T.Y.

BMS 2013-2014
TELECOMMUNICATION INDUSTRY IN INDIA
ST ROCKS COLLEGE OF COMMERCE AND SCIENCE
BORIVALI (WEST), MUMBAI- 400092
PROJECT REPORT ON
TELECOMMUNICATION INDUSTRY IN INDIA
SUBMITTED TO UNIVERSITY OF MUMBAI IN PARTIAL
FULFILLMENT FOR THE REQUIREMENT OF BMS DEGREE
FOR ACADEMIC YEAR 2013-2014

PREPARED AND SUBMITTED BY

PRATIK . R. SAKPAL
T.Y.BMS
ROLL NO: 28
SEAT NO:

PROJECT GUIDE: PROF. BANSI MEHTA

TY.BMS
TELECOMMUNICATION INDUSTRY IN INDIA

DECLARATION
I, MR PRATIK . R. SAKPAL OF ST. ROCKS COLLEGE OF
COMMERCE AND SCIENCE
TY.BMS HEREBY DECLARE THAT I HAVE COMPLETED
THE PROJECT ON

TELECOMMUNICATION INDUSTRY IN INDIA

IN THE ACADEMIC YEAR 2013-2014
THIS INFORMATION SUBMITTED IS TRUE AND ORIGINAL TO
THE BEST OF MY KNOWLEDGE.

SIGNATURE OF STUDENT

DATE:

PLACE:

CERTIFICATE BY PROJECT GUIDE

PROF. BANSI MEHTA hereby certify that

MR PRATIK SAKPAL
OF ST. ROCKS COLLEGE OF COMMERCE AND SCIENCE,
T.Y. BMS
has completed his project on
TELECOMMUNICATION INDUSTRY IN INDIA
In the academic year 2013-2014
The information submitted is true and original to the best of my knowledge.
I

SIGNATURE OF PROJECT GUIDE

DATE :

PLACE :

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
I am most thankful to my project guide prof. Bansi Mehta for her
guidance throughout the project and for encouraging me all the times. I
value her efforts and for being available, inspite of her busy work
schedule.
There are amny people to their comment on the contents of the
project. I would also like to thank Prof. Bansi Mehta for providing me
with an opportunity to prove myself this project and with the abundance
information which will be helpful to me in future.
I am also Grateful to all my college faculties and also my senior
friends who helped me out in my project with their basic knowledge.

Date:
Place:

(PRATIK SAKPAL)

INDEX

Sr.
No.
I
II
III

IV
V
VI
VII
VII
I
IX
X
XI
XII

Particulars

Pg.
No

Introduction
Early Communication
Evolution of
Telecommunication Service
Providers in India
Cultural Barriers to
Effective Communication
Telecommunication &
Government
Internet
Top Tablets With 3G Facility
Terms & Conditions
Agreement of Airtel
Top Ten Indian Telecom
Companies
Survey
Conclusion
Bibliography

I.
a)

Introduction

What is Telecommunication?

Telecommunication is the science and practice of

transmitting information by electromagnetic means.
Communication is talking to someone or thing not
necessarily
through
technological
means.
Telecommunication, however, is talking through technology
meaning phones, Internet, radio etc... In earlier times,
telecommunications involved the use of visual signals, such
as beacons, smoke signals, semaphore telegraphs, signal
flags, and optical heliographs, or audio messages such as
coded drumbeats, lung-blown horns, and loud whistles.
In modern times, telecommunications involves the use
of electrical devices such as the telegraph, telephone, and
teleprinter, as well as the use of radio and microwave
communications, as well as fiber optics and their associated
electronics, plus the use of the orbiting satellites and the
Internet.
A revolution in wireless telecommunications began in
the 1900s (decade) with pioneering developments in
wireless radio communications by Nikola Tesla and Guglielmo
Marconi. Marconi won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1909 for
his efforts. Other highly notable pioneering inventors and
developers in the field of electrical and electronic
telecommunications include Charles Wheatstone and Samuel
Morse (telegraph), Alexander Graham Bell (telephone),
Edwin Armstrong, and Lee de Forest (radio), as well as John
Logie Baird and Philo Farnsworth (television).
The world's effective capacity to exchange information
6

through two-way telecommunication networks grew from

281 petabytes of (optimally compressed) information in
1986, to 471 petabytes in 1993, to 2.2 (optimally
compressed) exabytes in 2000, and to 65 (optimally
compressed) exabytes in 2007. This is the informational
equivalent of 2 newspaper pages per person per day in
1986, and 6 entire newspapers per person per day by 2007.
Given this growth, telecommunications play an increasingly
important role in the world economy and the global
telecommunications industry was about a $4.7 trillion sector
in
2012.
The
service
revenue
of
the
global
telecommunications industry was estimated to be $1.5
trillion in 2010, corresponding to 2.4% of the world's gross
domestic product (GDP)
b)

