TATA TELESERVICES LTD
Tata Teleservices Limited spearheads the Tata Group’s presence in the telecom sector. The Tata Group had revenues of around USD 70.8 billion in Financial Year 2008-09, and includes over 90 companies, over 363,039 employees worldwide and more than 3.5 million shareholders.
Incorporated in 1996, Tata Teleservices is the pioneer of the CDMA 1x technology platform in India. It has embarked on a growth path since the acquisition of Hughes Tele.com (India) Ltd [renamed Tata Teleservices (Maharashtra) Limited] by the Tata Group in 2002. It launched mobile operations in January 2005 under the brand name Tata Indicom and today enjoys a pan-India presence through existing operations in all of India’s 22 telecom Circles. The company is also the market leader in the fixed wireless telephony market. The company’s network has been rated as the ‘Least Congested’ in India for five consecutive quarters by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India through independent surveys.
Tata Teleservices Limited now also has a presence in the GSM space, through its joint venture with NTT DOCOMO of Japan, and offers differentiated products and services under the TATA DOCOMO brand name. TATA DOCOMO arises out of the Tata Group’s strategic alliance with Japanese telecom major NTT DOCOMO in November 2008. TATA DOCOMO has received a pan-India license to operate GSM telecom services—and has also been allotted spectrum in 18 telecom Circles. The company has rolled out GSM services in 17 of India’s 22 telecom Circles in the quick span of less than a year. The company plans to launch pan-India operations by the end of FY 2010-11.
TATA DOCOMO marks a significant milestone in the Indian telecom landscape, and has already redefined the very face of telecom in India, being the first to pioneer the per-second tariff option—part of its ‘Pay for What You Use’ pricing paradigm. Tokyo-based NTT DOCOMO is one of the world’s leading mobile operators—in the Japanese market, the company is the clear market leader, used by over 50 per cent of the country’s mobile phone users.
Tata Teleservices operates under five different brands— Tata Indicom (CDMA services), Tata DOCOMO (GSM services), Virgin Mobile, Tata Walky (which is the brand for fixed wireless phones), Tata Photon (the company’s brand that provides a variety of options for wireless mobile broadband access) and T24. TTSL recently entered into a strategic partnership agreement with Indian retail giant Future Group to offer mobile telephony services under a new brand name—T24—on the GSM platform. The exciting new brand was unveiled in February and it has commenced the GSM operations under the brand name T24 in Andhra Pradesh and will roll out services in other circles shortly.
Today, Tata Teleservices Ltd, along with Tata Teleservices (Maharashtra) Ltd, serves nearly 70 million customers in more than 450,000 towns and villages across the country, with a bouquet of telephony services encompassing Mobile Services, Wireless Desktop Phones, Public Booth Telephony and Wireline Services.
In December 2008, Tata Teleservices announced a unique reverse equity swap strategic agreement between its telecom tower subsidiary, Wireless TT Info-Services Limited, and Quippo Telecom Infrastructure Limited—with the combined entity kicking off operations with 18,000 towers, thereby becoming the largest independent entity in this space—and with the highest tenancy ratios in the industry. Today, the combined entity has a portfolio of nearly 35,000 towers.
TTSL’s bouquet of telephony services includes mobile services, wireless desktop phones, public booth telephony, wireline services and enterprise solutions.
Over the last few months, Tata Teleservices’ industry-best and innovative offerings have gained industry-wide recognition and the Year 2010 saw TTSL add many notable accolades to its name. TTSL was named The Best Emerging Markets Carrier by Telecom Asia, and received 8 awards at the World HRD Conference, including 5th Best Employer in India. The company also received 3 awards at the Telecom Operator Awards 2010 from Tele.net; Best Company, CEO of the Year and Best Quality of Service, and Business Standard award for ‘Most Innovative Brand of the Year’.
