Tata Docomo
Company type | Joint venture |
---|---|
Industry | Telecommunications |
Founded | November 2008 |
Headquarters | New Delhi, NCT, India |
Area served | India |
Services | Mobile network, Fixed wireless, Wireless broadband |
Parent | Tata Teleservices (74%) NTT DoCoMo (26%) |
Website | www |
Tata DOCOMO is an Indian cellular service provider on the GSM, CDMA and platform-arising out of the strategic joint venture between Tata Teleservices and NTT Docomo in November 2008. It is the country's sixth largest operator in terms of subscribers (including both GSM and CDMA).
History
Tata DOCOMO is part of the Indian conglomerate Tata Group. The company received the license to operate GSM services in nineteen telecom circles and was allotted spectrum in eighteen of these circles and launched GSM services on 24 June 2009. It began operations first in South India and currently operates GSM services in eighteen of twenty two telecom circles. It has licences to operate in Delhi but has not been allocated spectrum from the Government.[1] Docomo provides services throughout India. Tata DOCOMO offers both prepaid and postpaid cellular phone services. It has become very popular with its one second pulse especially in semi-urban and rural areas.[citation needed]
On 5 November 2010, Tata DOCOMO became the first private sector telecom company to launch 3G services in India. Tata DOCOMO had about 42.34 million users at the end of December 2010.[2]
In April 2011, Tata DOCOMO signed Bollywood actor Ranbir Kapoor as its brand ambassador on a three year contract. [3] For the southern states of Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh, actors Vijay and Ram Charan Teja are the brand ambassadors respectively.
Rebranding
On 20 October 2011, the Tata Group brought its brands – CDMA, GSM, Walky (Fixed Wireless Phone), Photon, INTERNET – under the Tata DOCOMO name. All subscribers to these services were migrated to the Docomo brand on 20 October 2011.[4] The companies other brands – Virgin Mobile and T24 – are not part of the rebranding and continue to retain their names.[5]
NTT DOCOMO exit
NTT DOCOMO announced on 25 April 2014 that they are going to sell 100% of their shares in Tata DOCOMO to Tata Teleservices and exit Indian Telecom. The reason for exit is because of huge loss of $1.3 billion. [6]
Network coverage
Tata DOCOMO mobile services are available in the following telecom circles:[7]
With effect from 17 June 2013, Docomo does not offer postpaid services, on both CDMA and GSM, in Bihar, Jharkhand, Rajasthan and West Bengal (except Kolkata).[8]
3G
On 19 May 2010, the 3G spectrum auction in India ended. Tata DOCOMO paid ₹6964.29 crores for spectrum in 22 circles. These circles obtained 3G licences and they are Madhya Pradesh&Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Haryana, Karnataka, Kerala, Maharashtra & Goa, Punjab, Rajasthan, and Uttar Pradesh (West).[9]
On 5 November 2010, Tata DOCOMO became the first private sector telecom company (third overall) to launch 3G services in India, with a 20 city launch.
On July 19, 2011, Docomo and Aircel entered into a roaming agreement for 3G services to jointly roll out 3G networks in the three circles where they both have coverage (Karnataka, Kerala, and Punjab).[10] On December 14, 2011, Docomo ended its agreement with Aircel. Both operators ended the deal after the Department of Telecom said that such 3G arrangements were illegal, as the pacts violate licence terms and conditions.[11] Tata DOCOMO and Aircel currently have bilateral roaming agreements to allow their subscribers to seamlessly use 3G on roaming. Tata Docomo[12] customers use Reliance GSM's 3G network when they are on roaming in Delhi.
Docomo had about 1.5 million 3G subscribers as of May 2011.[13]
Awards and Recognition
Tata DOCOMO was ranked 64th among India's most trusted brands according to the Brand Trust Report 2012, a study conducted by Trust Research Advisory. In the Brand Trust Report 2013, Tata DOCOMO was ranked 117th among India's most trusted brands while according to the Brand Trust Report 2014, Tata DOCOMO was ranked 261st among India's most trusted brands. It was among 16 of Tata's subsidiary brands to feature in the report apart from the parent brand. Ratan Tata also featured in the report among India's most trusted 'Personality' brands.[14]
References
- ^ "About Tata DOCOMO | 3G Mobiles in India | 3G Network". Askbiography.com. Retrieved 2012-06-28.
- ^ Annual Report 2010 - 2011 - Tata Teleservices
- ^ "Tata DOCOMO ropes in Ranbir Kapoor as brand ambassador". The Times Of India. 2011-04-07.
- ^ "TATA Indicom is Now TATA DOCOMO". Telecomtalk.info. 2011-10-19. Retrieved 2012-06-28.
- ^ Tata Tele Data Products Get New Identity With Docomo Brand
- ^ Docomo Exit
- ^ Biswas, Rudradeep (2012-11-26). "TT Special: 2G Map of India". Telecomtalk.info. Retrieved 2013-06-15.
- ^ "Tata Docomo to Shut Down Postpaid Services in Rajasthan, Bihar & West Bengal". Telecomtalk.info. 2013-05-24. Retrieved 2013-06-15.
- ^ India’s 3G Auction Ends; Operator And Circle-Wise Results
- ^ "Light Reading India – IP & Convergence – Tata, Aircel Join Forces for 3G – Telecom News Analysis". Lightreading.com. 9 January 2011. Archived from the original on 16 August 2011. Retrieved 2014-09-09.
- ^ "Tata Docomo and Aircel Terminate 3G Roaming Deal". Telecomtalk.info. 2011-12-14. Retrieved 2012-06-28.
- ^ "Docomo Launches Facility for users to add unused 2g/3g Data". www.wapmasterszone.com. WapmasterZone. Retrieved 2 February 2015.
- ^ "PC World Product Latest News | PC World India". Pcworld.in. Retrieved 2012-06-28.
- ^ "India's Most Trusted Brands 2014".