Etymology

The word telecommunication was adapted from the Spanish

word Telecom. It is a compound of the Greek prefix tele(______), meaning "far off", and the Latin communicare,
meaning "to share". The French word telecommunication
was first invented in the French Grande Ecole "Telecom
ParisTech" formerly known as "Ecole nationale superieure
des telecommunications" in 1904 by the French engineer
and novelist Edouard Estaunie
c)

Communications the basis of Evolution

Communication is the ability to share information. We need

communication. Communication keeps businesses and
factories running. It helps people in trouble to contact police,
fire departments,
ambulances and doctors.
Our military forces would be useless, and our government
would not
work without It. Transportation and food supplies would not
7

meet the
needs of the people.
We would loose contact with our families and friends that
live far away.
There would be no radio or television stations to entertain
us, or movies
to see.
Society would surely not be the same as it is now.
Maybe someday, we will have telephones like wrist
watches...
or, televisions with only interactive 3D programming...
or, we will have a mental connection with things so all we
have to do is think, and it is done...or, computers will be able
to visually connect with anyone in the world, without
cameras...Only the future will tell...after all, 100's of years
ago no one would have dreamed of all the things we have
today.
d)

The basis of Communication through technology

Communication is talking to someone or thing not

necessarily
through
technological
means.
Telecommunication, however, is talking through technology
meaning phones, Internet, radio etc...In earlier times,
telecommunications involved the use of visual signals, such
as beacons, smoke signals, semaphore telegraphs, signal
flags, and optical heliographs, or audiojnessages such as
coded drumbeats, lung-blown horns, and loud whistles.
In modern times, telecommunications involves the use of
electrical devices such as the telegraph, telephone, and
teleprinter, as well as the use of radio and microwave
communications, as well as fiber optics and their associated
electronics, plus the use of the orbiting satellites and the
Internet.
8

Electronic communication network is a term for a type of

computer system that facilitates trading of financial products
outside of exchanges. The primary products that are traded
on ECNs are stocks and currencies. The first ECN, Instinet,
was created in 1969. ECNs increase competition among
trading firms by lowering transaction costs, giving clients full
access to their order books, and offering order matching
outside of traditional exchange hours. ECNs are sometimes
also referred to as Alternative Trading Systems or Alternative
Trading Networks The Importance of ECN is it heavily links
with the usage of the telecom Industry;
Basically these two networks are like sisters serving a varied
purpose
Telecommunication is the science and practice of
transmitting information by electromagnetic means.

e) The Timeline of significant communicational

behavior:

3000 B.C.
- The Egyptians created a picture
language called hieroglyphics.
105 A.D. - Chinese began using paper and ink.
450 A.D. - Asia used Block Printing.
1539 A.D.
- Mexico began using the first printing
press in the Western Hemisphere.
1639 A.D.
- The first press in the American
Colonies was established in Cambridge, Mass.
1665 A.D.
- The "London Gazette" was the first
English newspaper.
1738 A.D.
- The first daily newspaper was the
"Pennsylvania
Evening Post and Daily Advertiser".
1828 A.D.
- The first comprehensive dictionary was
9

published by Noah Webster.

1844 A.D.
- Samuel Morse transmitted the first
public telegraph
message.
1858 A.D.
- The first Transatlantic cable was laid.
1876 A.D.
- Alexander Graham Bell invented the
telephone.
1878 A.D.
- Thomas Edison invents and patents the
recording of sound onto cylinders and discs.
1906 A.D.
- First wireless communication of human
speech.
1919 A.D.
First
broadcast
radio
station
KDKA licensed in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
1936 A.D.
- First television broadcast made in
London, England.
1941 A.D.
- First commercial television began in
the United States.
1941 A.D.
- Z3 computer developed by German
engineer Konrad Zuse.
1954 A.D - Color television broadcast standards are set
in the U.S..
1957 A.D.
- Satellite first sent information back to
earth.
1959 A.D.
- U.S. and Russian rockets sent
information back to earth from distances beyond the
moon.
1962 A.D. - "Telestar I", a satellite, first beamed
television programs between the U.S. and Europe.
1971 A.D.
- Intel 4004 chip developed an
integrated microprocessor chip, for the computer, that
could be programmed for different needs.
1976 A.D.
- JVC markets the first VCR with the VMS
(instead of Beta) format.
1985 A.D.
- Television began to be broadcast in
Stereo.
10

1994 A.D.
- High Definition TV standards agreed on
in the U.S..
1999 A.D.
- Intel
introduces the Pentium Ml
processor, taking personal computing to new highs.

II.
a)

EARLY COMMUNICATION

Stage 1

11

Cave drawings were murals that people painted onto the

walls of caves and canyons to tell the story of their culture.
They would tell stories of battles, hunts and culture.

