a zero is dialed first which is then followed by the number (i.e. To call Delhi
Delhi
Delhi , officially National Capital Territory of Delhi , is the largest metropolis by area and the second-largest by population in India, next to Mumbai. It is the eighth largest metropolis in the world by population with 16,753,265 inhabitants in the Territory at the 2011 Census...
, 011 would be dialed first followed by the phone number). For international calls, "00" must be dialed first followed by the country code, area code and local phone number. The country code for India is 91. Several international fiber-optic links include those to Japan, South Korea, Hong Kong, Russia, and Germany. Some major telecom operators in India include Airtel, Vodafone, Idea, Aircel, BSNL, MTNL, Reliance Communications, TATA Teleservices, Infotel, MTS, Uninor, TATA DoCoMo, Videocon, Augere, Tikona Digital.
Telephone Subscribers (Wireless and Landline): 900 million (July 2011)
Land Lines: 34.07 million (August 2011)
Cell phones: 865.71 million (August 2011)
Monthly Cell phone Addition: 7.34 million (August 2011)
Teledensity: 74.96 % (August 2011)
Projected Teledensity: 1 billion, 84% of population by 2012.
Mobile Telephones
With a subscriber base of more than 851 million, the Mobile telecommunications system in India is the second largest in the world and it was thrown open to private players in the 1990s. GSM was comfortably maintaining its position as the dominant mobile technology with 80% of the mobile subscriber market, but CDMA seemed to have stabilised its market share at 20% for the time being. By March 2010 the country had 584 million mobile subscribers, up from 350 million just 15 months earlier. The mobile market was continuing to expand at an annual rate in excess of 40% coming into 2010.The country is divided into multiple zones, called circles (roughly along state boundaries). Government and several private players run local and long distance telephone services. Competition has caused prices to drop and calls across India are one of the cheapest in the world. The rates are supposed to go down further with new measures to be taken by the Information Ministry. In September 2004, the number of mobile phone connections crossed the number of fixed-line connections and presently dwarfs the wireline segment by a ratio of around 20:1. The mobile subscriber base has grown by a factor of over a hundred and thirty, from 5 million subscribers in 2001 to over 851 million subscribers as of June 2011. India primarily follows the GSM mobile system, in the 900 MHz band. Recent operators also operate in the 1800 MHz band. The dominant players are Airtel, Reliance Infocomm, Vodafone
Vodafone
Vodafone Group Plc is a global telecommunications company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is the world's largest mobile telecommunications company measured by revenues and the world's second-largest measured by subscribers , with around 341 million proportionate subscribers as of...
, Idea cellular
Idea cellular
Idea Cellular, usually referred to as Idea, is an Indian wireless telecom company based in Mumbai, India. Idea is the 3rd largest mobile services operator in India, in revenue terms, and recorded of over 98.4 million customers as of August 2011....
and BSNL/MTNL. There are many smaller players, with operations in only a few states. International roaming
Roaming
In wireless telecommunications, roaming is a general term referring to the extension of connectivity service in a location that is different from the home location where the service was registered. Roaming ensures that the wireless device is kept connected to the network, without losing the...
agreements exist between most operators and many foreign carriers. The government allowed Mobile number portability
Mobile number portability
Mobile number portability enables mobile telephone users to retain their mobile telephone numbers when changing from one mobile network operator to another.- General overview :MNP is implemented in different ways across the globe...
(MNP) which enables mobile telephone users to retain their mobile telephone numbers when changing from one mobile network operator to another. India is divided into 22 telecom circles.
A list of states (including the metros Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai in their respective states and excluding National Capital Territory Delhi
Delhi
Delhi , officially National Capital Territory of Delhi , is the largest metropolis by area and the second-largest by population in India, next to Mumbai. It is the eighth largest metropolis in the world by population with 16,753,265 inhabitants in the Territory at the 2011 Census...
