The Indian Techonomist

(C) Copyright 1995 Deus X Machina, All rights reserved

Indian telecom privatisation - cellular services

FINANCIAL BIDS FOR NATIONWIDE SERVICES OPENED
CELLULAR AND BASIC SERVICES - BIDS
CELLULAR SERVICE LAUNCHED IN CALCUTTA
CELLULAR SERVICES - PRICING STRUCTURE

India's Department of Telecommunications (DoT) doesn't just form and implement government policy. It operates, as a monopoly, India's entire phone network. Hungry for money, it is in the process of privatising. It will create an independent telecom regulatory authority, to manage cellular services - two private operators in competition in each zone, and basic telephony services.

Scared that the DoT's half a million employees may go on strike, the DoT will not itself be privatised. It will compete with one private operator in each zone, or circle - to use their preferred term. On June 7th and June 23rd the DoT announced the bids for cellular and basic services respectively. Licences for cellular services in major cities were awarded to private companies last year.

On July 31st, the technical bids from all 32 participating companies were cleared, and the first cellular service was launched in Calcutta. On August 5th, the financial bids for nationwide cellular services were opened.

CELLULAR SERVICES - PRICING

The Department of Telecommunications has set a ceiling rates for various cellular services. Many companies in the cities where operators have already been licensed initially set their rates at the highest allowed - competition will bring them down, as some providers have already started to talk about discount rates.

DOT CEILING RATES
In Indian Rupees. One US Dollar is approximately 31.50 Indian Rupees
Security deposit - 3,000
Monthly rental - 156
Standard rate - 8.40
Peak rate - 16.80
Off-peak rate - 4.20
Rates are per minute, charged at 10 second billing increments. Peak rate is during no more than four hours per day. Off-peak is at least on Sundays and national holidays.

INSTRUMENT AVAILABILITY

The DoT has specified the European digital standard, GSM, for uniform use across the country. Instruments may be purchased from cellular service providers, or elsewhere. Nokia (which has tied up with India's HCL group) and Motorola (with an established Indian presence) are likely to be popular. Prices are high - between Rs 18,000 and 30,000 (US$ 550 to 900). Service providers have indicated that they will arrange financing.


TECHONOMIST COPYRIGHT NOTICE AND SUBSCRIPTION

(C) Copyright 1995 Deus X Machina, Rishab Aiyer Ghosh. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

This article may be redistributed in electronic form only, provided that the article and this notice remain intact. This article may not under any circumstances be redistributed or resold in any non-electronic form, or for compensation of any kind, without prior written permission from Rishab Aiyer Ghosh (rishab@dxm.org)

This article is from the Indian Techonomist (http://dxm.org/techonomist/), the newsletter on India's information industry. Annual subscription (monthly print edition plus e-mail bulletins) is for US$ 595 or equivalent. For information, contact Rishab Ghosh by e-mail at rishab@dxm.org, call +91 11 2454717 or post to A4/204 Ekta Apts, 9 I.P. Extn, New Delhi 110017, INDIA.


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