Storytelling was used to tell stories, both fiction and

nonfiction, before there were books. It was a way for families
and communities to pass on information about their past

Drums were one way to send signals to neighboring tribes

and groups. The sound of the drumming patterns would tell
them of concerns and events they needed to know.
b)

Stage 2 (The Printing press)

12

The oldest printed book known is a Chinese religious book,

The Diamond Sutra. Other books like this were printed with
wood blocks, usually made from Mulberry wood. Johann
Gutenburg invented an actual printing press in 1450, it was a
screw press that worked very much like a wine press. He
discovered how to make a good ink that would print with
metal type. Gutenburg was the first to use a press to print
the Bible, it is the oldest full length volume printed. From

Gutenburg's press in Mainz, Germany, printing spread all

over Europe.
Rome developed a printing press in 1465, but, because the
rulers

of

many

countries

felt

that

the

printed

word

encouraged people to rebel against their authority, they

strictly controlled the amount of material that printers were
allowed to produce. Printing did not really grow again until
the 18th century.
The mechanics of printing changed little between 1450 and
the 1800s, when the power press was introduced. By the
1600's the art of printing was used in business. Printed news
sheets,

called

corantos,

which

were

somewhat

like
13

newspapers of today.
c)

Stage 3 (The Electronic Phase)

Telegraph: The idea for the electric telegraph was not

thought up in a scientific laboratory, but on the deck of a
sailing ship called the Scully, in the middle of the Atlantic
Ocean. The inventor was Samuel Finley Breese Morse, and in
1832, he was on of the most famous artists in the United
States. Morse and ship passengers were talking about the
invention

of

the

electromagnet,

which

looked

like

horseshoe with wire wrapped around it. They talked about

how electricity traveled through the wire. Morse thought if

electricity would travel a short distance through wire, it could

travel long distances through wire also.
Morse's idea was to string a wire between two points, maybe
miles apart. A key at one end is pressed and it closes the
electrical circuit which sends a pulse of electricity through
the wire. When the key is let go very fast, the pulse of
electricity sent through the wire is a dot. if the key is held
down 3 times longer, the pulse is a dash. Dashes and dots
mixed together form different letters of the alphabet and
14

when sent from a person at one end of the wire to another

person at the other end of the wire, these dashes and dots
would

spell

out

words.

In 1837, he developed his telegraph idea enough to test it.

Morse strung seventeen hundred feet of wire around his
room at New York University, where he taught. It worked; his
signals traveled from one end of the wire to the other.
He showed his invention to members of Congress in the
Capital by stringing 10 miles of wire around the room, and it
worked. Congress didn't think the telegraph would work for
long distances, so Morse put several miles of wire through
underground pipes. The insulation around the wire wouldn't
let the electricity travel very well, so Morse decided to string
the wire from poles instead.
These were the first of thousands of poles that would go
across the United States.
d)

Stage 4 (The modern electronic revolution)

A telephone is an instrument that sends and receives

information, usually by means of electricity. In an emergency
15

a telephone can save your life. You can save time with a
telephone. You can make a telephone call almost anywhere
in the world. Telephones are even used in cars, planes, ships,
and on lots of different mechanical machines.
Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone in Boston in
1876, 120 years later there are over 360 million telephone
numbers, and that figure grows each year.

The most familiar telephone is the desk telephone, which sits

on a desk, table or shelf. Some phones have option like
holding multiple calls or transferring calls to other phones.
An intercom allows you to talk to other people in other
rooms. Speaker phones have a microphone and a loud
speaker. With a speaker phone more than two people can
talk in a conversation. Cordless phones do not have wires
connected to them, that is why they are called cordless
phones, but they still need a to have some nearness to a unit
that is wired to the telephone system. Cellular phones are
true wireless phones.
Today the world's effective capacity to exchange information
16

through two-way telecommunication networks grew from

281 petabytes of (optimally compressed) information in
1986,

to

471

petabytes

in

1993,

to

2.2

(optimally

compressed) exabytes in 2000, and to 65 (optimally

compressed) exabytes in 2007. This is the informational
equivalent of 2 newspaper pages per person per day in
1986, and 6 entire newspapers per person per day by 2007.
Given this growth, telecommunications play an increasingly
important role in the world economy and the global
telecommunications industry was about a $4.7 trillion sector
in

2012.

The

service

revenue

of

the

global

telecommunications industry was estimated to be $1.5

trillion in 2010, corresponding to 2.4% of the world's gross
domestic product (GDP)

17

III. Evolution of telecommunications service

providers in India
India is the world's fastest growing industry in the world in
terms of number of wireless connections after China, with
811.59 million mobile phone subscribers.
According to the world telecommunications industry, India
will have 1.200 billion mobile subscribers by 2013.
Furthermore,

projections

by

several

leading

global

consultancies indicate that the total number of subscribers

in India will exceed the total subscriber count in the China
by 2013.
a)

So how Telecommunication started in India?

