a research on telecommunications

8/14/2019 A research on Telecommunications

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Introduction

This thesis investigates the most influential factors contributing towards the growth of the tele

communication Industry in India, and analyzes the nature of effect these factors have on their

respective industries growth. The data collected is further used to discuss how these factors

could be improved in order to better the existing conditions of the industry today.

These guidelines provide important information and guidance on the practical procedures for the

writing, supervision and submission of dissertations within the Department of Media and

Communications. The growth in demand for telecom services in India is not limited to basic

telephone services. India has witnessed rapid growth in cellular, radio paging; value added

services, internet and global communication by satel item (GMPCS) services. The agents of

change, as observed from international perspective, have been broadly categorized into economic

structure, competition policy and technology. Economic reforms and liberalization have driven

telecom sector through several transmission channels of which these three categories are of

major significance.

The effective research cannot be accomplished without critically studying what already exists in

the form of general literature and specific studies. Therefore, it is considered as an important pre-

requisite for actual planning and execution of research project. This helps to formulate

hypotheses and framework for further investigation. In this research, the survey of literature has

been classified into two parts -

Abstract

This paper examines the trends, the research and studies done globally on open innovation and

open business models in the field of Telecommunication Services. These include value added

services pertaining to communications, online, web and media, mobile, triple/quad play, etc. on

both consumer and enterprise side. In the face of severe competition, and commoditization, thecurrent traditional Telco business models and services like Voice and Broadband are losing value

rapidly causing the ARPUs of Telcos to drop, leading to a crisis in the Telecom industry. New

business models based on Open Innovation & Open Business Models can help the Telcos survive

and thrive through transformation


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Background of the Problem China and India are among the largest and fastest growing

economies in the world today, which share some key common elements. For example:

geographically they share the same continent and are separated by a common border,

demographically they are giants,with populations exceeding one billion, and historically the

two countries have a rich and long history, making them world leaders until the 19th Century.

Their development is also somewhat similar in economic terms although their economic growth

differs in timing, intensity and key characteristics of development processes (Enrico and

Marcello, 2011).

The telecom industry is an interesting industry to study, not only due to its volatile nature in

terms of technological breakthrough and its policies, but also due to the high growth rate of this

industry over the past few decades and the significant contribution of the industry to the

economies of these nations. China is now the worlds largest telecom market and according to

analysts figures, there are more than 1.25 million cellular subscribers signing up every week

(Pyramid, 2003)! Meanwhile, India has become the most competitive and one of the fastest

growing telecom markets with an expected growth rate of over 26% and generated employment

opportunities for about 10 million people (PTI, 2007).

The numbers of subscribers were added at a rapid pace as shown in Figure 1, which adds to the

growth and witnessed a scandal in the telecom ministry that has changed the nature and

environment of foreign investment flowing into the country (Kate and Leila, 2012).

Growth of the Telecom Industry

Telecommunication basically is the transmission of signals over a distance for the purpose of

communication, though the technology involved in communicating has changed significantly

over the years. Like telecommunications itself, the telecommunications industry is broader than

it was in the past. Telecommunication has a significant social, cultural and economic impact on

the modern society. In 2008, estimates placed the telecommunication industry's revenue at $3.85

trillion or just under 3 percent of the gross world product (Plunkett Research Limited, 2010). The


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telecom industry is one of the worlds fastest growing industries regardless of what the indicators

being measured according to Wauschkuhn (2001).

Indian Telecom Industry

Comment: Politics and economics of Telecom liberalization in India by Chowdary T.H.

published in the Journal of Telecommunications Policy in 1998, describes the ideological

background to more than 40-year monopoly of the Department of Telecommunications over

Indian telecommunications. It traces how the monopoly was eased between 1986 and 1991 and

the government had to give up its policy of central planning and control (Chowdary, 1998). This

was the phase of pre-reforms in Indian telecom sector, which plays a vital role in setting the

scene for growth post the 1991 reforms, and the Chinese telecom industry underwent a similar

phase before the markets were opened for reforms. The paper also summarized the events that

led to India opening its doors to Foreign Direct Investment (FDI).

The analysts report published by Ernst and Young in collaboration with FICCI titled, Enabling

the next wave of telecom growth in IndiaIndustry inputs for National Telecom Policy 2011 is

a comprehensive report about the evolution of the telecom sector in India over the past decade.

This report tracks the changes in terms of technological advancements, business dynamics and

socioeconomic environment over the years. The research program studies in detail all the key

segments of the telecom landscapewireless, wire line, broadband, infrastructure, NLD, ILD,

value-added services (VAS), equipment manufacturing, infrastructure and convergence.

Moreover, it also identifies and evaluates the critical success factors that are applicable across all

telecom segments such as spectrum, USOF, licensing framework, FDI, security, consumer

affordability and the role of the regulator (Ernst and Young, FICCI, 2011). Last but not least, it

also includes comprehensive interviews conducted with senior executives in the Indian telecom

sector, which provides a firsthand perspective about various stakeholders involved in the telecom

sector.

Though the state owned Telecom Company Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) remains as

the pioneer in the telecom market of India, private operators obtained a high market share (Arun,

2011), among which, India's largest mobile operator Bharti leads the pack with over one-fifth of

the telecom market, followed by 16.71% from Reliance who is the third largest mobile operator,


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16.52% from Vodafone as the fourth largest and 11.16% from the fifth largest mobile transport

TATA Group business.

The latest report released by Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI, 2010) indicated that

India has 771.18 Million mobile users, 350 million fixed-line subscribers and nearly 180 million

Internet subscribers.

Factors Affecting the Growth of the Telecom Industry and Their Current State

Innovation was the key factor for the revenues of the telecom industry in the western countries.