) with the largest subscriber base
is given below
Fixed Telephones
Until the New Telecom Policy was announced in 1999, only the Government-owned BSNL and MTNL were allowed to provide land-line phone services through copper wire in India with MTNL operating in DelhiDelhi
Delhi , officially National Capital Territory of Delhi , is the largest metropolis by area and the second-largest by population in India, next to Mumbai. It is the eighth largest metropolis in the world by population with 16,753,265 inhabitants in the Territory at the 2011 Census...
and Mumbai
Mumbai
Mumbai , formerly known as Bombay in English, is the capital of the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is the most populous city in India, and the fourth most populous city in the world, with a total metropolitan area population of approximately 20.5 million...
and BSNL servicing all other areas of the country. Due to the rapid growth of the cellular phone industry in India, landlines are facing stiff competition from cellular operators. This has forced land-line service providers to become more efficient and improve their quality of service. Land-line connections are now also available on demand, even in high density urban areas. India has over 35 million main line customers.
Internet
Internet country code: .inInternet Service Provider
Internet service provider
An Internet service provider is a company that provides access to the Internet. Access ISPs directly connect customers to the Internet using copper wires, wireless or fiber-optic connections. Hosting ISPs lease server space for smaller businesses and host other people servers...
s (ISPs): 180 (2010)
Internet hosts: 4,536,000;
Internet users: 100 million;
Broadband Internet users: 13 million (June 2011)
Internet access in India is largely provided by the private sector and two state-run companies and is available in a variety of forms, using a variety of technologies, at a wide range of speeds and costs. The country has the world's fourth largest Internet users with over 100 million users (of whom 40 million use the Internet via mobile phones) as of December 2010. However, the Internet penetration in India is one of the lowest in the world and only accounts for 8.4% of the population compared to OECD counties where average penetration rate is over 50%. The number of broadband Internet subscribers in India has started to become more significant, having more than doubled in the two-year period to end-2009. DSL, whilst holding slightly more than 75% of the local broadband market, was steadily losing market share to other non-DSL broadband platforms, especially to wireless broadband platforms. The 3G auction was followed by an equally high profile auction of 4G spectrum that set the scene for a competitive and invigorated wireless broadband market.
The growth in number of broadband connections in India has accelerated since 2006. As of June 2011, total broadband Internet connections in India had reached 13 million constituting 1.0% of the population. India has one of the lowest penetrations of broadband connectivity in the world.
A number of private Internet Service Provider
Internet service provider
An Internet service provider is a company that provides access to the Internet. Access ISPs directly connect customers to the Internet using copper wires, wireless or fiber-optic connections. Hosting ISPs lease server space for smaller businesses and host other people servers...
s (ISPs) offer services in India, many with their own local loop and gateway infrastructures. BSNL and MTNL have continued to dominate the ISP market because of their existing massive copper infrastructure in the last-mile across the nation. An estimated 60% of Internet users were still regularly accessing the Internet via the country’s more than 10,000 cybercafes.
According to International Telecommunication Union
International Telecommunication Union
The International Telecommunication Union is the specialized agency of the United Nations which is responsible for information and communication technologies...
, the international average broadband speed is at 5.6 Mbps, whereas in India the average speed hoovers at 256 kbit/s which is the minimum speed set by TRAI
TRAI
The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India is the independent regulator of the telecommunications business in India. -History:...
. The government declared 2007 to be “the year of broadband.” Four years later, Indian broadband failed to deliver a download speeds of which other developed nations delivers. South Korea led the list with an average of 43 Mbps, followed by Japan (10.6 Mbps) and United States (4.6 Mbps).
India broadband growth is hampered by various challenges, including a complicated tariff structure, metered billing, higher charges for right of way and absence of local-loop unbundling.
FTTB services are currently supplied in Hyderabad by Beam Telecom, offering a variety of plans for home users up to 6 Mbit/s, "power users" up to 20 Mbit/s and enterprises up to 30 Mbit/s. Beam Telecom have also launched fristever FTTH Solution in Hyderabad in three major townships by end of 2010, they have planned to complete FTTH setup in 20 upcoming townships by the end of 2011.
