INDUSTRY OVERVIEW

It is well known that the Indian Telecommunications Industry is the third largest in the world

and second largest in Asia. The sector is growing at a speed of 45% during the recent years.

The growth rate of India Telecommunication Sector is 36.22%. The growth rate of

subscribers in rural areas during 2011 was higher at 40.64% compared to 34.41% in urban

areas.

This rapid growth has been possible due to various decisions made by the Government and

also due to the contributions of both the public and the private sectors. The liberal policies of

the Government provide easy market access for telecom equipment. A fair regulatory

framework followed by the Government offers telecom services to the Indian consumers at

affordable prices.

Indian Telecommunication Services can be broadly classified into:

Basic

Mobile

Internet

Basic services are further divided into two:

Fixed wire line

Wireless

In those days, fixed wire lines were used in majority but these days, mobile phones

subscribers have outnumbered the landline subscribers. In fact, it was recently stated by the

Rural Development Minister Jairam that, the number of mobiles phones in India are more

than the number of toilets. Decades back, food, clothing and shelter were the only three basic

needs. But in the current scenario, mobile phones are the fourth basic need.

In the year 2012, the internet subscribers have increased to 19.67 million and the numbers of

broadband connections have increased to 11.89 million.

The three new and important policies of the National Telecom Policy unveiled by the

Government are as given below:

Telecom users will be able to avail free roaming

Telecom users can keep their phone numbers even if they switch service providers

anywhere in the country

The distinction between local and STD calls would vanish, as the policy aims at a

'one-nation-one-licence' regime.

Telecom tower industry consumes around 2 bn litres of diesel in a year which is almost equal

to the consumption of diesel by the Indian railways. Thus, companies need to shell out huge

money on energy. As a result, the idea of solarisation of towers is being considered which

would help in the conservation of energy. It is not an easy task to solarize all towers but the

idea might be implemented sometime in the near future. Telecommunication is the

transmission of information over significant distances to communicate.

2.1.1. Snapshot cpmparison of various players in the Indian telecom industry

Service provider

Subscribers (mn)

Apr-12

Subscriber market share

Apr-12

Net Additions (mn) Apr-12

Share of net additions Apr-

12

Change inmarket share

(M-o-M

Bharti 183.29 27.33% 2.01 30.98% 0.04%Vodafone 151.28 22.56% 0.82 12.62% -0.10%

Rcom 0.00 0.00% 0.00 0.00% 0.00%Idea 114.21 17.03% 1.49 22.91% 0.06%Tata 0.00 0.00% 0.00 0.00% 0.00%

BSNL 94.68 14.12% 0.00 0.00% -0.14%Aircel 63.59 9.48% 1.01 15.62% 0.06%Loop 3.26 0.49% -0.01 -0.13% -0.01%

Etisalat 1.69 0.25% 0.00 0.00% 0.00%HFCL 0.00 0.00% 0.00 0.00% 0.00%MTNL 5.49 0.82% -0.11 -1.67% -0.02%Sistema 0.00 0.00% 0.00 0.00% 0.00%

Stel 3.43 0.51% 0.00 0.00% 0.00%Unitech 43.55 6.49% 1.12 17.25% 0.11%

Videocon 6.11 0.91% 0.16 2.41% 0.01%Total 670.57 100.00% 6.49 100.00%

Source: COAI, FQ Research,

http://www.moneycontrol.com/news_html_files/news_attachment/2012/Telecom_FinQuest_

310512.pdf

27.33%

22.56%17.03%

14.12%

9.48%

0.49%6.49%

Subscriber market share Apr-12

Bharti VodafoneRcom IdeaTata BSNLAircel LoopEtisalat HFCLMTNL SistemaStel UnitechVideocon

Various classes in the Telecom sector

There are various classes in which operators are sub-divided. Claas A, consists of operators

that provide connectinity to the entire country-pan India. Class B, consists of operators that

provide connectinity to an entire state, and Class C, consists of operators that provide

connectinity to a city.

These are based on licenses, accquired by shelling out money, selling equipment etc., to show

that the companies are serious and intend to continue and grow.