Today, however, new wireless applications, low-cost manufacturing innovations, and handset

design are some of the areas in which the Asian countries are out-investing the

United States and are seen resulting bottom-line impacts to their economies (National Research

Council, 2006). In emerging markets, factors such as customer service, regulations and policies

are some of the main factors that are shaping the industry.

a) Performance of OperatorsRoma Mitra Debnath and Ravi Shankar (2008) discuss the methodology used to benchmark the

performances of service providers in order to create a loyal customer base as well as to retain it,

and they claim customer service is one of the factors that influences the revenue growth of the

telecom industry.

b) Market LiberalizationShilin Zheng and Michael R. Ward (2011) demonstrates the effects of market liberalization and

privatization on Chinese Telecommunications, from which, they give an insight into the current

state of the Chinese Telecom industry. India has also taken the privatization path in the

telecommunications sector and the market is now mainly dominated by private companies with

two state-run operators only.

c) Policy and Regulation IssuesThe telecommunications policy in countries like the United States of America is a framework


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of law directed by government and the regulatory commissions, most notably the Federal

Communications Commission (FCC). One of the goals of the FCC is to best utilize this limited

resource, in such a way, it brings the "highest and best use" (Wikipedia, 2003).

The Government of India aims to develop the nation as a global telecommunication hub and

provides regulatory support to the industry to achieve the goal and to propose infrastructure

status to telecom (IBEF, 2011).Chinas successful reform on the other hand, is now often called

another East Asian miracles, has been attributed to policy changes to take advantage of

comparative advantages in labor-intensive goods (Lin et al., 1996).

Factors Facilitating Growth of the Sector

The phenomenal growth in the Indian telecom industry was brought about by the wireless

revolution that began in the nineties. Besides this, the following factors also aided the growth of

the industry.

Liberalization

The relaxation of telecom regulations has played a major role in the development of the Indian

telecom industry. The liberalization policies of 1991 and the consequent influx of private players

have led the industry on a high growth trajectory and have increased the level of competition.

Post-liberalization, the telecom industry has received more investments and has implemented

higher technology.

Increasing Affordability of Handsets

The phenomenal growth in the Indian telecom industry was predominantly aided by the meteoric

rise in wireless subscribers, which encouraged mobile handset manufacturers to enter the market

and to cater to the growing demand. Further, the manufacturers introduced lower-priced handsets

with add-on facilities to cater to the increasing number of subscribers fr

om different strata of the society. Now even entry-level handsets come with features like colored

display and FM radio. Thus, the falling handset prices and the add-on features have triggered

growth of the Indian telecom industry.


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Prepaid Cards Bring in More Subscribers

In the late nineties, India was introduced to prepaid cards, which was yet another milestone for

the wireless sector. Prepaid cards lured more subscribers into the industry besides lowering the

credit risk of service providers due to its upfront payment concept. Prepaid cards were quite a

phenomenon among first-time users who wanted to control their bills and students who had

limited resources but greater need to be connected. Pre-paid cards greatly helped the cellular

market to grow rapidly and cater to the untapped market. Further, the introduction of innovative

schemes like recharge coupons of smaller denominations and life time incoming free cards has

led to an exponential growth in the subscriber base.

Introduction of Calling Party Pays (CPP)

The CPP regime was introduced in India in 2003 and under this regime, the calling party who

initiated the call was to bear the entire cost of the call. This regime came to be applicable for

mobile to mobile calls as well as fixed line to mobile calls. So far India had followed the

Receiving Party Pays (RPP) system where the subscriber used to pay for incoming calls from

both mobile as well as fixed line networks. Shifting to the CPP system has greatly fuelled the

subscriber growth in the sector.

Changing Demographic Profile

The changing demographic profile of India has also played an important role in subscriber

growth. The changed profile is characterized by a large young population, a burgeoning middle

class with growing disposable income, urbanization, increasing literacy levels and higher

adaptability to technology. These new features have multiplied the need to be connected always

and to own a wireless phone and therefore, in present times mobiles are perceived as a utility

rather than a luxury.

Increased Competition & Declining Tariffs

Liberalization of the telecom industry has fuelled intense competition, especially in the cellular

segment. The ever-increasing competition has led to high growth of subscribers and has put

pressure on tariffs, which have seen a sharp drop over the years. When the cellular phones were

introduced, call rates were at a peak of Rs 16 per minute and there were charges for incoming


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calls too. Today, however, incoming calls are no longer charged and outgoing calls are charged

at less than a rupee per minute. Thus, the tariff war has come a long way indeed. Increased

competition and the subsequent tariff war have acted as a major catalyst for attracting more

subscribers. Apart from these major growth drivers, an improved network coverage, entry of

CDMA players, growth of value-added services (VAS), advancement in technology, and

growing data services have also driven the growth of the industry.

Outlook

The telecom industry in India has experienced exponential growth over the past few years and

has been an important contributor to economic growth; however, the cut-throat competition and

intense tariff wars have had a negative impact on the revenue of players. Despite the challenges,

the Indian telecom industry will thrive because of the immense potential in terms of new users.

India is one of the most-attractive telecom markets because it is still one of the lowest penetrated

markets. The government is keen on developing rural telecom infrastructure and is also set to roll

out next generation or 3G services in the country. Operators are on an expansion mode and are

investing heavily on telecom infrastructure. Foreign telecom companies are acquiring

considerable stakes in Indian companies. Burgeoning middle class and increasing spending

power, the governments thrust on increasing rural telecom coverage; favorable investment

climate and positive reforms will ensure that Indias high potential is indeed realized.

Stages of Telecom Regulations in India

Before going through the regulation, we first point major driving forces that are responsible for

present state of Indian telecommunications.

1. Liberalization: -The process of liberalization in India began with new economic policy in

1991. Telecom equipment manufacturing was delicensed in 1991 and value added services were

declared open to the private sector in 1992. Following this radio paging, cellular mobile and

other value added services were gradually opened to the private sector. This has resulted in large

number of manufacturing units been set up in the country. As a result most of the equipment

used in telecom area is being manufactured within the country.


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2. National Telecom Policy 1994:- In 1994 Government announced the National telecom policy

with important objectives, including availability of telephone on demand, provision of world

class services at reasonable prices, improving Indias competitiveness in global market and

promoting exports, FDI and domestic investment, ensuring Indias emergence as major

manufacturing/export base of telecom equipment and universal availability of basic telecom

services to all villages.

3. Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) :- The Telecom Regulatory Authority of

India (TRAI) was established with effect from 20th February 1997 by an Act of Parliament,

called the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India Act, 1997, to regulate telecom services,

including fixation/revision of tariffs for telecom services which were earlier done by Central

Government. TRAI mission was to create an environment needed for the growth of

telecommunication at a pace that will enable Indian to play a major role in emerging global

information society. One of the main objectives to provide a fair and transparent policy that

facilitates fair competition. On 24 January 2000, TDSAT was set up to adjudicate any dispute

between a licensor and a licensee, between two or more service providers, between a service

provider and a group of consumers, and to hear and dispose of appeals against any direction,

decision or order of TRAI.

4. New Telecom Policy:- The most important milestone and instrument of telecom reforms in

India is the New Telecom Policy 1999 (NTP 99). The New Telecom Policy, 1999 (NTP-99) was

approved on 26th March 1999, to become effective from 1st April 1999. NTP-99 laid down a

clear roadmap for future reforms, thinking the opening up of all the segments of the telecom

sector for private sector participation.

Key features of NTP 99 include:

d to private operators.


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-time entry fee.

Resolution of problems of existing operators envisaged.

connectivity and sharing of network with other telecom operators within the

service area was permitted

00.

Regulatory Bodies in India

establish & maintain telecommunication and to grant license to operators.

[6] Amarchand Mangaldas and Suresh A. Shroff, Telecom regulations, page 1-2, 2004 6

Technology, Government of India (DOT), acts as a licensor, formulates and enforces policies,

allocates and administers resources such as spectrum and number, and coordinates matters in

relation to telecommunication services in India. The DOT also promotes standardization,

research and development, private investment and the international co-operation in the matters

relating to telecommunications services.

spectrum management and exercises the statutory functions of the Central Government to issue

licenses for allotment of spectrum and for establishing, maintaining and operating wireless

stations.

is empowered to make recommendations, either by itself or on a request from the licensor on the


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matters relating to the telecommunications sector. The TRAI issues regulations on

interconnection, quality of service, fixation and revision of tariff etc.

com Dispute Settlement Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT) is a special body setup exclusively

to judge any dispute between the DOT and a licensee, or between two or more service providers,

or between a service provider and a group of consumers etc. An appeal against any of the

TDSAT shall be filed before the Supreme Court of India within a period of ninety days. No

appeal shall lie when the decision or order was made with the consent of parties.

Aims and Objectives of the Dissertation

Aims

To conduct an original investigation of an issue relevant to the content of your programme

under the supervision of an academic member of staff.

Objectives

To construct a detailed plan of a research project.

To review relevant literature on the selected issue.

To identify relevant research questions.

To operationalise the research questions.

(In the case of an empirical dissertation) to select and justify an appropriate research design in

relation to an area of theory, to select and employ suitable methods/techniques to investigate the

empirical questions, and to analyze relevant data.

(In the case of a theoretical dissertation), to set out a coherent and focused argument that

advances, clarifies and (where appropriate) reframes the theoretical questions.


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To write a dissertation covering a review of the relevant theoretical and empirical literature, the

research questions, an explanation and justification of the research conducted, and a discussion

of the findings in relation to the background literature

Overall Objective

The overall objective of this case study is to establish the relationship between the revenue of the

telecom industry and its identical factors, which attempts to supplement the majority of the

previous studies that fulfilling economic needs rather than academic desire.

.Specific Objectives

The specific research objectives of this thesis are as mentioned below:

1. To identify the most influencing factors of competitiveness in Chinese and Indian telecom

Industries.

2. To analyze the correlation between the selected factors and their contribution to the telecom

industry revenue in both countries.

3. To suggest ways to improve these influencing factors to the benefit of future researchers and

practitioners, in the telecom industry of both the countries

Research questions as a summary

This dissertation intends to explore the following questions:

1. Why is the Indian telecommunications market so attractive to investors?

2. Why is India's vast potential in the field of telecom difficult to tap?

3. What strategies have been followed by foreign companies entering the Indian market and what

has been the result of following these entry strategies?

4. What lessons can be learnt from the experiences of companies trying to enter the Indian

market so far? For example, what kinds of actions could help success in India, what kind of

analysis should be done before stepping into the Indian telecom market, who all should be

involved and to what extent?


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5. What will be the prime sectors of Indian telecommunications for investment in future?

Literature Review

Introduction

The purpose of the literature review was not only to gather current thinking and experience

surrounding the topic of telecommunications for the poor, but also to search for examples of

innovative approaches to service provision. Time did not allow for an extensive review of all the

literature on the subject especially as there is a wealth of information and opinion on market

liberalization and regulatory issues. Rather, the review needed to focus on material of direct

relevance to the specific topic of telecommunications and development. The conclusions

confirm, to some extent, the premise of the project, and have been used in guiding the research.

The starting point was a review of the communication needs of the poorwhy should there be a

demand for telecommunications services? With this poverty focus in mind, the document then

presents experience from a number of countries of ICT initiatives designed to contribute to

development goals. However, with regard to the development of telecommunications

infrastructure, the trend is towards greater commercialization and liberalization of markets, but

experience has shown that market forces can only go so far in meeting universal access needs, so

a brief overview of strategies for developing rural service is presented, along with some specific

commercial issues relating to markets in developing countries. Finally, the conclusions include a

number of points that were taken into consideration when designing the field research.