Well Postal means of communication was the only mean

communication until the year 1850. In 1850 experimental
electric telegraph started for first time in India between
Calcutta (Kolkata) and Diamond Harbor (southern suburbs of
Kolkata, on the banks of the Hooghly River). In 1851, it was
opened for the use of the British East India Company.
18

Subsequently construction of telegraph started through out

India. A separate department was opened to the public in
1854.

Dr.

William

O'Shaughnessy,

who

pioneered

the

telegraph and telephone in India, belonged to the Public

Works Department, and worked towards the development of
telecom. Calcutta or the-then Kolkata was chosen as it was
the capital of British India.
In

early1881,

Oriental Telephone Company

Limited of

England opened telephone exchanges at Calcutta (Kolkata),

Bombay (Mumbai), Madras (Chennai) and Ahmedabad. On
the 28th January 1882 the first formal telephone service was
established with a total of 93 subscribers.
From the year 1902 India drastically changes from cable
telegraph to wireless telegraph, radio telegraph, radio
telephone, trunk dialing. Trunk dialing used in India for more
than a decade, were system allowed subscribers to dial calls
with operator assistance. Later moved to digital microwave,
optical fiber, satellite earth station. During British period all
major cities and towns in India were linked with telephones.
b)

So who was looking after Telecom??

In the year 1975 Department of Telecom (DoT) was

responsible for telecom services in entire country after
separation from Indian Post & Telecommunication. Decade
later Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited (MTNL) was
chipped out of DoT to run the telecom services of Delhi and
19

Mumbai.
In 1990s the telecom sector was opened up by the
Government for private investment. In1995 TRAI (Telecom
Regulatory Authority of India) was setup. This reduced the
interference of Government in deciding tariffs and policy
making.

The

Government

of

India

corporatized

the

operations wing of DoT in 2000 and renamed Department of

Telecom as Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL).
In last 10 years many private operator's especially foreign
investors successfully entered the high potential Indian
telecom market. Globally acclaimed operators like Telenor,
NTT Docomo, Vodafone, Sistema, SingTel, Maxis, Etisalat
invested in India mobile operators.

c)

Wireless Communication

i.

Pager Services

Pager communication successful launched in India in the

year 1995. Pagers were looked upon as devices that offered
the much needed mobility in communication, especially for
businesses. Motorola was a major player with nearly 80 per
cent of the market share. The other companies included
Mobilink, Pagelink, BPL, Usha Martin telecom and Easy call.
Pagers were generally worn on the belt or carried in the
pocket.
The business peaked in 1998 with the subscriber base
20

reaching nearly 2 million. However, the number dropped to

less than 500,000 in 2002. The pager companies in India
were soon struggling to maintain their business. While 2-way
pagers could have buffered the fall, the pager companies
were not in a position to upgrade their infrastructure to
improve the ailing market. The Indian Paging Services
Association was unable to support the industry.
Pager companies in India also offered their services in
regional languages also. However, the end had begun
already. By 2002, Motorola stops making or servicing pagers.
When mobile phones were commercially launched in India,
the pager had many advantages to boast. Pagers were
smaller, had a longer battery life and were considerably
cheaper. However, the mobile phones got better with time
and continuously upgraded themselves.
ii.

Mobile Communication

First mobile telephone service on non-commercial basis

started in India on 48th Independence Day at country's
capital Delhi. The first cellular call was made in India on July
31st, 1995 over Modi Telstra's MobileNet GSM network of
Kolkata. Later mobile telephone services are divided into
multiple zones known as circles. Competition has caused
prices to drop and calls across India are one of the cheapest
in the world.
Most of operator follows GSM mobile system operate under
900MHz bandwidth few recent players started operating
under 1800MHz bandwidth. CDMA operators operate under
21

SOOMhz band, they are first to introduce EVDO based high

speed wireless data services via USB dongle. In spite of this
huge growth Indian telecom sector is hit by severe spectrum
crunch, corruption by India Govt. officials and financial
troubles.
In 2008, India entered the 3G arena with the launch of 3G
enabled Mobile and Data services by Government owned
MTNL

and

BSNL.

Later

from

November

2010

private

operator's started to launch their services.

iii.