Triple-play FTTH services are due to be launched in 2011 by Hayai Broadband. Services will be offered via an entirely Passive Optical Network, allowing speeds of 100+ Mbit/s to the Internet and 1000+ Mbit/s (1 Gbit/s) within its own network. The coverage area will include most suburbs in Mumbai and the company has announced intentions to spread to other cities and even rural areas. It has coverage ready in the Northern Suburbs of Mumbai based on a UTStarcom platform, however the company expects to replace this with a platform by either Alcatel Lucent or Motorola.
Broadcasting
Amplitude modulation
Amplitude modulation is a technique used in electronic communication, most commonly for transmitting information via a radio carrier wave. AM works by varying the strength of the transmitted signal in relation to the information being sent...
153, FM
Frequency modulation
In telecommunications and signal processing, frequency modulation conveys information over a carrier wave by varying its instantaneous frequency. This contrasts with amplitude modulation, in which the amplitude of the carrier is varied while its frequency remains constant...
91, shortwave
Shortwave
Shortwave radio refers to the upper MF and all of the HF portion of the radio spectrum, between 1,800–30,000 kHz. Shortwave radio received its name because the wavelengths in this band are shorter than 200 m which marked the original upper limit of the medium frequency band first used...
68 (1998), Domestica Radio, Broadcasting
Broadcasting
Broadcasting is the distribution of audio and video content to a dispersed audience via any audio visual medium. Receiving parties may include the general public or a relatively large subset of thereof...
Radios: 116 million (1997)
Television broadcast stations: 1,400 (of which 82 stations have 1 kW or greater power and 480 stations have less than 1 kW of power) (2009)
Televisions: 110 million (2006)
In India, only the government owned Doordarshan
DoorDarshan
Doordarshan is an Indian public service broadcaster, a division of Prasar Bharati. It is one of the largest broadcasting organizations in India in terms of the infrastructure of studios and transmitters. Recently, it has also started Digital Terrestrial Transmitters. On September 15, 2009,...
has the license for terrestrial television broadcast. Over the years, Doordarshan services have grown from a single national channel to six national and eleven regional channels.
Satellite/Cable television took off during the first Gulf War
Gulf War
The Persian Gulf War , commonly referred to as simply the Gulf War, was a war waged by a U.N.-authorized coalition force from 34 nations led by the United States, against Iraq in response to Iraq's invasion and annexation of Kuwait.The war is also known under other names, such as the First Gulf...
with CNN
CNN
Cable News Network is a U.S. cable news channel founded in 1980 by Ted Turner. Upon its launch, CNN was the first channel to provide 24-hour television news coverage, and the first all-news television channel in the United States...
. There are no regulations against ownership of satellite dish
Satellite dish
A satellite dish is a dish-shaped type of parabolic antenna designed to receive microwaves from communications satellites, which transmit data transmissions or broadcasts, such as satellite television.-Principle of operation:...
antennas, or operation of cable television systems, which led to an explosion of viewership and channels, led by the Star TV
STAR TV (Asia)
Satellite Television Asian Region is an Asian TV service owned by Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation.In 2009, News Corporation restructured STAR Asia into four units – STAR India, STAR Greater China, STAR Select and Fox International Channels....
group and Zee TV
Zee TV
Zee TV is an India-based satellite television channel owned by Zee Entertainment Enterprises based in Mumbai, Maharashtra, which broadcasts various programmes in Hindi and other regional languages of India. Broadcasting is also present in various nations of South Asia, Europe, the Middle East,...