Definitions

With respect to infrastructural application, Hughes referenced reverse salients, or that which

slows the development of a new infrastructure not specific to the infrastructure itself, i.e. a

technological challenge stemming from a political challenge. He contends that the solution to the

initial problem, that being one of politics, for example, need not focus on politics at all but can

address itself directly to the technology in question (Hughes, 1983). This assertion becomes

important to a country like Estonia, which finds it struggling with old paradigms of controlled


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telecommunications markets yet wishes to move to a liberalized market with a new

communication infrastructure, wireless technology, as its springboard

Fanie Cloete et al [2] defines policy framework as a written or unwritten constitution

decisions made by the governments in consultation with various stakeholders including

business, labour and civil society, about how telecommunications systems will be operated and

regulated in a country. In addition to the rules, telecommunications policy consists of a complex

set of discretionary public policy actions which affect the evolu tion of the telecommunications

sector

The findings of this literature review indicate that:

The most frequently shared communication resources are information/data resources,

Telecommunications infrastructure and technologies are the next most frequently shared

resources,

When resources are successfully shared, all parties benefit,

A few unsuccessful attempts of sharing resources have been recorded, along with lessons

learned,

Impediments to sharing include security issues, concerns over system availability and

reliability, service quality and performance, and institutional barriers,

Advantages of sharing include financial benefits to agencies from using shared resources and

benefits to the public in terms of congestion mitigation, information transfer (e.g., traveler

information systems), mobility (e.g., welfare-to-work paratransit), and safety (e.g., speed of

incident response, incident avoidance),

Technology-based solutions exist to address technology-based concerns, and


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Institutional issues can be addressed through leadership, enhanced knowledge and skills, open

communication, responsiveness, and attractive pricing structures.

In the last two decades, telecommunications infrastructure emerged as an important factor in

interregional economic activities. Advancements in information technology have provided new

opportunities to businesses by enabling them to establish and maintain contacts with suppliers

and customers over greater distance and remote locations. Furthermore, developments in

information and communications technologies provide increasing support for locational freedom

by diminishing the importance of geographic proximity. Cairncross (1997), for example, argues

that with the revolution in information technology, electronic proximity will replace geographic

proximity and bring the death of distance. If her argument holds and electronic proximity

provides a lower cost substitute for physical proximity in transactions, search by firms for better

telecommunications infrastructure is likely to reshape regional development patterns, leading to

higher rates of growth for better-endowed regions. However, it is quite unlikely that the

advancements in information and communications technologies will provide similar

opportunities in different sectors.

The present literature on telecommunications regulation provides little insight on the differential

impact of telecommunications investment on sectoral output. These studies typically recognize

the importance of state and federal regulations on the level of infrastructure provision, but fail to

adequately address the role of telecommunications infrastructure on sectoral performance and

interregional economic development patterns. The lack of research on the relationship between

local telecommunications policymaking and regional growth contrasts starkly with the growing

interest in the policymaking world on assessment of the role of telecommunications

infrastructure in sectoral economic activities. For example, within the United States, over the last

two decades, many states have commissioned studies on how to use telecommunications

infrastructure strategically in promoting different sectors as part of their economic development

efforts2

.

In contrast to the interest in the policymaking world, academic research examining the

relationship between telecommunications infrastructure and economic growth typically focuses


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on national level aggregate estimates3 and ignores the role of telecommunications infrastructure

investment in explaining the divergent path of sectoral growth patterns4. In general, the literature

on the impact of telecommunications infrastructure on national productivity reports a positive

relationship between telecommunications infrastructure and economic growth. A central question

in the theory of economic growth is the contribution of the different factors of production to

aggregate output. In a perfectly competitive economy, contribution of a factor to private

production is rewarded according to its marginal contribution. The reward earned by a factor is

equal to its marginal product. However, some factor inputs generate spillovers or externalities

that make their marginal social benefit and effect on output deviate from their marginal benefit

as measured by the rewards they earn in private production. Infrastructure services are certainly

this type of factor inputs and it is difficult to precisely charge the true marginal cost of service to

a user as measured only by the marginal benefit to individual users (Diewert, 1986). It is

possible, however, to estimate the marginal benefit of infrastructure services for all users.

Therefore estimation of aggregate production function has become the dominant method for

evaluating the social returns to infrastructure investments. However, production function studies

have been criticized on the grounds of econometric problems.5 subsequently; more recent

refinements of the production function approach are focused on the models statistical properties

The telecom industry in India and China is relatively new compared to their western

counterparts, but they are now growing and evolving at an unimaginable pace. As a result of

being a high profit generator, the telecommunications industry has historically been an agent of

the government and owned by the state in both the countries. But over the last two decades, there

has been a concerted effort to loosen the shackles of governmental control (Deutsche Bank,

2004). On one hand, it has taken the form of privatization of the state owned

telecommunications; and on the other hand, it has opened up the domestic market to provide

licenses to new entities for bringing in competition to the existing monopoly operators.

According to figures from 2006, the Mobile subscribers in India were growing at a CAGR ofaround 85% since 1999 and over 4 million mobile subscribers were being added every month

(TRAI, 2006). On the other hand China registered a growth of 16% in the mobile subscriber base

in the year 2005 with monthly addition of 5 million subscribers every month (TRAI, 2006).


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The analysts report published by Ernst and Young in collaboration with FICCI titled, Enabling

the next wave of telecom growth in IndiaIndustry inputs for National Telecom Policy 2011 is

a comprehensive report about the evolution of the telecom sector in India over the past decade.

This report tracks the changes in terms of technological advancements, business dynamics and

socioeconomic environment over the years. The research program studies in detail all the key

segments of the telecom landscapewireless, wire line, broadband, infrastructure, NLD, ILD,

value-added services (VAS), equipment manufacturing, infrastructure and convergence.

Moreover, it also identifies and evaluates the critical success factors that are applicable across all

telecom segments such as spectrum, USOF, licensing framework, FDI, security, consumer

affordability and the role of the regulator (Ernst and Young, FICCI, 2011). Last but not least, it

also includes comprehensive interviews conducted with senior executives in the Indian telecom

sector, which provides a firsthand perspective about various stakeholders involved in the telecom

sector. Though the state owned telecom company Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL)

remains as the pioneer in the telecom market of India, private operators obtained a high market

share (Arun, 2011), among which, India's largest mobile operator Bharti leads the pack with over

one-fifth of the telecom market, followed by 16.71% from Reliance who is the third largest

mobile operator, 16.52% from Vodafone as the fourth largest and 11.16% from the fifth largest

mobile transport TATA Group business

India

India has attracted a wide variety of research, owing to the substantial number of intervention

projects. Two studies are highlighted, each on different specific projects, to provide a more

general view as opposed to a relatively narrow evaluation that a single-project study allows for.

