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India Telecom Market

The word Telecom (which is an abbreviated version of ' telecommunication' ) in real sense

refers to the transfer of information between two distant points in space. This meaning however,has been subjected to modifications in accordance with further innovations made be the Telecom

Industry.

History of Telecommunication in India

In 1880, two telephone companies namely The Oriental Telephone Company Limited and TheAnglo-Indian Telephone Company Limited approached the Government of India with the objective

of establishing Telephone Exchanges across the country. Initially, the Government denied thepermission as it wanted to exercise its monopoly power over the promising industry once itemerged. By the following year, it changed its decision and finally on 28 th January,1882, licensewas granted to The Oriental Telephone Company Limited of England for opening telephone

exchanges at Kolkata, Mumbai, Chennai and Ahmedabad.

The opening of exchanges was followed by further innovations and improvements in all sections ofthe telecom industry . However, while telephones were introduced in the major towns and citiesacross the country during the British period, total number of telephones in India in 1948 was merely

80,000. The growth was negligible even after independence and the telephone was used as a statussymbol by the rich despite being an extremely essential device of public utility. This sluggish rate of

growth continued till 1991 when the number of telephones was 5.07 million.

The period post 1975 saw an resurgence in the India Telecom Market by virtue of a series offruitful decisions initiated by the Government which included:

The separation ofDepartment of Telecom (DoT) from Post and Telegraph (P&T) in

1975.

The formation ofMahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited (MTNL) out ofDoT to provide

telecom services exclusively to Delhi and Mumbai.

In the 1990s, the telecom sector was opened up by the Government for private

investment as a part of Liberalization-Privatization-Globalization Policy. On 1 st October, 2000, the Government corporatized its operations wing under the name of

Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL).

To top it all, the introduction of mobile communication is undeniably the biggest success

story scripted by the telecom industry.

India's Telecom Market

Mobile services were commercially launched in India in August, 1995. Although in the initial years,the high prices of handsets and allied services hindered the growth of the telecom market inIndia , the New Telecom Policy in 1999 introduced several consumer-friendly initiatives. Theentry of private operators like Airtel,Hutch,Reliance,Tata,BPL,Idea etc. created a competitive market

which further reduced operational costs. Since then, the number of mobile subscribers began to risein leaps and bounds. The number of new mobile subscribers rose from 16 million in 2003 to 65million in 2006. With 156.31 million subscribers across the country, India has become one of thefastest growing mobile markets in the world.

Truly, the growth ofIndia's mobile market has surpassed that of the basic telephones by a hugemargin. Nevertheless it is the Indian Telecom Market which is having the last laugh.