. Initially restricted to music and entertainment channels, viewership grew, giving rise to several channels in regional language
Regional language
A regional language is a language spoken in an area of a nation state, whether it be a small area, a federal state or province, or some wider area....
s, especially Hindi
Hindi
Standard Hindi, or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi, also known as Manak Hindi , High Hindi, Nagari Hindi, and Literary Hindi, is a standardized and sanskritized register of the Hindustani language derived from the Khariboli dialect of Delhi...
. The main news channels available were CNN
CNN
Cable News Network is a U.S. cable news channel founded in 1980 by Ted Turner. Upon its launch, CNN was the first channel to provide 24-hour television news coverage, and the first all-news television channel in the United States...
and BBC World
BBC World
BBC World News is the BBC's international news and current affairs television channel. It has the largest audience of any BBC channel in the world...
. In the late 1990s, many current affairs and news channels sprouted, becoming immensely popular because of the alternative viewpoint they offered compared to Doordarshan. Some of the notable ones are Aaj Tak
Aaj Tak
Aaj Tak is a 24-hour Hindi news television channel owned by TV Today Network Ltd. Aaj Tak loosely translates as "Till Today" or "Up to the Minute". Watched by some 45 million viewers in India’s cable and satellite universe, Aaj Tak is one of India’s largest privately owned news channels...
(means Till Today, run by the India Today
India Today
India Today is an Indian weekly news magazine published by Living Media India Limited, in publication since 1975 based in Mumbai. India Today is also the name of its sister-publication in Hindi...
group) and STAR News
STAR News
STAR News is the Hindi language news channel of STAR TV based in Mumbai. The channel is a co-production of STAR Group and ABP Pvt. Ltd...
, CNN-IBN, Times Now
Times Now
Times Now is a 24-hour English language news channel based in Mumbai and broadcast primarily in the South Asian region. The channel was launched in 2006 as a joint-venture of Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd., the publishers of The Times of India and Reuters. Arnab Goswami is the Editor-in Chief and...
, initially run by the NDTV
NDTV
NDTV is an Indian commercial broadcasting television network founded in 1988. It was founded by Prannoy Roy, an eminent journalist and current chairman and director of NDTV Group. NDTV currently has more than 1,000 employees producing news from over twenty locations in India...
group and their lead anchor, Prannoy Roy
Prannoy Roy
Prannoy L Roy, Ph.D is an Indian journalist and media journalist. He is the founder and Executive Chairperson of New Delhi Television .-Early life:...
(NDTV
NDTV
NDTV is an Indian commercial broadcasting television network founded in 1988. It was founded by Prannoy Roy, an eminent journalist and current chairman and director of NDTV Group. NDTV currently has more than 1,000 employees producing news from over twenty locations in India...
now has its own channels, NDTV 24x7, NDTV Profit and NDTV India).New Delhi TeleVision.
Next generation networks
In the Next Generation NetworksTelecommunications network
A telecommunications network is a collection of terminals, links and nodes which connect together to enable telecommunication between users of the terminals. Networks may use circuit switching or message switching. Each terminal in the network must have a unique address so messages or connections...
, multiple access networks can connect customers to a core network based on IP
Internet Protocol
The Internet Protocol is the principal communications protocol used for relaying datagrams across an internetwork using the Internet Protocol Suite...
technology. These access networks include fibre optics or coaxial cable
Coaxial cable
Coaxial cable, or coax, has an inner conductor surrounded by a flexible, tubular insulating layer, surrounded by a tubular conducting shield. The term coaxial comes from the inner conductor and the outer shield sharing the same geometric axis...
networks connected to fixed locations or customers connected through wi-fi
Wi-Fi
Wi-Fi or Wifi, is a mechanism for wirelessly connecting electronic devices. A device enabled with Wi-Fi, such as a personal computer, video game console, smartphone, or digital audio player, can connect to the Internet via a wireless network access point. An access point has a range of about 20...
as well as to 3G
3G
3G or 3rd generation mobile telecommunications is a generation of standards for mobile phones and mobile telecommunication services fulfilling the International Mobile Telecommunications-2000 specifications by the International Telecommunication Union...