The first study was undertaken by the M.S.Swaminathan Research Foundation and supported by

the International Development Research Center in Canada. It assesses the impact of ICTs on

rural areas of India by focusing on a project established in six villages in Pondicherry. The

project created a hub-and spoke-model of data-cum-voice communication, allowing the villages

to communicate with each other as well as the internet. An important feature of this project was


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that staff within the village centers created locally useful content, based on queries and requests

of the inhabitants. The staff designed and developed many locally useful databases on issues

such as grain prices and government entitlements, with all of them transformed in voice format

for the illiterate and in the local language. Other key features were the female involvement in the

management and use of the centre and also of the sense of ownership that was created, allowing

for formal confidence barriers to be broken. Participatory rural appraisal was used as a planning

method to assess how far the community was willing to go in operational sing the local center, in

effect gauging the level of real demand.

The study by the Foundation analyzed usage from January 1999 to June 2000:

Total number of users was15651

18% of users were female, which is 6 times that of public reading rooms

Approximately one third of users were asset less families

4% of users were illiterate

23% of total registered were one-time users only

The pattern of usage indicated that educational purpose (such as use of CD-ROMs) and

accessing government sector data were the two most important uses of the system

A significant development was the emerging interest, especially among the youth, to create

content that could be shared within the network. These related to commercial information,

education opportunities and employment opportunities. Additionally, willingness was shown to

establish an accounts transaction system for locally-based micro-credit groups using the data

network. Importantly, much of the interest was from women, demonstrating technological

demands.

The main issue of the research related to sustainability in a context where most users tend to be

ultra-poor. The key determinant of sustainability was identified as being a strong formation of

partnerships between local bodies and the local administration, creating relevant and useful

village centers. Development of applications, such as an online system for community banking,

and other locally useful material was furthermore deemed to contribute to continuing


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sustainability. The study highlighted conclusions that many other researchers have reached; that

current government control of telecommunications was preventing services from being offered at

a low cost, but that once deregulation had taken place, expansion would be immense.

A second illuminating study in India assessed a rural Intranet project entitled Gyandoot. This is a

community-owned, self-sustainable project, working with the District Administration to establish

information kiosks providing commercial Internet and voice connectivity in villages of the Dhar

District of Madhya Pradesh. The target users have a population of 1.7 million, 60% of whom live

below the poverty line. During the design phase, villagers expressed information gaps the

absence of information about prevailing agriculture produce auction centre rates, land records

and application submissions. The development of the kiosks aimed to meet those demands.

The study analysis of user demand showed that each kiosk had between 50 and 120 users per

month, with the principal use being for locally produced agricultural services such as the trading

rates of relevant agricultural produce. The research also revealed a high demand for improved

ease of contact with local authorities and the Government. The kiosks have developed their own

database of welfare forms, which villagers use to make complaints and recommendations to the

authorities. This was shown to be a highly popular and useful service. Distribution of users was

found to be mostly adults between 25 and 30 years, using the service for business. However, the

research did highlight the growing demand in the younger generation, particularly students, as

they realized the potential that the Internet held for work and for obtaining exam results with

more speed. The kiosks will develop to target these younger users in the future. The skewness of

usage according to gender was found to be quite high, with only 20% of all users being female.

This was deemed to be primarily because many women did not know of the existence or of the

potential benefits of the kiosk. The research also recognized the impact that education had on

kiosk usage. Most of the registered users were between the 5th Class and Post-graduate level,

with illiterates constituting only 5%. A central and unique focus of this research was on the

problems of publicity and marketing. It was found that even at a distance of 3km from the kiosk,

awareness and usage patterns began depleting, therefore not achieving the aim of poor-inclusive

service, as the majority of extreme poor lived in the most isolated areas. The study also

discovered that an anti-publicity mechanism was created through the inability of the kiosks to

meet the desired services of the inhabitants, principally concerning land records. As the centers


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were not meeting the needs of the people, communication through the community network

started to create negative mindsets and inhabitants were discouraged from attending. A suggested

remedy for this problem was for owners of the kiosks to go directly into all villages with a

mobile connective machine and give a thorough demonstration of exactly what is possible so that

impressions will be realistic. The research also stressed the importance of audio-visual marketing

as the most effective and accessible.

The study of the Gyandoot NGO project provides useful information of demand and the real

problems of including the poor. Although being an NGO initiative the project did not focus on

the financial issues or sustainability, it does suggest ideas for commercial service provision.

Again, this study highlights the importance of local content and the availability of useful,

accessible information if both inhabitants and villagers are to effectively benefit from the funds

spent on providing ICTs.

Research Objectives

To Examine the Extant structure, capacity, and capabilities of all identifiedtelecommunications firms and related institutions so as to provide base line information

on the sector.

To highlight the response dynamic and strategies of selected firms as a result of themarket and technological challenges. What is the nature of response and competently are

firms dealing within the changing and competitive environment of telecommunications.

To examine institutions and government policies set for the development of the sector To suggest the policies to promote development of inter-firm intra-firm and of

technological progress within the telecommunication sectors

Strategies for Developing Rural Service

Experience has shown that market forces can only go so far in meeting rural/universal service

and access needs. In most countries the most remote and disadvantaged areas have not provided

the obvious incentives needed for commercial investment, therefore there is a need for some


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intervention and policy creation to ensure that services are rolled-out to these areas. A number of

strategies for developing rural service have been implemented including:

Enforced obligations on monopolies

Rural obligations for mobile operators

Cross-subsidization of tariff structures

Universal development fund

Minimum subsidy auction

Rural cooperatives

Further details of these policy strategies are given below, including relevant case studies and

examples of when policies are used in combination or alone

SWOT analysis

Strengths

-quality research and top researchers


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Previous networking activities good foundation for national cooperation

organizations

Weaknesses

reductions in support staff) at universities take time away

from research

Unclear distribution of research between universities and polytechnics

-oriented) research projects and studies too focused on case

studies

Centres of Excellence or FiDiPro Professors (Finland Distinguished Professor Programme)

in the field

Opportunities


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regional opportunities in collaborations between universities and polytechnics

ghting broad scope in international contexts, applying it to international research

projects

-stage researchers, contacts to units at the cutting edge of

research

thanks to a rapidly changing world and the quick response ability of

research

multiculturalism in Finland

acts outside academia thanks to new

formats for dissertations

Threats

lenges of contemporary phenomena at the theory level


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-quality work

environmentswhether domestic or foreignnot sufficiently emphasized

quickly becomes outdated) up to date

resources in archives services and libraries

Research Methodology

Research Objective

The objective of this paper is to investigate the telecommunication markets in India, Singapore

and Thailand in order to find the potentiality of the markets which could be considered by the

company to expand its business in telecommunication field and also to take a proper strategy. At

meanwhile, the global competitiveness of telecommunication industry of these three countries

will be discussed. The analysis is based on the relevant theory of competitiveness includes the

