Dr. Pankaj Sharma

Assistant Professor, Department of Commerce

Presidency College-Alwar (Raj.)

Abstract:          

In the last ten years, the mobile revolution has truly changed the socio-economic landscape of India and played a pivotal role in the growth and development of the economy. According to Cellular Operator Association of India (COAI), India ranks between the top ten telecom network in the world and the second largest in Asia. India is also one of the fastest growing markets in mobile communications. Telecom Regulatory Authority of India’s report on Telecom Services Performance (TRAI, 2010) indicates cellular mobile subscriber base touching 755.71 million in June 2021. Growth in India’s mobile telephone sector has been nothing short of spectacular in the past few years, aided by higher subscriber volumes, lower tariffs and falling handset prices. India is home to a number of global mobile operators working with local companies and mobile market has consistently experienced very high annual growth rates with the continuous decline in tariff.

The mobile sector subscribers India have grown from around 10 million subscribers in the year 2012 to 350.93 million by the end of February 2021. According to Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), a total of 8.49 million telephone connections were added during February 2021. The annual growth of mobile cellular services recorded in India during the last few years has been nearly 100 percent, but still, after over a decade of start of mobile services in the country, only 30 percent of the 600 million addressable markets of mobile users in the country of over one billion people have been reached. Today, around eight million new telephone subscribers are being added in India every month. This is mostly in the mobile telephone segment.

Key Words: TRAI, COAI, MNP, GSMA.

Introduction: –

In the fiscal year 2023, more than 100 million mobile phone subscribers in India took advantage of the mobile number portability feature to change their telecom operator, as per data released by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI). This figure accounts for approximately 12 percent of India’s total mobile subscriber base and indicates a significant shift in consumer preferences within the telecom industry.

According to the report of Kotak Institutional Equities, an average of 10 million mobile subscribers ported their numbers each month in FY23, resulting in a cumulative total of 121 million instances of number porting throughout the fiscal year. The data suggest that subscribers were drawn to switch operators due to the low-ticket prepaid plans. 

While the participation of all operators in this practice results in a net zero effect on subscriber numbers, it has led to an unnecessary increase in customer acquisition costs. 

However, a recent rural survey conducted by IIFL, a leading financial services company, indicates a potential downtrend in overall subscriber churn in the upcoming months. The survey, conducted in Mumbai and nearby rural and semi-urban districts, reveals that operators are implementing more disciplined approaches to acquiring subscribers. 

The reduction in trade payouts on Mobile Number Portability (MNP) and new SIM activation is cited as a significant contributing factor, with telcos adjusting their payouts based on their strengths and weaknesses in specific micro-markets.

As per the report, the Indian telecom landscape continues to witness dynamic changes, with subscribers switching operators to capitalize on attractive plans and incentives, the telecom operators are being compelled to refine their strategies for customer acquisition and retention. 

Market Overview:- 

Much has changed in the Indian telecom landscape since our last mobile network experience report in October 2022. Airtel became the first to launch commercially, using non-standalone access (NSA) technology and naming it 5G Plus. On the other hand, Jio has taken the 5G standalone access (SA) route calling it True 5G, and uses the 700 MHz band (5G low-band spectrum) that no other Indian operator currently has.

Since then, both operators have been putting significant efforts into expanding their 5G footprint. As of March 2023, Jio claims to have rolled out 5G in 406 cities. Meanwhile, rival Airtel argues it is ahead in the race with a 5G footprint of 500 cities. However, by contrast, India’s third largest operator Vi has not formally announced its 5G launch date, while state-owned BSNL is strengthening its 4G network and aiming to launch 5G by 2024.

These 5G efforts in India have been paying off, as in Opensignal’s recent 5G analysis, we found that users across India are experiencing huge uplifts in experience with 5G compared to 4G, and Tier 2 cities see some of the most significant jumps.

In this report, Opensignal has analyzed the overall mobile network and 5G experience together for the first time and given awards for India’s 5G experience. Opensignal results show that since the last report and the launch of 5G, the overall speed experience across India has improved massively, aided by our 5G users spending significant amounts of time with 5G.

For this analysis, Opensignal has assessed the overall mobile network experience of our users on the four main mobile network operators in India: Airtel, BSNL, Jio and Vi, over a period of 90 days starting on December 1, 2022, and ending on February 28, 2023, to understand how they compare nationally as well as in 22 telecom circles. We have also analyzed the 5G experience of our users on the two Indian operators that have commercially launched 5G — Airtel and Jio. In addition to the 5G Experience metrics, which represent the experience of our 5G users when they have an active 5G connection, we also include – 5G User measures (such as Download Speed Experience – 5G Users) that show the overall experience of our 5G users across all generations of mobile technology.

