Published on Nov 30, 2023
To fulfill the objective of the project, different research methodologies have been used to come on the conclusions. Mainly descriptive study has been made to keep the research simple and narrative and some time quantitative and mainly qualitative approaches have been made to the subject.
Mainly secondary data which have been collected from different websites, magazine, research papers, interactions and books, have been used for analysis purpose. Different case studies have been taken in to consideration to bring out some facts. Company financials available in public domains have been compared and telecommunication papers available on websites of ministry of finance, D.O.T., and TRAI have been looked up. Some surveys of telecom vendors in India, have also been taken into consideration to pull out the conclusions on the subject.
The Indian Telecommunications network with 353 million connections (as on September 2008) is the third largest in the world. The sector is growing at a speed of 46-50% during the recent years. NTP-99 laid down a clear roadmap for future reforms, contemplating the opening up of all the segments of the telecom sector for private sector participation. The Government is committed to expanding rural connectivity through a slew of measures so that rural users can access information of value and transact business. This will include connecting block headquarters with fiber optic network, using wireless technology to achieve last mile connectivity and operating information kiosks through a partnership of citizens, panchayats, civil society organizations, the private sector and Government. Telecommunication plays a central role in helping developing countries participate in the global economy.
Telecommunication is pervasive in all aspects of our lives, from the stereo in your living room to the mobile phone you carry with you. These technological innovations we have in our lives are often taken for granted and it is unfeasible for us to imagine how we can function without them. By encouraging the establishment of telecommunication industries within their countries, not only is their GNP boosted from the production of higher value-added goods, but also, the economy can progress to that which is predominantly characterized by secondary or tertiary industries
The objective of the project can be summarized as follows-
1) The first objective is to access the Indian telecom sector, its current status & structure, its appellate authority, its telecom policies, service offerings, investment opportunities & incentives, research & development works, growth potential, government vision and mission etc.
2) The second objective is to find out the socio-economic impact of telecommunication investment in developing countries like India, the effect of information and communication technologies, the digital divide in developing and developed nations.
3) The third objective is to find out different financing strategies and financial ways to finance a telecom projects in India, and to access the different financial risks associated with.
4) The fourth objective is to establish the relation between the telecom investment and its effect on the growth in global perspective.
5) The fifth objective is to take the case of B.S.N.L. ( A govt. of India enterprise), a telecom service provider, to access its current business structure, service offerings, current growth in terms of revenue and profits, service expansions, its asset structure, social commitment.
6) The sixth objective is to find out the telecom trends in global perspective, high growth drivers, business patterns, cost efficient operation, and how to expand in low ARPU Rural markets.
7) The seventh objective is to see the picture of public-private partnership contribution in telecom growth in India, their investment pattern and their differential contribution to the telecom growth.
8) The eighth objective is to look into the telecom investment opportunities and potential in Indian telecom sector and the public private investment avenues and nodal agencies.
9) At last, to bring out the conclusion for financing needs of telecom sectors, their socio-economic effects, find out the viable technological options to grow in rural telephony, proving the purpose of people’s growth, analyzing the global telecom growth and public private contributions, observing the chunk of investment required to revolutionize the growth, in developing nations like India.
The problem formulation process has been iterative, from looking at one problem from a certain view to another. We began to look for the Indian telecom reforms for fulfilling the communication needs of Indian people, in the perspective of the vision seen by the government of India, and effect of these reforms on the socio-economic growth. We have found the relations that showed a connection between telecommunication and poverty reduction thus making it more interesting for us to investigate the relationship between telecommunication and how to finance it more innovative.
To be able to do this we have searched for information in literature and articles that reflects this topic, which has helped us getting a theoretic foundation. The empirical material of this project consists of survey data collected by different research firms, World bank report, and government of India economic reports, have been taken into consideration as a secondary data to bring out some conclusions.
The telecom vendor’s presentations on the growth trends and future turnings have been taken to analyze and find out the area of investment for complementing the purpose of financing. Public company, BSNL and private company Airtel, financials available in the public domain have been taken into consideration to analyze the success of public-private route of investment in India. How much the telecom investment opportunities in India is, to find out this, we have searched and analyze the government of India’s public domain information and statistics. We have gone through many telecom manuals, telecom analyst ‘s views & consulting agencies papers in internet domain to collect the data related to telecom growth figures, estimate figures, future trend, financing trend, revenue figures, investment figures etc.
IA number of key elements need to be in place for operators to provide communications to the “havenots.” Most importantly, wireless services must be affordable as incomes are usually low in lesser developed markets. Low-cost handsets are essential and, as has already been indicated, this is being addressed by the global wireless industry through the Ultra Low Cost Handset initiative. Similarly, operators must be able to deploy their networks cost-effectively, and operational costs must be kept to a minimum. Often the business plans which work for operators in mature markets are not appropriate and considerable “thinking outside the box” is required. Operators such as Bharti Telecom in India, where average revenue per user (ARPU) is less than US$5 a month and falling, have set the pace with innovative ideas such as electronic topping up. And yet operators in lesser developed markets must also look to the future.
In the early days of market growth, basic handsets offering simple voice and text messaging will meet the communications demands of their customers but very rapidly these demands will change. Subscribers will no longer be satisfied with basic communications: they will be looking for more advanced data and multimedia services. A further development will be the demand for personalisation, which is already occurring in mature markets. The mobile phone has become the world’s most ubiquitous personal item. Many people would rather leave home without their wallet than without phone. With such a strong connection it is inevitable that the owners of mobile phones want to personalise them for their own individual requirements, not just in regard to simple things such as ring tones and wallpaper, but beyond that with applications such as personal service menus which cover all the applications and services which they need to fit with their individual lifestyles.
Thesis by : Neeraj Kumar Singh of MIT Manipal
�� United Nations Development Programme (2000), Human Development Report, New York: Oxford University Press.
�� Dossani, R. (Ed.) 2002, Telecommunications reform in India. Quorom Books.