Broadband communication

After US, Japan, India stands in third largest Internet users of

which 40% of Internet used via mobile phones. India ranks
one of the lowest provider of broadband speed as compared
countries such as Japan, India and Norway. Minimum
broadband speed of 256kbit/s but speed above 2Mbits is still
in a nascent stage.
Year 2007 had been declared as "Year of Broadband" in India.
Telco's based on ADSL/VDSL in India generally have speeds
up to 24Mbit max while those based on newer Optical Fiber
technology offer up to lOOMbits in some plans Fiber-optic
communication (FTTx). Broadband growth has been plagued
by many problems. Complicated tariff structure, metered
billing, High charges for right of way, Lack of domestic
content, non implementation of Local-loop unbundling have
all resulted in hindrance to the growth of broadband. Many
experts think future of broadband is on the hands of wireless
factor. BWA auction winners are expected to roll out LIE and
22

WiMAX in India in 2012.

iv

Next Generation Network (NGN)

Next Generation Networks, multiple access networks can

connect customers to a core network based on IP technology.
These access networks include fiber optics or coaxial cable
networks
connected

connected

to

through

Wi-Fi

fixed

locations

as well as

to

or
3G

customers
networks

connected to mobile users.

As a result, in the future, it would be impossible to identify
whether the next generation network is a fixed or mobile
network and the wireless access broadband would be used
both for fixed and mobile services. It would then be futile to
differentiate between fixed and mobile networks both fixed
and mobile users will access services through a single core
network. Cloud based data services are expected to come.
v.

Indian Satellites

India has launched more than 50 satellites of various types,

since its first attempt in 1975. The organization responsible
for

Indian

satellites

is

the

Indian

Space

Research

Organization (ISRO). Most Satellites have been launched

from

various

vehicles,

including

American,

Russian,

European satellite-launch rockets, and the U.S. Space

Shuttle. First Indian satellite Aryabhata on 19th April 1975,
later Bhaskara, Rohini, INSAT, Edusat, IRS, GSAT, Kalpana,
Cartosat, IMS, Chandrayaan, ResourceSat, RiSat, AnuSat,
etc.
23

Well guys this is how telecom Industry is growing in India,

hope to see India far ahead of other countries in near future.

24

IV

Cultural Barriers to Effective

Communication

Effective communication with people of different cultures is

especially challenging. Cultures provide people with ways of
thinking-ways of seeing, hearing, and interpreting the world.
Thus the same words can mean different things to people
from different cultures, even when they talk the "same"
language. When the languages are different, and translation
has

to

be

used

to

communicate,

the

potential

for

misunderstandings increases.
Stella Ting-Toomey describes three ways in which culture
interferes with effective cross-cultural understanding. First is
what she calls "cognitive constraints." These are the frames
of reference or world views that provide a backdrop that all
new information is compared to or inserted into.
Second are "behavior constraints." Each culture has its own
rules about proper

behavior

which

affect verbal and

nonverbal communication. Whether one looks the other

person in the eye-or not; whether one says what one means
overtly or talks around the issue; how close the people stand
to each other when they are talking-all of these and many
more are rules of politeness which differ from culture to
culture. Ting-Toomey's third factor is "emotional constraints."
Different cultures regulate the display of emotion differently.
Some cultures get very emotional when they are debating an
issue. They yell, they cry, they exhibit their anger, fear,
frustration, and other feelings openly. Other cultures try to
keep their emotions hidden, exhibiting or sharing only the
25

"rational" or factual aspects of the situation.

All of these differences tend to lead to communication
problems. If the people involved are not aware of the
potential for such problems, they are even more likely to fall
victim to them, although it takes more than awareness to
overcome these problems and communicate effectively
across cultures.
Telecommunication has a significant social, cultural and
economic impact on modern society. In 2008, estimates
placed the telecommunication industry's revenue at $4.7
trillion or just under 3 percent of the gross world product
(official exchange rate). Several following sections discuss
the

impact

of

telecommunication

on

society.

Telecommunication has played a significant role in social

relationships.

Nevertheless

devices

like

the

telephone

system were originally advertised with an emphasis on the

practical dimensions of the device (such as the ability to
conduct business or order home services) as opposed to the
social dimensions. It was not until the late 1920s and 1930s
that the social dimensions of the device became a prominent
theme in telephone advertisements. New promotions started
appealing to consumers' emotions, stressing the importance
of social conversations and staying connected to family and
friends. Since then the role that telecommunications has
played in social relations has become increasingly important.
In recent years, the popularity of social networking sites has
increased

dramatically.

These

sites

allow

users

to

communicate with each other as well as post photographs,

events and profiles for others to see. The profiles can list a
26

person's age, interests, sexual preference and relationship

status. In this way, these sites can play important role in
everything from organising social engagements to courtship.
Prior to social networking sites, technologies like short
message seryjce(SMS) and the telephone also had a
significant impact on social interactions. In 2000, market
research group Ipsos MORI reported that 81% of 15 to 24
year-old SMS users in the United Kingdom had used the
service to coordinate social arrangements and 42% to flirt

V.