and 4G
4G
In telecommunications, 4G is the fourth generation of cellular wireless standards. It is a successor to the 3G and 2G families of standards. In 2009, the ITU-R organization specified the IMT-Advanced requirements for 4G standards, setting peak speed requirements for 4G service at 100 Mbit/s...
networks connected to mobile
Mobile phone
A mobile phone is a device which can make and receive telephone calls over a radio link whilst moving around a wide geographic area. It does so by connecting to a cellular network provided by a mobile network operator...
users. As a result, in the future, it would be impossible to identify whether the next generation network is a fixed or mobile network and the wireless access
Wi-Fi
Wi-Fi or Wifi, is a mechanism for wirelessly connecting electronic devices. A device enabled with Wi-Fi, such as a personal computer, video game console, smartphone, or digital audio player, can connect to the Internet via a wireless network access point. An access point has a range of about 20...
broadband
Broadband
The term broadband refers to a telecommunications signal or device of greater bandwidth, in some sense, than another standard or usual signal or device . Different criteria for "broad" have been applied in different contexts and at different times...
would be used both for fixed
Landline
A landline was originally an overland telegraph wire, as opposed to an undersea cable. Currently, landline refers to a telephone line which travels through a solid medium, either metal wire or optical fibre, as distinguished from a mobile cellular line, where transmission is via radio waves...
and mobile services. It would then be futile to differentiate between fixed and mobile networks – both fixed and mobile users will access services through a single core network
Core network
A core network, or network core, is the central part of a telecommunication network that provides various services to customers who are connected by the access network. One of the main functions is to route telephone calls across the PSTN....
. Most telecom companies won 3G and 4G licences in a competitive auction
3G Spectrum auction India
The 3G spectrum auction in India began on 9 April 2010. The winners were awarded spectrum in September, and Tata Docomo was the first private operator to launch 3G services in India. The government has earned from the 3G spectrum auction. While the broadband wireless spectrum auction generated a...
. They have now rolled out their third-generation (3G) mobile services since early 2010, but most companies will officially launch fourth-generation (4G) mobile services based on LTE
3GPP Long Term Evolution
3GPP Long Term Evolution, usually referred to as LTE, is a standard for wireless communication of high-speed data for mobile phones and data terminals. It is based on the GSM/EDGE and UMTS/HSPA network technologies, increasing the capacity and speed using new modulation techniques...
or Long Term Evolution technology from 2012.
Indian telecom networks are not so intensive as developed country’s telecom networks and India's teledensity is low only in rural areas. 670,000 route kilometers (419,000 miles) of optical fibres has been laid in India by the major operators, even in remote areas and the process continues. BSNL alone, has laid optical fibre to 30,000 Telephone Exchanges
Telephone exchange
In the field of telecommunications, a telephone exchange or telephone switch is a system of electronic components that connects telephone calls...
out of their 36 Exchanges. Keeping in mind the viability of providing services in rural areas, an attractive solution appears to be one which offers multiple service facility at low costs. A rural network based on the extensive optical fibre network, using Internet Protocol
Internet Protocol
The Internet Protocol is the principal communications protocol used for relaying datagrams across an internetwork using the Internet Protocol Suite...
and offering a variety of services and the availability of open platforms for service development, viz. the Next Generation Network, appears to be an attractive proposition. Fibre network can be easily converted to Next Generation network and then used for delivering multiple services at cheap cost.
International
- Nine satellite earth stations - 8 IntelsatIntelsatIntelsat, Ltd. is a communications satellite services provider.Originally formed as International Telecommunications Satellite Organization , it was—from 1964 to 2001—an intergovernmental consortium owning and managing a constellation of communications satellites providing international broadcast...
(Indian OceanIndian OceanThe Indian Ocean is the third largest of the world's oceanic divisions, covering approximately 20% of the water on the Earth's surface. It is bounded on the north by the Indian Subcontinent and Arabian Peninsula ; on the west by eastern Africa; on the east by Indochina, the Sunda Islands, and...