2.COMPANY OVERVIEW

Aircel

The Aircel group is a joint venture between Maxis Communications Berhad of Malaysia and

Sindya Securities & Investments Private Limited, whose current shareholders are the Reddy

family of Apollo Hospitals Group of India, with Maxis Communications holding a majority

stake of 74%. Aircel commenced operations in 1999 and is today the leading mobile operator

in Tamil Nadu, Assam, North-East and Chennai.

In October 2010, Aircel completed its Pan India footprint, presence in all 23 telecom

circles(can be a state or combination of cities and states eg. Delhi-NCR), with the launch of

GSM mobile services in Rajasthan, hence becomming a Class A operator. After winning the

3G and BWA spectrum, required for high speed data and multimedia services, in 13 and 8

circles respectively, Aircel became the largest operator in India with spectrum secured for

next generation wireless technologies.

Aircel has also been recognized for its consistent and reliable efforts. Voice and Data gave

Aircel the highest rating for overall customer satisfaction and network quality in 2006 and

Aircel received the same award by IDC in 2007. Aircel is ranked 5th in GSM mobile

operators. It needs licence + network to operate, due to govt. Restrictions for network and

bandwidth

It has the market lead in Tamil Nadu, Chennai, Assam and North East. It is dedicated to save

tigers as it’s CSR activity. It has won the 2009 NASCOM award. It is into both GSM (Global

System for Mobile communication), and CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access).

Aircel Business Solutions

Aircel as a company was started in 1995, in Chennai, as a GSM operator. In 1999, it became

a mobility GSM operator, operating two wings, Cellular and Business Solutions. It obtained

it’s licence to operate from the Dept. Of Telecommunications, which assigned bands to it.

Aircel is a brand, actually formed by the coming together of two companies, Maxis

communication group, bought 74 % of Aircel’s market share, which was the highest FDI as

per govt. Limits in 2005 (Maxis is the no.1 telco in Malasiya, with various other alliance with

various stakes in other operators around the world), and Appollo Hospitals having 26 %

stake.

Aircel Business Solutions (ABS) (the Business Unit of Dishnet Wireless Limited) is the

enterprise division of Aircel, which addresses the telecom requirements of International and

Indian markets with an array of industry-leading products and services. As an integrated

telecom service provider, ABS leverages its rich pedigree of best-in-class solutions,

partnerships and domain expertise to address service providers, enterprises, PSUs, and

consumers. Its range of services includes networking, data centers, managed services,

collaboration services, SaaS (Software-as-a-Service) and mobility solutions.

ABS is the pioneer of data connectivity solutions and it has demonstrated the same by being

the first operator in India to launch WiMAX technology. ABS is also a registered member of

WiMAX forum – both in the Indian and International Chapters.

With a pan India rollout of over dual core optical fiber backbone, over 400 IP MPLS PoPs

and leveraging integrated wireline and wireless data solutions, ABS is ideally suited to

provide high speed, secure, and reliable managed networking solutions across India.

The carrier to carrier business is served by Aircel wholesale and carrier Business team.the

enterprise team addresses the B2B segment from all industry verticals ( Telecom,IT,Banking,

Retail and Manufacturing). The SME team caters to the telecom requirements of Small and

Medium Enterprises.

Aircel Business solutions provides connectivity solutions on licensed spectrum to enterprise

customers, with a major focus on the data segment. It has around 6.5 Crore or 65 million

subscribers currently, accounting to about10 % of the market. It’s network is powered by

CISCO.

The connectivity business runs on media, which can be wireless or wired. Voice (basic call)

and data (SMS, social media, mails, B2B, etc.) are two products of this business. Voice

frequency ranges from 20-20,000 Hz (Humans). Resolution changes requirements of people,

hence resulting in various offerings.

2.2.3. Objectives of Aircel

To grow the business 3 fold

To increase indirect manpower by 3 times

To increase channel partners by 3 times

To grow mobility post paid business 10 times and dongle business 20 times and

Internet Lease Line business 3 times

To retain all executives

To know every company recruiting > than 10 people

To find out prospective candidates

To know which industry vertical will require Leased Line

All IT managers should BE AWARE OF Aircel, and when they have a requirement,

they should call them.