Telecommunication and Government

Many countries have enacted legislation which conforms to

the International Telecommunication Regulations established
by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), which is
the "leading UN agency for information and communication
technology issues." In 1947, at the Atlantic City Conference,
the ITU decided to "afford international protection to all
frequencies registered in a new international frequency list
and used in conformity with the Radio Regulation." According
to the ITU's Radio Regulations adopted in Atlantic City, all
frequencies

referenced

in

the

International

Frequency

Registration Board, examined by the board and registered on

the International Frequency L/sf'shall have the right to
international protection from harmful interference." From a
global perspective, there have been political debates and
legislation regarding the management of telecommunication
and broadcasting. The history of broadcasting discusses
some

debates

in

relation

to

balancing

conventional

27

communication such as printing and telecommunication

such as radio broadcasting. The onset of World War 11
brought on the first explosion of international broadcasting
propaganda.

Countries,

their

governments,

insurgents,

terrorists, and militiamen have all used telecommunication

and

broadcasting

Patriotic

techniques

propaganda

for

to

promote

political

propaganda.

movements

and

colonization started the mid 1930s. In 1936, the BBC did

broadcast propaganda to the Arab World to partly counter
similar broadcasts from Italy, which also had colonial
interests in North Africa. Modern insurgents, such as those in
the latest Iraq war, often use intimidating telephone calls,
SMSs and the distribution of sophisticated videos of an
attack on coalition troops within hours of the operation. "The
Sunni insurgents even have their own television station, AlZawraa. which while banned by the Iraqi government, still
broadcasts from Erbil, Iraqi Kurdistan, even as coalition
pressure has forced it to switch satellite hosts several times."

28

VI

Internet

29

The OSI reference model

The Internet is a worldwide network of computers and
computer networks that can communicate with each other
using the Internet Protocol. Any computer on the Internet
has a unique IP address that can be used by other
computers to route information to it. Hence, any computer
on the Internet can send a message to any other computer
using its IP address. These messages carry with them the
originating computer's IP address allowing for two-way
communication. The Internet is thus an exchange of
messages between computers. It is estimated that the 51%
of

the

information

flowing

through

two-way

telecommunications networks in the year 2000 were flowing

through the Internet (most of the rest (42%) through the
landline telephone). By the year 2007 the Internet clearly
dominated and captured 97% of all the information in
telecommunication networks (most of the rest (2%) Through
mobile phones). As of 2008, an estimated 21.9% of the world
population has access to the Internet with the highest access
rates (measured as a percentage of the population) in North
America (73.6%), Oceania/Australia (59.5%) and Europe
(48.1%). In terms of broadband access, Iceland (26.7%),
South Korea (25.4%) and the Netherlands (25.3%) led the
world.
The Internet works in part because of protocols that govern
how the computers and routers communicate with each
other. The nature of computer network communication lends
itself to a layered approach where individual protocols in the
30

protocol stack run more-or-less independently of other

protocols. This allows lower-level protocols to be customized
for the network situation while not changing the way higherlevel protocols operate. A practical example of why this is
important is because it allows an Internet browser to run the
same code regardless of whether the computer it is running
on is connected to the Internet through an Ethernet or Wi-Fi
connection. Protocols are often talked about in terms of their
place in the OSI reference model (pictured on the right),
which emerged in 1983 as the first step in an unsuccessful
attempt to build a universally adopted networking protocol
suite. For the Internet, the physical medium and data link
protocol can vary several times as packets traverse the
globe. This is because the Internet places no constraints on
what physical medium or data link protocol is used. This
leads to the adoption of media and protocols that best suit
the local network situation. In practice, most intercontinental
communication

will

use

the

Asynchronous

Transfer

Mode(ATM) protocol (or a modern equivalent) on top of optic

fibre.

This

is

because

for

most

intercontinental

communication the Internet shares the same infrastructure

as the public switched telephone network.
At the network layer, things become standardized with the
Internet Protocol (IP) being adopted for logical addressing.
For the World Wide Web, these "IP addresses" are derived
from the human readable form using the Domain Name
System (e.g. 72.14.207.99 is derived from www.gooqle.com).
At the moment, the most widely used version of the Internet
31

Protocol is version four but a move to version six is

imminent.
At the transport layer, most communication adopts either
the

Transmission

Control

Protocol

(TCP)

or

the

User

Datagram Protocol(UDP). TCP is used when it is essential

every message sent is received by the other computer
whereas UDP is used when it is merely desirable. With TCP,
packets are retransmitted if they are lost and placed in order
before they are presented to higher layers. With UDP,
packets are not ordered or retransmitted if lost. Both TCP
and UDP packets carry port numbers with them to specify
what application or process the packet should be handled by.
Because certain application-level protocols use certain ports,
network

administrators

can

manipulate

traffic

to

suit

particular requirements. Examples are to restrict Internet

access by blocking the traffic destined for a particular port or
to

affect

the

performance

of

certain

applications

by

assigning priority. Above the transport layer, there are

certain protocols that are sometimes used and loosely fit in
the session and presentation layers, most notably the Secure
Sockets Layer (SSL) and Transport Layer Security (TLS)
protocols. These protocols ensure that the data transferred
between two parties remains completely confidential and
one or the other is in use when a padlock appears in the
address bar of your web browser Finally, at the application
layer, are many of the protocols Internet users would be
familiar with such asHTTP (web browsing), PQP3 (e-mail), FTP
(file transfer), IRC (Internet chat), BitTorrent (file sharing) and
32

OSCAR (instant messaging).