Diamond theory (Porter, 1990) from Michael Porter and SWOT analysis. Practical information

were collected accordingly

1) To know about the experience of mobile users in India Explore and discover theadvanced mobile usage patterns of the evolving Indian telecom consumers and, in the

process, obtain a clear list of their preferences and dislikes.

2) To share some of these "ndings with Indian organizations to help them provide a bettermobile experience to the users


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We aim to share some of the research data (primarily the outcome of our survey) with the

organizations to help them rethink their value proposition and come up with products and

services which create a win-win situation for both the organizations and its mobile user

customers.

3) To periodically monitor trends in mobile user behavior In a rapidly growing mobile economy

consumers usage patterns, purchases and preferences are evolving at a fast pace. Keeping this

view in mind, we plan to conduct this research on an annual basis so as to gauge the ever-

changing trends in the telecom industry in India.

Research Question & Limitation

By analyzing these determinants of telecommunication industry, there is much strengthand weaknesses presented from these research objects. We can compare these research

objects with each other to examine in great detail in order to understand their

competitiveness.

How are the effectiveness and competitiveness of telecom markets of these researchobjects? If a particular industry sectors competitiveness could be determined by these

factors Porter indicated in his theory and if the result we obtained reflects and represents

this particular industry sectors national competitiveness relatively in the practical

environment.

The research limitation will be that some data could not be quantified in some topicsfrom these research objects. For example, how to measure the determinant Chance. It

could be analyzed in a general way and acquire concepts but It may be difficult to

compare with each other among these research objects in a absolute standard such as a

numerical comparison.


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What are the competitive factors contributing towards the revenue of the Chinese andIndian telecom industry?

Methodology

This Chapter discusses the research methodologies adopted and the various data collection

methods used for the thesis. The research methods were designed considering the research

objectives of this paper. Hence, the strategy employed and the instruments developed were to

determine the major factors contributing towards the revenue of Chinese and Indian telecom

Industries.

To answer the research question, the factors that have the potential to influence the telecom

industry in both Chinese and Indian markets were shortlisted based on Porters Five Forces

model and further developed as key questions in the questionnaire. Results obtained from the

questionnaire were used as the primary data. This was then processed along with the secondary

data collected from statistical reports, to determine the factors that directly influence the telecom

industResearch for the 2013 edition of the India Mobile Users Experience Monitor saw an

active participation of 2892 participants. Raw data for research was collected through a survey

delivered through Emails, online forms, telephonic interviews and in-person conversations. This

large number of participants makes it the biggest research in India till date (November 2012) on

mobile users experience. Our survey activity lasted over two months (September-October

2012). Views and opinions of the participants were collected by the volunteers from across

various states of India.

The research team made e#orts to ensure that we get representation from varied age groups,

economic strata and states of India. Our approach to accommodate variety and large number of

respondents gave us authentic data that tells us the true story. We analyzed this data and made

logical inferences to come-up with recommendations based on factual information.


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The research was conducted in the following manner:

-depth interviews

ecommunications company

tion of results of the in-depth interviews

analysis

Research Constraints

Majority of the respondents belonged to the age group of 21-34 Majority of the respondents are from the middle income group This research mainly focuses on consumer behavior

Research Findings

A total of 2892 responses were recorded. Almost 66% of the respondents were males. Itwas noted that gender did not play any role in deciding what type of mobile phone one

will be likely to buy


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Higher percentage of males were comfortable in using their mobile phone for onlinebanking and getting directions from online maps

It was seen that 87% of respondents having smart phones had enabled Internet on theirhandsets in comparison to 54% respondents who had simple feature phone. Smart phone

users are more likely to use their handsets for conducting web based activities

It is observed that, at 60%, smart phones have least penetration amongst non-working andlow earning respondents. Smart phone penetration increases as income of the respondents

increases Having only 50% penetration, smart phones are relatively less popular in 45+

age groups

Significance of the Study

Both China and India are deemed as the fast growing markets, and economists claim that these

two countries would continue to contribute more than half of the world's economic growth

despite slow down during recent times (The Economic Times, 2012). This thesis, by applying the

theoretical framework of Porter in comparing the industrial competitiveness of two nations, aim

at developing recommendations for improving competitive strategies for their industrial

performances.

This study will elucidate knowledge about the competitiveness of telecom industries in the two

countries. On one hand, this knowledge will help in realizing the prevailing business

environment in this sector in both China and India, while on the other hand; the study findings

will serve as lessons to be shared by other developing countries in shaping their telecom

industries. Therefore, the findings of this thesis will be useful for researchers, academicians and

practitioners.

