Indian Telecommunication Industry

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1 Indian Telecom Industry 2 Organization 3 History o 3.1 Orange (mobile network operator) o 3.2 Orange (internet service provider) 4 Price plans 5 Recent changes 6 Use of the Orange brand by other companies 7 Operations within the Orange Group 8 Criticism 9 SWOT Analysis Of Orange

INDIAN TELECOMMUNICATION INDUSTRY Indian Telecommunication industry, with about 464.82 million phone connections (June 2009) , is the third largest telecommunication network in the world and the second largest in terms of number of wireless connections. For the past decade or so, telecommunication activities have gained momentum in India. Efforts have been made from both governmental and non-governmental platforms to enhance the infrastructure. The idea is to help modern telecommunication technologies to serve all segments of India’s culturally diverse society, and to transform it into a country of technologically aware people.

Modern growth A large population, low telephony penetration levels, and a rise in consumers' income and spending owing to strong economic growth have helped make India the fastest-growing telecom market in the world. The first and largest operator is the state-owned incumbent BSNL, which is also the 7th largest telecom company in the world in terms of its number of subscribers. BSNL was created by corporatization of the erstwhile DTS (Department of Telecommunication Services), a government unit responsible for provision of telephony services. Subsequently, after the telecommunication policies were revised to allow private operators, companies such as Bharti Telecom, Tata Indicom, Vodafone, MTNL, Idea,Vodafone and BPL have entered the space. see major operators in India. However, rural India still lacks strong infrastructure. In 2007, an article by Businessweek magazine reported that India's mobile phone market is the fastest growing in the world, with companies adding some 6 million new customers a month. The total number of telephones in the country crossed the 300 million mark on June 18 2008. The overall tele-density has increased to 36.98% in March 2009. In the wireless segment, 15.87 million subscribers have been added in March 2009. The total wireless subscribers (GSM, CDMA & WLL (F)) base is more than 391.76 million now. The wireline segment subscriber base stood at 38.22 million with a decline of 0.13 million in October 2008.

Orange

is the brand used by France Télécom for its mobile network operator and Internet service provider subsidiaries. The brand was created in 1994 for Hutchison Telecom's UK mobile phone network, which was acquired by France Télécom in August 2000. In 2006, the company's ISP operations, previously Wanadoo, were also rebranded Orange. Orange is now the unique commercial façade of almost all France Telecom services.

2. Organization It is a global mobile network operator: •

Europe: o Armenia o Austria ( Orange Austria) o Belgium (Mobistar) o France o Luxembourg (VOXmobile) o Moldova (Orange Moldova) o Poland (Orange Polska) o Portugal (Optimus Telecomunicações) o Romania (Orange Romania) o Slovakia (Orange Slovensko) o Spain (Orange España) o Switzerland o United Kingdom ( Orange UK)

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Africa and the Middle East: o Botswana o Cameroon o Central African Republic o Egypt ( mobinil) o Israel (see Orange Israel) o Ivory Coast o Jordan (Orange Jordan) o Kenya o Madagascar o Mali

o o o o o o •

Mauritius Niger Réunion Senegal Tunisia Uganda

Caribbean: o Dominica o Dominican Republic ( Orange Dominicana) o French Guiana o Guadeloupe o Martinique o Saint Kitts and Nevis

It also franchises the Orange Brand in Israel (see Orange Israel) and has franchised it in Australia, India (until 2006) and Hong Kong in the past. It had a joint venture with Charoen Pokphand in Thailand until 2005. As of December 31, 2007 France Telecom serves more than 170 million customers in five continents, of which two thirds are Orange customers. The group had consolidated sales of € 52.9 billion in 2007. As of December 31, 2007 the group had 109.7 million mobile customers and 11.7 million broadband internet (ADSL) customers. Orange also belongs to the FreeMove mobile phone alliance.

3. History Orange is the brand used by France Télécom for its mobile network operator and Internet service provider subsidiaries. The brand was created in 1994 for Hutchison Telecom's UK mobile phone network, which was acquired by France Télécom in August 2000. In 2006, the company's ISP operations, previously Wanadoo, were also rebranded Orange. Orange is now the unique commercial façade of almost all France Telecom services The Company was founded in 1994 by Hutchison Telecom and was bought by Mannesmann AG in October 1999. Vodafone acquired Mannesman in February 2000 and, not being allowed to hold two mobile telephone licenses in the UK, decided to sell Orange UK to France Télécom in May 2000.