Voice over Internet Protocol (VolP) allows data packets to be
used for synchronous voice communications. The data
packets are marked as voice type packets and can be
prioritised by the network administrators so that the realtime, synchronous conversation is less subject to contention
with other types of data traffic which can be delayed (i.e. file
transfer or email) or buffered in advance (i.e. audio and
video) without detriment. That prioritisation is fine when the
network has sufficient capacity for all the VolP calls taking
place at the same time and the network is enabled for
prioritisation i.e. a private corporate style network, but the
Internet is not generally managed in this way and so there
can be a big difference in the quality of VolP calls over a
private network and over the public Internet.
I.

Local area networks and wide area networks

Despite the growth of the Internet, the characteristics of

local area networks ("LANs" - computer networks that do not
extend beyond a few kilometers in size) remain distinct. This
is because networks on this scale do not require all the
features associated with larger networks and are often more
cost-effective and efficient without them. When they are not
connected with the Internet, they also have the advantages
of privacy and security. However, purposefully lacking a
direct connection to the Internet will not provide 100%
protection of the LAN from hackers, military forces, or
economic powers. These threats exist if there are any
33

methods for connecting remotely to the LAN.

There are also independent wide area networks ("WANs" private computer networks that can and do extend for
thousands of kilometers.)

34

Once again, some of their advantages include their privacy,

security, and complete ignoring of any potential hackers who cannot "touch" them. Of course, prime users of private
LANs and WANs include armed forces and intelligence
agencies that must keep their information completely secure
and secret.
In the mid-1980s, several sets of communication protocols
emerged to fill the gaps between the data-link layer and the
application layer of the OSI reference model. These included
Apple talk, IPX, and NetBIOS with the dominant protocol set
during the early 1990s being IPX due to its popularity with
MS-DOS users. TCP/IP existed at this point, but it was
typically only used by large government and research
facilities.
As the Internet grew in popularity and a larger percentage of
traffic became Internet-related, LANs and WANs gradually
moved towards the TCP/IP protocols, and today networks
mostly dedicated to TCP/IP traffic are common. The move to
TCP/IP was helped by technologies such as DHCP that
allowed TCP/IP clients to discover their own network address
a function that came standard with the AppleTalk/ IPX/
NetBIOS protocol sets.
It is at the data-link layer, though, that most modern LANs
diverge from the Internet. Whereas Asynchronous Transfer
Mode (ATM) orMultiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS) are
typical data-link protocols for larger networks such as WANs;
Ethernet and Token Ring are typical data-link protocols for
LANs. These protocols differ from the former protocols in that
35

they are simpler (e.g. they omit features such as Quality of

Service guarantees) and offer collision prevention. Both of
these differences allow for more economical systems.Despite
the modest popularity of IBM token ring in the 1980s and
1990s, virtually all LANs now use either wired or wireless
Ethernets. At the physical layer, most wired Ethernet
implementations use copper twisted-pair cables (including
the common 1OBASE-Tnetworks). However, some early
implementations used heavier coaxial cables and some
recent implementations (especially high-speed ones) use
optical fibers.1 When optic fibers are used, the distinction
must be made between multimode fibers and single-mode
fibers.Multimode fibers can be thought of as thicker optical
fibers that are cheaper to manufacture devices for but that
suffers from less usable bandwidth and worse attenuation implying poorer long-distance performance.

36

VII Telecommunications Industry Association

The Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA) is
accredited by the American National Standards Institute
(ANSI) to develop voluntary, consensus-based industry
standards

for

wide

variety

of

Information

and

Communication Technologies (ICT) products, and currently

represents nearly 400 companies. TIA's Standards and
Technology

Department

operates

twelve

engineering

committees, which develop guidelines for private radio

equipment,

cellular

towers,

data

terminals,

satellites,

telephone terminal equipment, accessibility, VolP devices,

structured

cabling,

data

centers,

mobile

device

communications, multimedia multicast, vehicular telematics,

healthcare ICT, machine-to-machine communications, and
smart utility networks. Overall, more than 500 active
participants,

from

telecommunications

equipment

manufacturers, service providers, government agencies,

academic institutions, and end-users, are engaged in TIA's
standards setting process. To ensure that these standards
become incorporated globally, TIA is also engaged in the
International