To know channel partners of competitors

To know new venture capitalists and pvt. Equity ventures

Market share and opportunities in tech. Parks

VISION AND MISSION

Vision

Become the Service Provider of Choice for the Enterprise Segment

Mission

Entry into top 1,000 corporates as the most agile service provider

Create well differentiated value offerings for ready adoption by large, medium and

small enterprises

Own service offerings, platform and delivery mechanism that keep us ahead of

competition now and during technology shifts

Some important concepts of telecommunications being dealt with by Aircel Business

Solutions

2G- Specifically for voice

3G- Voive + Data, no pan India licence

Aircel has 13, one of the largest no. of 3G licenses, along with Airtel having 13

3G is still a limitation

4G or BWA(Broadband Wireless Access) helps to give very high speed data

connectivity on mobile in 8 telecom circles

Aircel has 43 total licenses, the largest by any telco

Aircel is a unified telecom player, having voice traffic + data traffic in the same

network, hence giving equal importance to both which is called NGN (next generation

network), the first company in India

Optical fibres used to transmit voice and data

International P-O-P (Points of Presence) are at Canada, New York, Singapore, Los

Angeles, Kuala Lumpur and Hong Kong

A call is made wirelessly, which gets captured by an antenna or reciever, sound

signals get converted into electric signals, which then passes through cables, till it

reaches the nearest transmitter of the reciepent, where it gets trasmitted wirelessly to

the reciepent’s device

NNI- Network to Network Interface is a tie up between domestic and foreign players

to expand globally

Two landing stations, Chennai and Mumbai, also called the Dual-Core architecture of

Aircel provide connectivity through submarine cables

The idea behind the dual core architecture is that, if one core fails, all traffic can be

diverted to the second core, hence decreasing downtime, maintenance and losses

associated with it, and increasing uptime and credibility.

It is an ISP (internet service provider)-class A, ITSP (internet telephony service

provider), NLD (national long distance), IP1 & IP2 (infrastructure sharing).

WiMAX- fixed secured wireless for data connectivity.

Operating spectrum ranges from 3.3 GHz to 5.7 GHz.

Bandwidth is the thickness of availability of data flow.

Network Architecture

The capacity of the network gives connectivity to companies, which do not have the

capability, experience, time or resources required. Today Aircel has all licenses required to

give data connectivity to anyone, anywhere. It’s backbone is it’s main network, provoding

maximum capacity, i.e. maximum bandwidth.

It consists of wired and wireless. Wired is older, made of copper, but Aircel only deals with

fibre optics. Wireless consists of Wi-Max, which is secured and is 2Mbps max. Radio

frequency is unsecured, having high capacity and range.

Wired is better than wireless, with Wi-Max upto 4-5 km, and Radio Frequency upto 10-15

km. But wired can have physical damages, therefore, backup can be a good option. It is also

called last mile connectivity, through wired and wireless. Next, we will discuss various

products and solutions in data in ABS.

Connectivity solutions or Products in Data

Leased Line – Dedicated circuit, potent to pass optical fibre only, no interference,

bought in Mbps, speed constant and as stated, have SLA’s

Broadband – Non dedicated – retail product – no SLA (Service Level Agreements),

less speed, no dedicated customer care or NOC, limited ti 2 mbps, cheap.

Internet Leased Line – Dedicated customer care and NOC, highly scallable, costly,

any company spending around Rs. 7,000-8,000 pm on internet, can be migrated to

ILL. Wired- > 6 Mbps, wireless- 2-4 Mbps.

Multi protocol label switching – Based on bandwidth and location.

VOIP – Through internet, we can make voice calls. Voice over internet protocol.

POP – Point of presence – 434 + in the country, 190 + across globe

BTS – Base trans reciever station.

BSL – Base solutions control.

MSC – Main switching center.

Prepaid services for minutes, locations etc. No incoming, only outgoing.

PRODUCT AND SERVICES

National Private Leased Circuit (NPLC) 

 International Private Leased Circuit (IPLC) 

Global MPLS Virtual Private Network (Global MPLS VPN)

Aircel offers a suite of world-class Internet Services to enterprises strongly backed by highly

redundant, carrier grade mesh network. ILL services are offered over various last mile

options viz. Wi-MAX, Fiber and P2P radio to ensure cost effective solutions meeting your

expectations of high uptimes and redundancies in network connectivity with minimum

latencies. ABS further ensures high speed interconnected backbones with round the clock

proactive monitoring through centralized NOC.