3.1 Orange (mobile network operator) Microtel Communications Ltd. was formed in April 1990 as a consortium comprising Pactel Corporation, British Aerospace, Millicom and French company Matra (British Aerospace soon acquired full control of the company). In 1991 Microtel was awarded a license to develop a mobile network in the UK, and in July 1991 Hutchison Telecommunications (UK) Ltd acquired Microtel from BAe. BAe was paid in Hutchison Telecommunications (UK) Ltd. shares, giving the company a 30% share. Hutchison Whampoa held 65% and Barclays Bank the remaining 5%. Microtel was renamed Orange Personal Communications Services Ltd. in 1994. The Orange brand was created by an internal team at Microtel headed by Chris Moss (Marketing Director) and supported by Martin Keogh, Rob Furness and Ian Pond. The brand consultancy Wolff Olins was charged with designing the brand values and logo and advertising agency WCRS created the Orange slogan "The Future's bright, the Future's Orange" along with the now famous advertising. The logo is square because a round orange logo already existed for the reprographics company, Orange Communications Limited, designed by Neville Brody in 1993. Orange plc was formed in 1995 as a holding company for the Orange group. France Telecom formed the present company in 2001 after acquiring Orange

plc (which had been acquired by Mannesmann AG, itself purchased by Vodafone shortly after, leading Vodafone to divest Orange) and merging its existing mobile operations into the company. The company was initially 100% owned by France Telecom (although there were and still remain minority investors in some of the national operating companies). In 2001 15% was sold in an IPO, but in 2003 the outstanding shares were bought back by France Telecom.

3.2 Orange (internet service provider) Orange operates as an ISP in France, the United Kingdom,Kenya,Equatorial Guinea, Spain, Senegal, Slovakia and Switzerland. France Telecom also operates as an ISP in Poland through its stake in Telekomunikacja Polska, which is now being co-branded as Orange. It is currently the largest ISP in Europe with over ten million subscribers (including those of Telekomunikacja Polska), largely concentrated in France, the UK, Spain and Poland, and was originally known as Wanadoo. Wanadoo was floated on the stock market on 18 July 2000. In 2000, Wanadoo also took over the major British ISP Freeserve, which had previously been part of the Dixons Group (now DSG International plc). Following the buy-out, Freeserve maintained its own branding for a while before finally changing to the Wanadoo name on 28 April 2004. However, the name Wanadoo changed to Orange on 1 June 2006 to simplify branding by the common parent company, France Telecom. This merging of companies has created a single brand offering mobile telecommunications and internet services.

4. Price Plans In April 2006 Orange changed its contract offering by offering four packages to customers, each aimed at different lifestyles and differentiating its offering. Amid much amusement Orange changed the names of its packages to animals: Dolphin, Canary, Raccoon and Panther. On some plans there are unlimited minutes (to landlines or Orange UK mobiles), texts or data. In addition to this Orange offers dedicated business plans- Solo, Venture and Momentum. Orange also offers 'magic numbers'- unlimited free calls to other Orange UK mobiles on contract or "talk for an hour, pay for a minute" on PAYG (you will have to add it as your "magic number").

Later in April 2008 Orange extended its animals to Pay as you go customers, introducing Dolphin, Raccoon, Canary and Camel. Dolphin and Canary offer bonuses, whilst Raccoon is a discounted call rate and Camel is for a call-abroad tariff giving discounted calls to foreign countries. Orange like other mobile networks now offers an "Internet Everywhere" tariff on pay as you go, pay monthly and business plans. Pay monthly and business plans come with either a datacard or USB modem. It operates across the network's EDGE, 3G, HSDPA and HSUPA network and offers speeds of up to 3.6 Mbit/s. Orange has announced that this speed will be increased to 7.2Mbit/s in the top 30 UK cities and 14.4 Mbit/s in the top 5 cities, this will be rolled out over the next 18 months. Also in April 2008 Orange UK introduced a new pricing structure on its broadband product. Customers who now connect to Orange must live in an LLU area (within the 'Orange network') or pay an increased tariff.

5. Recent changes In June 2005, France Telecom announced that its ISP Wanadoo and business service Equant would both be renamed Orange in 2006 to harmonize branding. In July 2005, France Telecom announced its intention to acquire 80% of the Spanish mobile phone operator Amena, a deal that was completed in November 2005. Amena was also rebranded to Orange with Wanadoo in Spain and Uni2, a fixed line provider, to complete a "triple play". At the beginning of 2006, Orange in Slovakia started providing triple-play services via FTTH under the name "Orange Homebox". On September 27, 2007, T-Mobile Netherlands bought Orange Netherlands from France Telecom and split the two segments. Mobile telephony was integrated with T-Mobile, broadband is now provided by a subsidiary called Online. The European Commission had already approved the acquisition as it was not seen as a danger to competition. In 2008 Orange was given permission from Apple to sell the iPhone in Austria, Belgium, the Dominican Republic, Egypt, Jordan, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Switzerland and Orange’s African markets.