The mobile phone network enables wireless communication using mobile devices, such as mobile phones, smart phones or tablets. Mobile phone networks provide the necessary infrastructure and are operated by mobile phone providers. In addition to the access network, which establishes the wireless connection to the terminal devices by radio, a core network exists that connects the individual access points to each other. The core network ensures that mobile users can exchange information with those using other access networks or external networks. The main distinguishing factor between fixed and mobile networks is in the access network. The landline network also uses a similar or the same core network, but, as opposed to the mobile network, uses wired technologies in its access network.

 

Mobile network and mobile data transmission:-

To begin with, the mobile network was planned almost exclusively for voice communication, however, mobile data usage has become increasingly important over the years, especially with the advent of smart phones and tablets. This is also a major reason behind the rapid development of mobile communication standards. Whereas standards such as GPRS or EDGE only enable transmission speeds in the kilobits per second range, modern mobile networks, with 3G or 4G technology, such as UMTS and LTE, achieve bandwidths of many megabits per second. The LTE standard allows transfer rates of more than 100 megabits per second and, by using various different frequency ranges, can cover a large area around the radio mast.

Telecommunication is one of the prime support services needed for the rapid growth and modernisation of varioussectors of the economy. Telecom services have been recognised the world-over as an important tool for the socio-economic development of a nation. It has become the need of the hour in recent years because of the enormous andtremendous growth of information technology and it has played a pivotal role in the development of the economy. The Telecom Sector, which has a multiplier effect on the economy, has influenced the economy by way of contributing to the increased efficiency. The Government of India shows the importance of world-class telecommunication infrastructure and information as the key to the rapid socio-economic stride of the country.

Review of literature:-

Bepko and Pleger (2012) in their article “Service Intangibility and Its Impact on Consumer Expectations of Service Quality” stated that among the areas which need to be addressed in service quality research is the nature of consumerexpectations across the range of intangibility. Previous research had compared consumers’ service quality expectations across services, but different groups of subjects were evaluated for each different service. The problem with using different subjects for each service is that the subject’s demographic characteristics may be responsible for the significant differences in expectations of quality.

Jamal and Naser (2019) , in their article named “Customer Satisfaction and Retail Banking: An Assessment of Some of the key Antecedents of Customer Satisfaction in Retail Banking,” suggested that customer satisfaction is based notonly on the judgment of customers towards the reliability of the delivered service, but also on customers’ experiences with the service delivery process. Hence, they reported demographic differences (education and income levels) in the degree of customer satisfaction.

Growth of telecom sector:-

 

The telecom sector exhibited strong growth over the last few years on the back of strong consumer demand and supportive policies of the Government of India. The government has ensured fair competition among service providers, and a fair and proactive regulatory framework that has resulted in telecom services being available to consumer at affordable prices. Further it has made sustained efforts at encouraging telecom equipment manufacture. The deregulation of Foreign Direct Investment norms has led an increase in FDI in the Telecom sector.

India is currently the world’s second-largest telecommunications market with a subscriber base of 1.18 billion. India’sgrowing mobile economy now constitutes about 98% of all telephone subscriptions. The mobile industry has witnessed exponential growth over the last few years driven by affordable tariffs, wider availability, roll out of Mobile Number Portability (MNP), expanding 4G coverage, evolving consumption patterns and supportive policy and regulatoryenvironment. As per a GSMA report, the mobile industry supports about 6.5% of India’s GDP. The figure accounts for both the direct economic activity generated by mobile operators and an indirect effect on the rest of the economy resulting from increased use of mobile technology by individuals and firms. Telecom industry contribution to GDP is expected to reach 8.2% by 2022. The Government has placed considerable emphasis on growth of internet and broadband in the country as part its Digital India campaign. Mobile has now emerged as the main platform for internetaccess in India, bringing connectivity to many previously unconnected populations. Efforts are being made to address thedigital divide by extending inclusive internet access to every Indian, as mobile technology looks to empower the masses and become the critical means of accessing a broad range of public services.

As per GSMA Reports, mobile technologies and services generated 4.6% of GDP globally in 2021, a contribution that amounted to $3.9 trillion of economic value added. By 2023, this contribution will reach $4.8 trillion, or 4.8% of GDP, as countries around the globe increasingly benefit from the improvements in productivity and efficiency brought aboutby increased take-up of mobile services. In 2021, the wider mobile ecosystem also supported a total of 32 million jobs(directly and indirectly) and made a substantial contribution to the funding of the public sector, with almost $510 billionraised through general taxation (before regulatory and spectrum fees). Further ahead, 5G technologies are expected tocontribute $2.2 trillion to the global economy over the next 15 years, with key sectors such as manufacturing, utilitiesand professional/financial services benefiting the most from the new technology.