) and 1 InmarsatInmarsatInmarsat plc is a British satellite telecommunications company, offering global, mobile services. It provides telephony and data services to users worldwide, via portable or mobile terminals which communicate to ground stations through eleven geostationary telecommunications satellites...
(Indian Ocean region).MicrowaveMicrowaveMicrowaves, a subset of radio waves, have wavelengths ranging from as long as one meter to as short as one millimeter, or equivalently, with frequencies between 300 MHz and 300 GHz. This broad definition includes both UHF and EHF , and various sources use different boundaries... - Nine gateway exchanges operating from MumbaiMumbaiMumbai , formerly known as Bombay in English, is the capital of the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is the most populous city in India, and the fourth most populous city in the world, with a total metropolitan area population of approximately 20.5 million...
, New DelhiNew DelhiNew Delhi is the capital city of India. It serves as the centre of the Government of India and the Government of the National Capital Territory of Delhi. New Delhi is situated within the metropolis of Delhi. It is one of the nine districts of Delhi Union Territory. The total area of the city is...
, KolkataKolkataKolkata , formerly known as Calcutta, is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal. Located on the east bank of the Hooghly River, it was the commercial capital of East India...
, ChennaiChennaiChennai , formerly known as Madras or Madarasapatinam , is the capital city of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu, located on the Coromandel Coast off the Bay of Bengal. Chennai is the fourth most populous metropolitan area and the sixth most populous city in India...
, JalandharJalandharJalandhar is a city in Jalandhar District in the state of Punjab, India. It is located 144 km northwest of the state capital, Chandigarh...
, Kanpur, Gandhinagar, Hyderabad and ErnakulamErnakulamErnakulam refers to the downtown area or the western part of the mainland of Kochi city in Kerala, India. The city is the most urban part of Kochi and has lent its name to the Ernakulam district. Ernakulam is called the commercial capital of the state of Kerala and is a main nerve of business in...
.
Submarine cables
- LOCOM linking Chennai to PenangPenangPenang is a state in Malaysia and the name of its constituent island, located on the northwest coast of Peninsular Malaysia by the Strait of Malacca. It is bordered by Kedah in the north and east, and Perak in the south. Penang is the second smallest Malaysian state in area after Perlis, and the...
, Malaysia - India-UAEcable linking MumbaiMumbaiMumbai , formerly known as Bombay in English, is the capital of the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is the most populous city in India, and the fourth most populous city in the world, with a total metropolitan area population of approximately 20.5 million...
to Al Fujayrah, UAE. - SEA-ME-WE 2 (South East Asia-Middle East-Western Europe 2)
- SEA-ME-WE 3SEA-ME-WE 3 (cable system)SEA-ME-WE 3 or South-East Asia - Middle East - Western Europe 3 is an optical submarine telecommunications cable linking those regions and is the longest in the world, completed in late 2000. It is operated by India's Tata Communications and 92 other investors from the telecom industry...
(South East Asia-Middle East-Western Europe 3) - Landing sites at Cochin and MumbaiMumbaiMumbai , formerly known as Bombay in English, is the capital of the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is the most populous city in India, and the fourth most populous city in the world, with a total metropolitan area population of approximately 20.5 million...
. Capacity of 960 Gbit/s. - SEA-ME-WE 4SEA-ME-WE 4 (cable system)South East Asia–Middle East–Western Europe 4 is an optical fibre submarine communications cable system that carries telecommunications between Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Bangladesh, India, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Egypt, Italy, Tunisia, Algeria and France...
(South East Asia-Middle East-Western Europe 4) - Landing sites at MumbaiMumbaiMumbai , formerly known as Bombay in English, is the capital of the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is the most populous city in India, and the fourth most populous city in the world, with a total metropolitan area population of approximately 20.5 million...
and ChennaiChennaiChennai , formerly known as Madras or Madarasapatinam , is the capital city of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu, located on the Coromandel Coast off the Bay of Bengal. Chennai is the fourth most populous metropolitan area and the sixth most populous city in India...