Aircel offers cutting edge connectivity services powered by our State of the Art &

extensively Robust Multi Carrier Meshed Backbone. Our customers get the Fastest &

Shortest Data Transit Paths around the world, with our Domestic and International IP Transit

on Trans-atlantic & Trans-pacific Networks.

ABS offers following flavours of Internet Services:

Dedicated Internet Services: Platinum 1:1 

Our Flagship Product ensures customers' enjoy dedicated and symmetric Internet

connectivity on Dedicated Access Mediums & Bandwidths.

Shared Internet Services: Gold 1:2 and Silver 1:4 

Gold & Silver Shared Internet bandwidth is specially designed for SMBs to offer cost

effective solution on Shared Access Mediums without compromising performance.

IDC Internet 

Tailor made bandwidth solution crafted to cater the customers needing asymmetric

bandwidths delivering 100% Upload and 25% download of the subscribed port.

AREA OF OPERATION

Aircel is a mobile phone service provider in India. It offers both prepaid and postpaid GSM

cellular phone coverage throughout Kerala, Tamil Nadu (including Chennai), Andhra

Pradesh, Assam, North East India, Orissa, West Bengal (including Kolkata), Jammu and

Kashmir, Bihar , Himachal Pradesh & Mumbai

OWNERSHIP PATTERN

Maxis, in its quarterly report for the period ended March 31, 2006, has declared to the Bursa

Malaysia Stock Exchange that it has 99.3 per cent investment in Aircel.

According to the affidavit, Maxis paid $1,072.29 million (99.29 per cent of Aircel) and

Chennai-based Apollo group’s Reddy family $7.71 million (0.71 per cent) to buy a 100 per

cent stake in a deal valued at $1,080 million.

However, technically, Maxis owns 73.9999 per cent equity shares of Aircel, while the Reddy

family holds 26.0001 per cent shares.

The FIPB had approved Aircel’s proposal to increase its holding to 74 per cent from 49 per

cent on March 14, 2006. Current telecom norms permit up to 74 per cent FDI in a mobile

operator.

“To get the 26 per cent equity shares, the Reddy family was required to pay $280.80 million

but it paid only $7.71 million. The rest was paid from the funds created by Maxis through

preferential shares,” the affidavit alleged.

In return for the funds made available by Maxis to the Reddy family, the joint venture

company shareholder agreement disclosed by Maxis on January 20, 2006, states, “The

preferential shareholders will be entitled to receive a fixed dividend at the rate of 0.1 per cent

per annum and shall have a right to participate in the remaining profit of the joint venture

company (JVC-Deccan) in proportion to their financial contribution.”

Analysts said, “This arrangement is not a case of a normal loan but calls for a proportionate

share in the profits, which is nothing but returns on foreign investment made.”

The Reddys own 26 per cent in Aircel through Deccan Digital Networks — a joint venture of

Global Communications Services Holdings (GCSH) and itself.

GCSH is a 100 per cent subsidiary of Maxis, which holds 64 per cent in Aircel directly.

GCSH owns 25 per cent in Deccan, with the Reddys holding 75 per cent. Deccan holds 35

per cent in Aircel.

The Aircel group is a joint venture between Maxis Communications Berhad of Malaysia and

Sindya Securities & Investments Private Limited. The former has a majority stake of 74

percent.

COMPETITORS INFORMATION

AIRTEL

Bharti Airtel, formerly known as Bharti Tele-Ventures LTD (BTVL) is India's largest cellular

service provider with more than 92 million subscribers as of February 2009. It also offers

fixed line services and broadband services. It offers its TELECOM services under the Airtel

brand and is headed by Sunil Bharti Mittal. The company also provides telephone services

and Internet access over DSL in 14 circles. It also acts as a carrier for national and

international long distance communication services. The company has a submarine cable

landing station at Chennai, which connects the submarine cable connecting Chennai and

Singapore.

The businesses at Bharti Airtel have been structured into three individual strategic business

units (SBU’s) - Mobile Services, Airtel Telemedia Services & Enterprise Services. The

mobile business provides mobile & fixed wireless services using GSM technology across 23

telecom circles while the Airtel Telemedia Services business offers broadband & telephone

services in 95 cities and has recently launched India's best Direct-to-Home (DTH) service,

Airtel digital TV. The company provides end-to-end data and enterprise services to the

corporate customers through its nationwide fiber optic backbone, last mile connectivity in

fixed-line and mobile circles, VSATs, ISP and international bandwidth access through the

gateways and landing station.