PESTEL


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Political factors

tion in the country

opean integrations

legislative framework

telecommunications sector

directives (2002/21/EC, 3003/19/EC,

2002/22/EC, 2002/58/EC)

ioning of Ministry for information society and telecommunications

of the Agency for electronic communications and postal

services

promotion of competition

telecommunications

focus on human capital

standards

ed tariff and fee system

e-Government

Economic factors


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open and liberalized economy)

investments, growth of capital markets, privatization

processes

and average weighted effective active interest rate

telecommunications sector (11-13% GDP)

more than 60%

HDI index and global competitiveness index

subsidiaries of big multinational telecoms (Norwegian,

German, etc..)

communications

on of processes, goods and services

climate

Social factors

standard

italization

-brand as an innovative and modern company


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companies on individual customer and his specific needs and

preferences

need for knowledge and know-how transfer from around the world

mobile phone, TV and Internet for Montenegrins

force

sector as creators of high value-added knowledge and

innovation

Technological factors

services and technologies and online technical and

customer support

research, global financial data, data on competitors, most

suitable and strategically advantageous partner companies, economic and business indicators and

demand segregation according to various parameters)

electronic system networking

and successful marketing strategies

information technologies

exploitation of intellectual capital

virtualization and virtual networking


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cesses across the globe

Case Study

Customer Description BT is one of the worlds leading providers of communications solutions

serving customers in Europe, the Americas and Asia Pacific. Its principal activities include

networked IT services, local, national and international telecommunications services, and higher-

value broadband and internet products and services. In the UK, BT serves more than 20 million

business and residential customers with more than 30 million exchange lines, as well as

providing network services to other licensed operators. BT is known internationally as a major

technology player - pioneering the digital advances that are shaping and driving the information

age.

Problem

BTs employees are highly mobile and needed the flexibility to work securely at multiple

locations. Hot desking to give employees access to the companys network was tried but was

difficult, expensive and impractical. Wireless technology was generally agreed to be the most

beneficial solution and with this came they need to establish the best of breed security for the

wireless infrastructure. Employees had laptops and other wireless enabled devices and needed to

access email, customer records, and other work applications at multiple locations. The need to do

this securely was imperative in the solution BT chose.BT has multiple sites some of which are

located in the heart of city centers and many offices could detect more than 30 other Wireless

LANs. This meant that a complete site survey had to be carried out at each location to understand

what the complexities were and how many networks wireless actually invaded BTs airspace. At

some sites in central London, the initial survey detected that at regular intervals alarms might be

raised from the automated bus stop updates. This type of traffic, while not a threat could create

multiple security alarms. Other locations in more rural settings provided different problems of

distance between buildings and large communal areas. The risks for BT as an organization and

the implications for its management team if the solution they chose was not scalable were

immense. The problem of partitioning friendly neighboring wireless LANs from those that could

present a malicious threat was essential. The threats to any wireless deployment are rogue or


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unauthorized access so the problem for BT was to be able to analyze existing and zero day

threats in real-time against historical data to accurately detect all attacks and anomalous behavior

originating inside or outside the organization. Doing this while providing IT support for over

60,000 workers seamlessly and without increasing IT management time was seen to be essential.

Requirements

BT needed a solution that could detect intruders and rogue access points automatically and

secure their airwaves cost effectively. It needed a solution that could distinguish between the

multiple legitimate neighboring wireless networks and those that were malicious. In addition it

needed to be able to terminate wireless connections between an intruder and an authorized access

point and also to terminate authorized devices with rogue access points. Most particularly it

required the vendor it chose to be able to enforce the BT security policy to its entire mobile

workforce without disrupting its business. The solution had to work with the Cisco based

network infrastructure

Solution

BT evaluated several Wireless LAN security products before deciding which one to purchase.

The evaluation process was exacting. Michael Malcolm RF Manager at BT said I was a sceptic .

I was not going to allow wireless connectivity at BT unless I was convinced that it could be

provided securely. The evaluation and testing process was extremely rigorous and thorough.

The site surveys were completed using Air Defense Architect which provides complete design

and simulation of wireless LANs based on building-specific environments. This product

accurately and predicatively helped design the Wireless networks (802.11) before the actual

deployment of access points, sensors and other wireless devices. For the deployment BT chose to

use Air Defense Enterprise provided through a specialist solutions provider in the UK called

Pentura. They have currently deployed sensors in 15 of 21 sites in the UK and plan to roll out the

solution across European offices. The Air Defense system helps BT to:

Increase the productivity of its workforce

Define, enforce and measure adherence to their security policy


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Continuously monitor the WLAN providing maximum security and operational integrity of the

network

Ensure BT employees are not logging onto rogue or neighboring networks

Confirm wireless devices are within permitted areas

Conclusions

Currently most research in this area is preliminary and hesitates to formulate concrete

conclusions and recommendations for investment in ICTs. This is primarily because projects and

innovative provision in marginalised communities are still in pilot and experimental phases.

Nevertheless, based on this and anecdotal evidence, some authors are identifying the benefits of

telephone access over internet access, as regards development impact on the poor. The focus of

recent work has been for the great part supply-driven. As Universal Access had become widely

recognised as the primary goal for telecommunications provision, research has been concentrated

on assessing new technologies and ways of physically reaching isolated communities. This has

led to the development of wireless technologies and low cost solutions to the access problem.

Evaluations have been made using indicators such as; number of fixed lines, number of public

payphones per village, and number of personal computers wired up to the Internet. This has led

to levels of success being measured by purely quantitative indicators. Although this is highly

important it gives a skewed picture of the telecommunications situation in many communities by

not taking into full account the demand side of the market. Analysis of real levels of demand and

usage of telecommunications is still very limited and mainly focuses on the evaluation of

community telece3ntres through questionnaires and surveys. Again this work is in its early stages

as most telecentres and communication kiosks in remote areas have only been operating for two

or three years. Some useful data has been collected on the application of different forms of

telecommunications, and social factors affecting this although, there appears to be a lack of

research regarding what forms of technologies communities want and what forms are profitable

and useful to provide. Research has often found that there is little productive use in providing


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access to the web for rural communities, if there is no content available of relevance to them or

in a language that they can understand.

The availability of countrywide research is currently very limited and again strongly

concentrated in the Latin American region. A multitude of investigations into the provision and

use of ICTs have been undertaken in rural America, Australia and Canada but how far this

relates to the situation in remote communities in developing countries is questionable. Primarily

these countries do not experience the language and literacy barriers that discourage many

developing countries from further technological use, and additionally infrastructure and financial

barriers are far less. However, information on small enterprise activity and agricultural uses for

technology is useful.

A further trend in current research work is the focus on NGO and donor projects as opposed to

commercial initiatives. This may be explained by the recent growth in funds dedicated to ICTs

for development and the subsequent evaluation of their projects that donors undertake. Again

these projects mainly involve the introduction of community telecentres and their usage, and

evaluation does not consider the questions of sustainability or profit for commercial activity.

