Tata Teleservices

Introduction

Tata Teleservices Limited (TTSL) is a part of the Tata Group of Companies, an Indian Conglomerate. It runs under the brand name Tata Indicom in India, in various telecom circles of India. The company forms part of the Tata Group's presence in the Telecommunication Industry in India, along with Tata Teleservices (Maharashtra) Limited (TTML) and Videsh Sanchar Nigam Limited (VSNL).

In February this year, TTSL announced that it would provide CDMA mobile services targeted towards the youth, in a joint venture with Virgin, UK,on a MVNO basis.

Company background

Tata Teleservices is part of the INR Rs. 1,20,000 Crore (USD $29 billion)Tata Group, that has over 87 companies, over 3,30,000 employees and more than 2.8 million shareholders. With a committed investment of INR 36,000 Crore (USD $7.5 billion) in Telecom (FY 2006), the Group has a formidable presence across the telecom value chain.

Tata Teleservices spearheads the Group’s presence in the telecom sector. Incorporated in 1996, Tata Teleservices was the first to launch CDMA mobile services in India with the Andhra Pradesh circle.

Starting with the major acquisition of Hughes Telecom (India) Limited [now renamed Tata Teleservices (Maharashtra) Limited] in December 2002, the company swung into an expansion mode. With a total Investment of Rs 19,924 Crore, Tata Teleservices has created a Pan India presence spread across 20 circles that includes Andhra Pradesh, Chennai, Gujarat, Karnataka, Delhi, Maharashtra, Mumbai, Tamil Nadu, Orissa, Bihar, Rajasthan, Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh (E), Uttar Pradesh (W), Kerala, Kolkata, Madhya Pradesh and West Bengal.

Having pioneered the CDMA 3G1x technology platform in India, Tata Teleservices has established a robust and reliable 3G ready telecom infrastructure that ensures quality in its services. It has partnered with Motorola, Ericsson, Lucent and ECI Telecom for the deployment of a reliable, technologically advanced network.

The company, which heralded convergence technologies in the Indian telecom sector, is today the market leader in the fixed wireless telephony market with a total customer base of over 3.8 million.

Tata Teleservices’ bouquet of telephony services includes Mobile services, Wireless Desktop Phones, Public Booth Telephony and Wireline services. Other services include value added services like voice portal, roaming, post-paid Internet services, 3-way conferencing, group calling, Wi-Fi Internet, USB Modem, data cards, calling card services and enterprise services. Some of the other products launched by the company include prepaid wireless desktop phones, public phone booths, new mobile handsets and new voice & data services such as BREW games, Voice Portal, picture messaging, polyphonic ring tones, interactive applications like news, cricket, astrology, etc.

Tata Indicom redefined the existing prepaid mobile market in India, by unveiling their offering – Tata Indicom "Non Stop Mobile" which allows customers to receive free incoming calls. Tata Teleservices today has India’s largest branded telecom retail chain and is the first service provider in the country to offer an online channel www.ichoose.in to offer postpaid mobile connections in the country.

Today, Tata Teleservices Limited along with Tata Teleservices (Maharashtra) Limited serves over 25 million customers in over 5,000 towns. With an ambitious rollout plan both within existing circles and across new circles, Tata Teleservices offers world-class technology and user-friendly services in 20 circles. Tata Teleservices (TTSL), along with Tata Teleservices (Maharashtra) Limited (TTML) operates in more than 5,000 towns across 19 circles i.e. Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Karnataka, New Delhi, Maharashtra, Mumbai, Tamil Nadu, Orissa, Bihar, Rajasthan, Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh (E), Uttar Pradesh (W), Kolkata, Kerala, MPCG and RoWB. It will also be launching its services in J & K and North East circles soon.

Tata Teleservices has also acquired GSM licenses for specific circles in India

Senior Management

The Board of Directors for TTSL includes Tata Sons Chairman Mr. Ratan N. Tata, while the company is currently headed by its Managing Director , Mr. Anil Kumar Sardana.

Market Data

Tata Indicom in March 2008, crossed the 24 million subscribers mark in the wireless category with a overall subscriber base of over 25 million.

It has a current subscriber base of 24.3 million and a 9.33% cumulative market share. Tata Indicom continues to register the highest CAGR at 113% in the wireless segment with a net base of 12.8 million against a starting base of 11.8 million.

(All figures based on March 2008. Figures Available on AUSPI website)

Tata Teleservices also gained the No. 2 slot in terms of Market Share in Delhi NCR region with a subscriber base of 3 million. It beat Vodafone to the No. 2 spot and positioned itself just behind Airtel in the circle.

Network

Tata Teleservices operates primarily on the CDMA network. CDMA offers a robust and technologically superior path & ecosystem. CDMA has an edge over GSM as it allows more communication to be carried with the same infrastructure and also brings costs down. Tata Indicom’s enterprise solutions work on the CDMA 3G-1X technology that offers superior voice clarity and congestion-free networks. Many existing GSM 2G (GSM/GPRS) operators are slowly begining to switch to WCDMA technology. 25 GSM operators worldwide have deployed CDMA2000 to deliver 3G value added services.