List of telecom companies in India:-

 

Wireless subscribers

As of 30 September 2021, there are 1148.58 million wireless subscribers including inactive users in India according to Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI).

Table

WIRELESS SUBSCRIBERS IN INDIA

Slno	Operators	No.of subscribers(in mi)
1	JIO	404.13
2	AIRTEL	326.61
3	VI	295.50
4	BSNL	118.99
5	MTNL	3.34

Source: www.trai.gov.in

Wireline operators

As of 30 September 2021, there are 20.08 million Wireline subscribers in India according to Telecom RegulatoryAuthority of India (TRAI)

 

Table

                                    WIRELINE OPERATORS IN INDIA

	Operator	Subscribers (millions)	Ownership
1	BSNL	10.78	Government of India
2	Airtel	4.45	Bharti Airtel
3	Jio	2.08	Jio Platforms
4	Tata Teleservices	1.71	Tata Group
5	Vi	0.51	Vodafone Idea Limited
6	Reliance Communications	0.42	Reliance ADAG

Source: www.trai.gov.in

Foreign direct investment:

Foreign Direct Investment has played an important role in shaping the progress of the telecom sector over the years, and in financing expansion of telecom infrastructure in the country. The FDI flows in the telecom sector in the last few yearshave been as follows:

 

Table

FOREIGN DIRECT INVESTMENT

YEAR	Rs. in crores
2015-16	8637
2016-17	37435
2017-18	39748
2018-19	18337
2020-21	29724

Source: The Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT)

           

Conclusion:

India is currently the world’s second-largest telecommunications market with a subscriber base of 1.18 billion. Telecom industry contribution to Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is expected to reach 8.2% by 2021. Most of the customers are male (58.5 per cent)who are under the age group of 20-30 years (30 percent) are working in various jobs(29.3 per cent) and earning a monthly income of Rs.10000 to Rs.30000. The quality parameters designed by the selected mobile phone service providers are technology up gradation from 4G to 5 G, innovative and attractive offers, recharge services likemassive recharging outlets and multiple recharge options and attractive advertisements to influence their customers. The mobile consumers’ expectations from the service providers are good network coverage, multiple offers with unlimited calls, data in different GB, free SMS and increasing validity period, which are make them satisfied with thecurrent mobile service providers, on the other hand if the mobile service providers fails to satisfy the expectations of the customers, they pave the way to switch over to other mobile service providers. The consumers facing various problems like disconnection of calls, sudden winding up of companies, not able to contact customer care service people, high consumption of data and so on. To overcome the problems, the mobile service providers are following various strategieslike, quick connection while making calls, attractive and unlimited calls and data (increasing data from 1 GB to 2 GB and 2 GB to 3GB per day), providing value added services at free of cost, increasing the number of towers for efficient networking to satisfy the existing customers and to retain them and also increase new customers.

This study was undertaken to examine and understand the consumers’ perception choice in selecting cellular mobile telecommunication service providers. Consumers’ perception is widely varied in accordance with the Communication quality, call service, facilities, price, customer care and service provider’s quality. Hence, from the result of our study, we can deliberately conclude that price has significant positive impact on consumer perception choice in selecting telecommunication service provider. Hence, product quality from the marketer’s perspective is associated with communication, price, feature, function, or performance of a product. Price plays a significant roll in the purchase decision of the telecommunications sector. However, our study shows that product quality and availability has a significant impact on consumer perception choice in selecting mobile telecommunication service provider and supported.

The outcome of this research shows a comprehensively integrated framework for us to understand the vibrant relationships among several dimensions of service quality, price, product quality and availability, and promotion to have handful ideas on the consumers’ perception. However, we still predict that further research efforts are being needed to examine these factors with additional samples before generalization can be made.

 Scope for future study:-

The new areas for further research are customers’ preference and satisfaction of the mobile service provider at the state level. Customers’ preference and satisfaction of the mobile applications, because in the modern days all the transactions are made through mobile phone applications. Further research may also be conducted to analyse the reasons for thedeclining usage of desktops and laptops, because nowadays one can substitute all his communication and computational needs through one smartphone. Nowadays smart phones are used for children online education, business, health, foods and also in social networking. Further research enables institutions to implement courses in mobileapplications.

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