On January 1, 2009, the swiss multimedia shops company CityDisc is officially property of the France Telecom Group and becomes Orange CityDisc, the first hybrid shops in Europe to sell not only cellphones and accessories but also music, films and videogames. On April 5, 2009, France Telecom (Orange) won an Arbitration Court case against Orascom Telecom, condemning OT to transfer its entire stake in Mobinil to FT at a price of E£441,658 per Mobinil share. On September 8, 2009 Orange and T-Mobile parent Deutsche Telekom announced they were in advanced talks to merge their UK operations to create the largest mobile operator with 37% of the market. It is unclear the future of either brand when such deal is completed in November.

6. Use of the Orange brand by other companies Because the brand was originally owned by Hutchison, many of Hutchison's Asian and Oceanic subsidiaries continued using the Orange brand until recently. On February 1, 2006, Hutchison Telecom announced that its Australian affiliate would withdraw the Orange brand name. Its CDMA network was shut down on August 9, 2006, after the vast majority of its customers had already migrated to the 3 network (also owned by Hutchison). The Orange brand name has also now been removed from India. Orange Mumbai was at first rebranded to Hutch, but has now been rebranded Vodafone in 2007. Orange SA pulled out of its joint venture with Thailand's TelecomAsia, TA Orange, in 2003. TelecomAsia (now True Corporation) continued to use the Orange brand until 2006, when the operator was rebranded as True Move. The Orange brand continues to be used under licence by Partner Communications Company Ltd. in Israel. Orange is the current sponsor of Rockcorps in the UK, a community based organisation where volunteers donate four hours of their time in exchange for a concert ticket.

7. Operations within the Orange Group Most operations in Orange SA are also branded Orange, but not all - the exceptions being Mobistar in Belgium, VOXmobile in Luxembourg, Mobinil in Egypt and Optimus Telecomunicações in Portugal. Some of these operations are not a majority holding of the Orange Group, others have strong minority interests. The situation in Belgium is unusual. Prior to the acquisition by France Telecom, Orange plc owned and operated a network there called Orange. Since France Telecom also owned the market leader Mobistar, one of the two networks had to be sold following the sale. A decision was made to sell Orange to KPN and keep Mobistar. Orange continued to trade for a while after the sale to KPN before rebranding to BASE. So for a period of time in Belgium, the Orange owned company Mobistar was competing with an operator called Orange.

8. Criticism On 21 March 21, 2007, Watchdog, a television series by the BBC focusing on consumer protection, published the results from a Broadband survey they held. According to the survey Orange is the worst ISP in the UK. 68% of Orange customers that took part in the survey said they were unsatisfied with Orange's Customer Service, Orange was voted as the most unreliable broadband provider, Orange had the highest number of dissatisfied customers and two thirds of Orange customers experienced problems cancelling their Orange broadband. In response to the problems with Orange U.K. broadband and 3G broadband during March 2009 and April 2009 the 3G data network has been upgraded to 3.5G and increased signal coverage. This new network can be seen in action on many mobile phones which display network for instance the Nokia N95, when the phone detects the higher speed. The Orange U.K. mobile broadband USB adapter works with the new network. The 3G networks for all telecommunication suppliers still struggle to get the throughput that was originally advertised when these networks were announced. The U.K. Telecomms Regulator has reported on the challenges for all suppliers. A consumer organization forum web site known as OrangeProblems focuses on the poor level of service provided by Orange Broadband in the UK.

Initially set up as WanadooProblems.co.uk, the site focuses on the infamous Orange Local Loop Unbundling and poor Customer service but covers a wider range of Orange operations. Orange Mobile has been criticised during a Channel 4 News investigation for a lack of security which potentially exposed customer records to fraud. According to an independent customer satisfaction survey, ORANGE has claimed its place as the top mobile broadband provider YouGov's report reveals that Orange has improved its customer satisfaction ratings, with emphasis said to be on network reliability, network coverage reach, and "its ability to deliver a continuous mobile broadband connection". "Being awarded the best mobile broadband network by our customers across the UK is a real honour. We have taken significant measures to improve the quality of our network for both voice and data, and are so glad that our customers are really starting to see the benefit", said Paul Tollet, vice president, Orange Business.

SWOT Analysis of Orange Strengths • • •

Mobile Communications Arm of a Large, Well-Funded, WellConnected and Ambitious Indian Conglomerate Economies of Scale From Large Subscriber Base Expertise in a Business Model That Allows It to Maintain High Profitability From Lower-Yielding Subscribers

Weaknesses • • • •

Cost Structure Disadvantage With Subscribers Spread Across Two Different Mobile Networks Low ARPU Compared With Competitors Weakness in Rural Markets Limited Availability of Value-Added Services

Opportunities • • •

Aggressive Move Into the Rural Market Use Upcoming Mobile Number Portability as "Launching Pad" to Grab Market Share of Higher ARPU Users — and Ramp Up Focus on Data Revenue Overseas Investments

Threats • • •

Quicker Than Expected Slowing of Growth Mobile Number Portability Risks Accelerating Subscribers From CDMA to GSM New Competitors

Churn

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