The total tower strength of Tata Indicom is currently at 12,500 towers nationwide, which includes 10,000 for TTSL and 2,500 for TTML.

Business Areas

Tata Teleservices has always come up with path breaking plans in both the Post-paid and Pre-Paid category. TTSL has also taken a lead in pioneering the VAS (Value Added Segment) in India. The Enterprise segment is another important business vertical for the company.

Branding

Tata Indicom as a brand stands out amongst other Telecom brands in India due to the trustworthiness and dynamic nature of the Tata trademark, as well as the consumer connect it has created over the years. The Tata Indicom brand is endorsed by bollywood actresses Kajol and Trisha, cricketers Irfan Pathan and Saurav Ganguly, who embody the Tata Indicom philosophy and add to its ability to connect with the consumer.

Tata Indicom has over the years managed to set itself apart as a telecom brand for India’s masses through its advertising, branding, retail and marcomm initiatives. Tata Indicom’s TV commercial for the Freedom Call Voucher won many laurels and was highly successful in creating brand recall amongst the consumers. The advertisement featured a girl, sitting in a locker room and chatting with her friend with a stop watch in one hand because she was worried that the talk time would run out. The Tata Indicom brand ambassador, Kajol, then moves into the scene and introduces this girl to Tata Indicom’s freedom call offer that ensures free unlimited talk time on the Tata Indicom network.

According to a survey conducted by global market research agency Synovate, Tata Indicom, the retail brand of Tata Teleservices Limited, was positioned as numero-uno by television viewers in major Indian metropolitan cities in September 2007.

Tata Teleservices strongly believes that the next wave of growth in the telecom industry will be driven by addressing the various segments of the market through innovation in marketing, branding and distribution strategy. In line with this strategy, Tata Teleservices has recently launched the Virgin Mobile Brand to target the youth segment. Going forward, Tata Teleservices will introduce more segmented brands/products for niche markets in India.

Rural Telephony

Tata Indicom has made consistent efforts to provide superior and affordable products and services through its Rural Telephony Unit. Mobile vans are flagged off in various parts of the country which serve as real visibility and customer touch points to experience the brand and the various services it offers.

TTSL has an efficient distribution network across villages , where in people are appointed and trained by TTSL – who visit villages on a bicycle or a two-wheeler at defined times on defined days of the week, selling recharge vouchers and servicing equipment; each runner covers between 200 to 300 customers.

The company joined hands with Tata Chemicals, Tata Kisaan Sansar network, disseminating information through these centres and using them as local distributors.

Retail

The company currently operates its retail business nationally through 3,000 plus outlets comprising of 600 TTSL owned stores and more than 2,500 stores in the Franchisee format. Tata Indicom already covers the top 700 towns in India in terms of population through Tata Indicom Exclusive Stores. Most towns with a population of 50,000 and above within the 20 circles of TTSL’s operation already have the presence of a Tata Indicom Exclusive outlet.

This is the largest branded retail presence amongst all telecom operators in the country and in fact, makes Tata Indicom the largest retailer in India in terms of number of stores under one brand name.

Tata Indicom has also launched an online portal for its customers i-choose where the customers can conveniently buy Tata Indicom post-paid connections and prepaid recharge vouchers at the click of a mouse with an upfront commitment of activation and delivery of the handset within 72 hours. Accessible from over 400 cities across India, http//www.ichoose.com has been conceptualized to enable the customers to make an educated and well-researched choice from a wide range of Tata Indicom handsets, tariff plans and value added services

The two retail formats earlier existed as True Value Hubs and True Value Shops, primarily depending on the kind of products and level of customer service provided. Over a period of time, the small format TVSs’ were upgraded to undertake a larger extent of varied customer services like bill payments, customer service requests, etc. As a result, apart from the size of the store, there is little difference between the stores in terms of services that they can deliver to customers. Thus, both formats were brought under one umbrella of the Tata Indicom Exclusive Stores.

Value Added Services

Tata Teleservices, in October 2007, unveiled a full-blown Tata Zone, the popular infotainment space on Tata Indicom BREW-enabled mobile phones, in Hindi. This unique service comes loaded with exciting applications, pricing details, downloads and browsing instructions in Hindi.

The rationale behind this was simple: - 66% of all Indians speak Hindi, while less than 5 % understand English. Tata Teleservices, the country’s fastest growing telecom service provider today, recognizes this fact and is therefore, increasingly embracing Hindi to drive the adoption of data services among the non-English speaking population.

Under its VAS bouquet, TTSL offers varied services such as News,Games,Faith and Prayers, Ringtones, Fun Shows, Video Zone, Song Download Express, Cricket, Internet Surfing, Astrology, Mobile Office, Remo Mail and other such services.

In March 2008, Tata Indicom also launched a first of its kind service known as i-HELP services, a free of charge service which enables subscribers to contact their near and dear ones in times of an emergency via one simple SMS.

Tata Indicom will also soon provide m-commerce, mobile advertising, mobile TV and social networking under its VAS offerings.