With about 90 per cent teledensity, Gujarat is one of the most important telecom market for operators in the country. At present, the Gujarat circle has a total subscriber base of over 55 million and generates about Rs 7 billion in revenues for the operators. In line with the trend witnessed in other circles, voice segment dominates the telecom market in Gujarat, followed by value added services (VAS) segment. VAS and data revenues contribute about 15 per cent to the total revenues in the circle as against their contribution of about 11 per cent nationally. This implies that Gujarat comprises more tech savvy subscribers than most other circles in the country and consequently offers more opportunity for robust growth in data usage and revenues.
While the circle has a significantly high teledensity of about 90 per cent, it witnesses about 4 million gross subscriber additions per month, thereby indicating high usage of multiple-SIM cards by an individual subscriber. The increase in gross additions results from the fact that incumbents provide high margins to the dealers, driving the growth in gross subscriber additions per month.
In order to restrict the number of SIM cards sold to a subscriber, the government has put in place a new subscriber acquisition process. With this new process, the gross additions of the subscribers are expected to fall by more than 60 per cent, which will create a level playing field for all the operators.
Tata DOCOMO?s key achievements in the Gujarat circle
Tata DOCOMO launched GSM operations in Gujarat in March 2010 and has already achieved a revenue market share of 8 per cent. The operator has a strong 2G network in the circle with over 3,000 sites. The operator won 3G licence in Gujarat in the auction and consequently offers 3G services in 22 locations across the circle, by deploying about 1,300 3G sites. It has more than 100 stores across the circle, with about 57 of them being the franchisees.
The operator offers unique services to its customers and conducts extensive research and development activities. It provides voice services through both GSM and CDMA technology in the circle. Further, it provides data card, including Photon+ and Photon Max, for facilitating internet connectivity through laptops. The operator?s Photon Max, which functions on CDMA technology, offers the highest data speed of 7.2 mbps in the industry. Besides, it provides wireless home phones for voice services. Tata DOCOMO is the only operator to use per second billing system for all services. In contrast, other operators tend to change the billing system to per minute billing for voice services.
On the data services front, Tata DOCOMO has already achieved a penetration of 65 per cent in the Gujarat circle as compared to an overall penetration of 40 per cent in the circle. Further, it has witnessed a high uptake of SMS services, with 70 per cent of its subscribers utilising the service per month as against an overall uptake of 50 per cent per month in the circle. Moreover, about 12 per cent of the operator?s customers in Gujarat have subscribed to 3G services. In contrast, only 7 per cent of the total mobile users in the circle have subscribed to these services.
Tata DOCOMO offers different services pack to both pre-paid and post-paid subscribers. These include Rs 899 post-paid plan wherein a subscriber can make a call to any local & STD number (GSM & CDMA) at no additional cost. Similarly, Rs 1299 data plan offers unlimited local and STD calls and unlimited internet browsing service. Moreover, the operator has launched the first-of-its-kind pre-paid plan, RC 250, wherein a subscriber receives a full talk time value of Rs 250 and unlimited 3G/2G data service for a month.
Going forward, non voice services and m-Commerce are two futuristic streams where the company is planning to come in a big way. Tata DOCOMO has already started non-voice services such as smart bus tracker and home surveillance system in key towns like Ahmedabad, Surat etc.