. Capacity of 1.28 Tbit/s. - Fiber-Optic Link Around the GlobeFiber-Optic Link Around the GlobeFiber-Optic Link Around the Globe is a 28,000-kilometer-long submarine communications cable containing optical fiber that connects the United Kingdom, Japan, and many places in between. The cable is operated by India's Flag Telecom, a fully owned subsidiary of Reliance Communications. The system...
(FLAG-FEA) with a landing site at Mumbai (2000). Initial design capacity 10 Gbit/s, upgraded in 2002 to 80 Gbit/s, upgraded to over 1 Tbit/s (2005). - TIISCSTIISCS (cable system)TIISCS , also known as TIC is a submarine telecommunications cable linking India and Singapore.It has landing points in Chennai, India and Changi, Singapore....
(Tata Indicom India-Singapore Cable System), also known as TIC (Tata Indicom Cable), Chennai to Singapore. Capacity of 5.12 Tbit/s. - i2iI2i (cable system)i2i is a submarine telecommunications cable connecting India to Singapore. This cable is owned by Bharti Airtel Limited of India. Its landing points are:*Chennai, India*Tuas, Singapore...
- Chennai to Singapore. Capacity of 8.4 Tbit/s. - SEACOM From Mumbai to the Mediterranean, via South Africa. It currently joins with SEA-ME-WE 4 off the west coast of Spain to carry traffic onward to London (2009). Capacity of 1.28 Tbit/s.
- I-ME-WEI-ME-WEI-ME-WE is a submarine communications cable system between India and France. The design capacity is 3.84 Terabits per second. It has been operational since 2009...
(India-Middle East-Western Europe) with two landing sites at Mumbai (2009). Capacity of 3.84 Tbit/s. - EIGEIG (cable system)Europe India Gateway is a submarine communications cable system that is planned to connect the U.K., Portugal, Gibraltar, Monaco, France, Libya, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Djibouti, Oman, United Arab Emirates, and India. It will be about 15,000 kilometres long. It is planned to be capable of delivering...
(Europe-India Gateway), landing at Mumbai (due Q2 2010). - MENAMENA (cable system)Middle East North Africa is a submarine communications cable system that is planned to connect Italy, Greece, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Oman, and India. It will be about 9,000 kilometres long...
(Middle East North Africa). - TGN-Eurasia (Announced) Landing at Mumbai (due 2010?), Capacity of 1.28 Tbit/s
- TGN-Gulf (Announced) Landing at Mumbai (due 2011?), Capacity Unknown.
See also
- TRAITRAIThe Telecom Regulatory Authority of India is the independent regulator of the telecommunications business in India. -History:...
- Indian Telecommunication ServiceIndian Telecommunication ServiceThe Indian Telecommunications Service, widely known as ITS, and earlier known as 'Telegraph Engineering Service Class I'is an organised civil service of Government of India. The appointment to this service is done through Combined Engineering Services exam held every year by Union Public Service...
- List of Indian wireless communications service providers
- Telecommunications Statistics in IndiaTelecommunications Statistics in India-Introduction:India has the fastest growing telecom network in the world with its high population and development potential. Airtel , Idea, Reliance, BSNL, Aircel,Tata Indicom, Vodafone, MTNL, and Loop Mobile are other major operators in India. However, rural India still lacks strong infrastructure...
- Mobile phone industry in India
External links
- Telecom Regulatory Authority of India
- Department of Telecommuincations, Government of India
- Wireless Planning & Coordination Wing
- Cellular Operators Association of India
- Internet Usage Stats and Telecommunications of India
- Telecom News India
- Accounting & Reporting in Telecom Industry
- Mergers & Acquisitions in Indian Telecom Industry