However, these project results do propose replicable initiatives that could be adapted for the

commercial environment and may encourage private businesses to more seriously consider the

profitability of rural telecommunications. This review suggests that there are a number of

important factors that remain to be addressed in this and other future studies; these can be

summarised as follows:

The social and financial importance of accurately equating demand with supply. Different

individuals/enterprises need customised ICT services depending on development and income etc.

A blanket one size fits all approach will be unsuccessful and wasteful of resources.

To be sustainable and economical ICT provision must be primarily a commercial initiative with

welfare intervention only where absolutely necessary.

New research should focus on demand issues, as opposed to supply that has been the previous

focus.


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A key to successful ICT access is the customisation of services and the creation of relevant

content.

The importance of gender and how it affects location and quantity of usage. The importance of

a far-reaching marketing and advertising strategy, appropriate to the target community.

The importance of developing new, appropriate business models for provision, as a western-

style model does not accurately reflect real demand in developing countries.

The emergence and growth of youth demand should be assessed and ways to effectively meet it

developed.

This review has provided evidence of significant levels of potential demand for ICTs in

underprovided communities in developing countries. However, a factor limiting this analysis is

the possible existence of a substantial time lag between ICT investments and their effects.

Thus it is possible that real demand may actually grow significantly in the coming years as the

full effects of ICTs in newly accessed areas are realised. A further important note to be

recognised is that ICTs are, at best, one factor among others that furthers community and

enterprise development. ICT access should not be treated in isolation as research shows that

access to other knowledge links, shills and infrastructure etc are at least as important as ICT.

When considering new policy decisions and business strategies, one must consider that access to

new information for communities is the aim, not the introduction of technology.

Quantitative Measures

There are a few preliminary remarks to be made concerning statistical data. The first relates to

figures about residential or private use of the phone. In practice, there is often some overlap with

use for work purposes. While many people may try to keep their domestic and work lives distinct

and hence do not appreciate being called at home, others often make and receive work related

calls on their home line. This is probably increasing to the extent that there is a growth in

teleworking or mobile working using home as a base. (The specific experience of teleworkers


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will be discussed below, in section 12.2). Meanwhile, French findings indicate that almost half of

all employees use the telephone in the workplace for making and receiving personal calls (Perin,

1994:6).

The other observations concern the need to avoid positivist assumptions about taking data at face

value. Instead, it is important to appreciate the social factors shaping the construction of

seemingly hard data a point which a few writers in this literature touch upon (For a further

discussion of the processes shaping data, see Haddon, 1990). For example, in one French study

the author speculated that some teenage participants might be intentionally falsifying some of

their claims about the number of calls made from home and their motives for making those calls

because they did not want their parents to find out about certain calls (Claisse 1989:273-74). We

need to ask of other groups whether there is ever any possible motivation to present their

activities in a certain light. Second, a substantial number of those studied had difficulties in

classifying their calls according to the categories offered to them by researchers (to be discussed

in more depth below, section 4.1.2.). This should make us a little wary of being overconfident

about the precision of such data, especially when different researchers use different sets of

classificatory categories. If we look at another technology, the home computer, many market

researchers conceived of this as an individual possession when conducting surveys to investigate,

for example, whether more men than women or more people of a particular age group had these

machines. In practice, there may be a consensus in some households that a computer is a

particular persons possession. But in other households the PC is for the family, or for the

children, or else possession remains contested and ownership unclear (Haddon, 1990:22-23).

While the basic phone has not been researched as a personal possession, some surveys have

certainly assumed that the mobile phone belongs to a particular person that may well not do

justice to the complex realities of different households.

The final reasons why seemingly hard quantitative data may be softer than they first seem

concerns reliance on memory and the introduction of evaluations. One Berlin study noted that

statistically there should be an approximately equal amount of incoming and outgoing calls over


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the whole of their sample, even if individual households or social groups had a different balance

(Schabedoth et al., 1989:104). But they found that more people (56%) thought that their last calls

had been made by them. The researchers argue that this may reflect the disposition of people to

remember processes where they were active: in this case, initiating the call. Similarly, when

remembering or attributing motivations for calls, those surveyed were more likely to say that

they phoned someone for a chat or else that they were seeking information rather than attribute

either of these motivations to people who called them. In a different part of their survey, 60-70%

of women participating on behalf of their households thought that they used the phone most

often, but only 30% of men answering questions about their households said that their wives

used the phone more (Schabedoth et al., 1989:108). While the perceptions may be interesting in

their own right it is important to bear in mind that at least some questions do not lead to data

which simply mirror reality.

RecommendationsCheaper smart phones will certainly help the mobile service providers, as a smart phone

user is more likely to have an increased data usage.

Telecom service providers should try and introduce more lucrative o"ers or schemes toencourage non-smart phone users to access Internet from their mobile phones.

Considering the high level of competition in the market the issue of dropped call shouldbe immediately addressed by the service providers.

Online banking and online shopping are among the least utilized Internet facilities onmobile phones. Marketers should encourage users for making purchases online. Shopping

through mobile handsets may result in more frequent purchases.

Measures should be taken to increase the awareness about 3G and its bene#ts. Our findings suggest that smart phone users are more likely to access Internet from their

mobile devices. More communication with these users will help in creating a win-win

situation for everyone. Smart phones will make it convenient for the customer to surf

Internet and do shopping; operating cost of the seller will come down and at the same

time mobile industry would gain from the usage of their service in executing transactions.


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For India marketers, the good news is that the mobile users want to stay connected withthe brands. However, the periodicity of this communication should not be more frequent

than say weekly. Theres a very strong negative feedback from the mobile users on the

amount of spamming and unwanted promotional messages. Perhaps this is the time every

marketer needs to review not only their teams but perhaps also how the channel/aliases

are interacting with the consumers in terms of outbound campaigns.

Email emerges as the top favorite channel for the consumers to receive promotional overand updates though SMS still has traction. More consumers buy when they receive an

o"er on Email than any other channel. With growing Smartphone shipments in India, we

forecast the continued rise of the Email and social channels for consumer engagements.

a research on telecommunications

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