Globally, Bharti Airtel is the 3rd largest in-country mobile operator by subscriber base,

behind China Mobile and China Unicom. In India, the company has a 24.6% share of the

wireless services market, followed by 17.7% for Reliance Communications and 17.4% for

Vodafone Essar.

VODAFONE

Vodafone Essar, previously Hutchison Essar is a cellular operator in India that covers 23

telecom circles in India. Despite the official name being Vodafone Essar, its products are

simply branded Vodafone. It offers both prepaid and postpaid GSM cellular phone coverage

throughout India with good presence in the metros.

Vodafone Essar provides 2.75G services based on 900 MHz and 1800 MHz digital GSM

technology, offering voice and data services in 23 of the country's 23 license areas. It is

among the top three GSM mobile operators of India.

Vodafone Essar is owned by Vodafone 52%, Essar Group 33%, and other Indian nationals,

15%. On February 11, 2007, Vodafone agreed to acquire the controlling interest of 67% held

by Li Ka Shing Holdings in Hutch-Essar for US$11.1 billion, piping Reliance

Communications, Hinduja Group, and Essar Group, which is the owner of the remaining

33%. The whole company was valued at USD 18.8 billion. [2] . The transaction closed on

May 8, 2007.

IDEA

Idea Cellular is a wireless telephony company operating in various state in India. It initially

started in1995 as a joint venture among the Tata’s, Aditya Birla Group and AT&T by

merging “Wings Cellular” operating in Madhya Pradhesh, Uttar Pradesh(UP) West,

Rajasthan and Tata Cellular as well as Birla AT&T Communications.

Initially having a very limited footprint in the GSM arena, the acquisition of Escotel in 2004

gave Idea a truely pan-India presence covering Maharashtra, Goa, Gujarat, Andra Pradesh,

Madhya Pradesh, Chattisgarh, Uttar Pradesh(East and West), Haryana, Kerala, Rajasthan and

Delhi(inclusive of NCR).

Initially the Birla’s the Tata’s and AT&T Wireless each held one-third equally in the

company. But following AT&T Wireless mergerwith Cingular Wireless in 2004, Cingular

decided to sell its 32.9% stake in Idea. This stake was bought by both the Tatas and Birlas

at16.45% each.

Tata’s foray into the cellular market with its own subsidiary, Tata Indicom, a CDMA-based

mobile provider, cropped differences between the Tatas and Birlas This dual holding by Tatas

also became a major reason for the delay in Idea being granted a license to operate in

Mumbai. This was because as per Department of Telecom (DOT) license norms, one

promoter could not have more than 10% stake in two companies operating in the same circle

and Tata Indicom was already operating in Mumbai when Idea feild for its license.

The Birlas thus approached the DOT and sought its intervention, and the Tatas replied by

saying that they would exit Idea but only for a good price. On April 10, 2006, the Aditya

Birla Group announced its acquisition of the 48.18% stake held by the Tatas at Rs.40.51 a

share amounting to Rs.44.06 billion. While 15% of the 48.14% stake was acquired Aditya

Birla Nuvo, a company in-charge of the Birlas new business initiatives, the remaining stake

was acquired by Birla TMT holdings Private Ltd., an AV Birla family owned company.

Currently, Birla Group holds 49.1% of the total shares of the company.

Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited

BSNL is a public sector telecommunication company in India. It is India's largest

telecommunication company with 24% market share as on March 31, 2008. Its headquarters

are at Bharat Sanchar Bhawan, Harish Chandra Mathur Lane, Janpath, New Delhi. It has the

status of Mini Ratna, a status assigned to reputed public sector companies in India.

