Composition of Indian Cellular Industry

abhishreshthaa

Abhijeet S
• The market is divided into 4 metro circles and 20 cellular circles. Only four cellular operators are allowed to operate in each circle. Government-owned MTNL and BSNL are the 3rd operators in each circle advent


• Regulatory Authority TRAI & TDSAT.


• The current market has 6 million subscribers (<1% penetration rate) but is expected to grow to 50 million subscribers by 2005


• Industry is highly regulated by the government: Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) restricted to 49%.


• Revenue sharing scheme implemented, Receiving Party Pays (RPP) regime governed


• Decreasing handset costs and the introduction of pre-paid card is stimulating demand


• Basic service providers offering Wireless in Local Loop (WLL) services like Reliance India Mobile has intensified competition



Market Performance

• Major foreign direct investment in telecom increased drastically from 2000 to 2001. Over the years, 27% of this investment has been in cellular segment


• Revenue growth achieved between 1998 and 2000 with expanding market size Average revenue per subscriber is declining due to intense competition and introduction of pre-paid cards


• Consolidation in the industry has given rise to 3 major groups with a combined market share of 70%


• Cellular operators are reporting losses because of heavy upfront investment in infrastructure, tariff reduction and intense competition, but are expecting to achieve profitability in the future.
 
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