BSNL is India's oldest and largest Communication Service Provider (CSP). Currently has a

customer base of 90 million as of June 2008.[1] It has footprints throughout India except for

the metropolitan cities of Mumbai and New Delhi which are managed by MTNL. As on

March 31, 2008 BSNL commanded a customer base of 31.55 million Wireline, 4.58 million

CDMA-WLL and 54.21 million GSM Mobile subscribers. BSNL's earnings for the Financial

Year ending March 31, 2007 stood at INR 397.15b (US$ 9.67 b) with net profit of INR

78.06b (US$ 1.90 billion). BSNL has an estimated market value of $ 100 Billion. The

company is planning an IPO with in 6 months to offload 10% to public in the Rs 300-400

range valuing the company at over $100 billion.

BSNL provides almost every telecom service in India. Following are the main telecom

services provided by BSNL:

Reliance Communications (formerly Reliance Infocomm)

Reliance Telecom and Flag Telecom, is part of Reliance Communications Ventures

(RCoVL). It is an Indian telecommunications company. According to National Stock

Exchange data, Anil Dhirubhai Ambani controls 66.77 per cent of the company, which

accounts for more than 1.36 billion shares.[3] It is the flagship company of the Reliance-Anil

Dhirubhai Ambani Group, comprising of power (Reliance Energy), financial services

(Reliance Capital) and telecom initiatives of the Reliance ADAG. It uses CDMA2000 1x

technology for its existing CDMA mobile services, and GSM-900/GSM-1800 technology for

its existing/newly launched GSM services.

RelCom is also into Wireline Business throughout India and has the largest optical fiber

communication (OFC) backbone architecture [roughly 110,000 km] in the country.

Reliance Communications has interests in Direct To Home (DTH) TV also, known as "Big

TV". It plans to launch its DTH business by July 2008. Once launched, RelCom will have

presence across all B2C communications channel in one of the fastest growing markets in the

world.

On July 2007, the company announced it is buying US-based managed ethernet and

application delivery services company Yipes Enterprise Services for a cash amount of Rs.

1200 crore rupees (equivalent of USD 300 million).

ACHIEVEMENT/AWARD

Aircel got the highest rating for overall customer satisfaction and network quality in

2006 by Voice and Data.

Aircel was rated as the top mid-size utility company in Business World’s ‘List of Best

Mid-Size Companies’ in 2007.

Aircel was recognized for the award by IDC in 2007 for being successful in fulfilling

our promises to our customers.

Aircel has been selected as the best regional operator in 2008 by Tele.net. Aircel is

headed by shahid mustafa who was asked to leave Hutchinson Essar Ltd - Mumbai.

Aircel are one of the sponsors of the Indian Premier League Cricket Team Chennai

Super Kings captained by Mahendra Singh Dhoni.It is also the sponsor for

Professional Golf Tour of India from 2009 onwards

Honoured by CMAI INFOCOM for excellence in marketing of new telecom service in 2009.

FUTURE GROWTH AND PROSPECTS

Aircel Ltd is likely to launch its 4G service in about six months, according to

K. Sankara Narayanan, Regional Business Head, Aircel Ltd, Chennai.

Sankara Narayanan said that 4G is “definitely a step forward in technology” giving

the customers a “fantastic choice”. It would also give customers “incredible speed that

does not exist in the market today”

The company has identified data services as the future growth engine, even though

voice services continue to account for the largest share of the revenue of the telecom

industry.

Being the largest operator in India with spectrum secured for next generation wireless

technologies (3G and BWA)`1, over 100 IP MPLS PoPs, Pan India dual core optical fiber

backbone and WiMAX presence in over 53 cities, Aircel Business Solutions is ideally suited

to provide world class, high speed, end-to-end voice & data solutions

SWOT ANALYSIS

Strength

1.Fifth largest GSM mobile service provider with subscriber base over 27mn

2.13% market share

Weakness

1.Profitability is an issue

2.Lack of advertising

3.Low brand visibility

Opportunity

1.Fast expanding cellular market

2.Latest and low cost technology

3.Untapped rural market

4.Value added services

Threats

1.Competitors low price offering

2. Saturation point in Basic telephony service

3.Mobile Number Portability

PART-B

PROJECT PROFILE

OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

To find out recruitment trends of small and medium IT companies in South India,

based on www.naukri.com.

I am only focussing on online recruitment and other sources have not been considered

and have not focussed on consultancies.

This would help make a study about the IT sector and it’s requirements, hence helping

the company, the logic being that if they are hiring, they would require secure, high

speed connectivity solutions, which is where Aircel Business Solutions can pitch in

it’s offering.