Telecommunication

Union

(ITU),

the
37

International Organization for Standardization (ISO), and the

International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC)

a)

TIA Standards

The Telecommunication Industry Association's most widely

adopted standards include:
TIA-942 Telecommunications Infrastructure Standard for
Data Centers
TIA-568-C (telecommunications cabling standards, used
by nearly all voice, video and data networks).
TIA-569-B

Commercial

Building

Standards

for

Telecommunications Pathways and Spaces

TIA-607-B (Commercial grounding - earthling - standards)
TIA-598-C (Fiber optic color coding)
TIA-222-G Structural Standard for Antenna Supporting
Structures and Antennas
TIA-6Q2-A Data
Equipment,

Transmission

Systems

and

which standardized the common basic

Haves command set.

TiA-102 - Land Mobile Communications for Public Safety
(APCO/P25)
38

Below are the top choices:

1)

i Pad 2 &3

Fans of Apple products will swear by the overall simplicity of

this device
and the near-flawless touch response of the Latest iPad. It
39

between Rs 30,000 to Rs 45,000 makina it the top choice of

the high end market. The price is mostly justified, given the
high-resolution retina display, 4G capability, faster graphics
powered by a quad-core graphic processor and access to
Apple's vast app store. Just make sure that you look for 3G+
Wifi version of the iPad.
(Note: unlike other Sim enabled tabs, iPad does not support
voice
calling)

40

2)

Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 P3100

This is a 1 GHz Dual Core tablet running the Android 4.0 Ice
Cream Sandwich operating system. The Screen size is 7
inches, it comes with a 3 MP primary camera. You can make
2G/3G voices and it's backed by a decent 20 hours of
talktime for 3G. It is a decent buy at Rs. 19,300. It is cost
effective and generally Samsung Galaxy Tabs have got good
reviews, so you cannot go wrong with this one.

41

3)

Dell Streak

The Dell Streak is a fairly small tablet at just 5 inches. It is

powered by a IGHz processor has a 5MP main camera and
runs the Android v2.2 Froyo operating system. Its size makes
it a compromise between a tablet and a smartphone, and at
a cost of nearly Rs 18;500 currently, it is a good deal for a
pocket-sized device that packs in all the key features that
you'd expect from a contemporary gadget. The downside
though is that it runs on an older version of Android OS. But
this can be a combination of a mobile & a Tablet given its
size.
42

4)

Reliance 3G Tab V9A

This 7-inch 3G-capab!e tablet is based on Android 2,3

Gingerbread and comes with a capacitive touchscreen. The
Reliance 3G Tab V9A suitable for video calling, with its 1.4
GHz processor, 3MP camera and 512 MB RAM. Priced at
nearly Rs. 14.500. this is a decent deal for consumers who
would be content with a branded, low budget tablet.
However, one has to note that the Reliance tab comes
locked with Reliance network and cannot be used on other
networks for voice calling or 3G. Here are various Reliance
43

Tariff plans you can choose from.

5)

BSNL T-Pad WS704C

This Is 7 inch tablet priced at Rs. 13,200 and Powered by the

Android- 2.3 OS, A BSNL 3G SIM card is needed to exploit its
3G capabilities. A decent 1GHz processor powers this low
budget tablet, which is supported by 512 MB RAM. There
haven't been many takers for BSNL's
tablet offerings yet, as it is still in pre-booking stage. We
have not had too many reviews of this so you this could
probably be one of your options if you are really tight on
budget

44

XI.

Terms & Conditions Agreement Of Airtel

This agreement is incorporated into, and forms part of, the

Service Agreement.
Basic Definitions In this agreement:
"we", "us", "our", and "Airtel" mean Airtel Wireless Ltd. and
its affiliates.
"you" and "your" mean an Airtel account holder.
"Handset" means any phone, device, accessory or other
product Airtel
sells you or that is active on your account with Airtel.
"Services" means all services Airtel provides to you or agrees
to provide
to you.
"Service Agreement" means the Customer Service
Agreement between
you and Airtel.
"users" means your employees, representatives and other
individuals
who use any of the Services on or through your account with
45

Airtel.
Airtel's Policies
You and your users must comply with all Airtel business
policies, practices and procedures ("Policies"), including
Airtel's Acceptable Use and Policy Privacy Policy, which are
accessible

here

www.airtelwireless.ca

The

Policies

are

subject to change at anytime without notice.

Users
You must cause the users to comply with the Service
Agreement (including this agreement, the Policies, and all
other documents which form part of the Service Agreement).
You will be responsible and liable for their breach of any of
the foregoing.
Term & Early Termination Fees
If the Service Agreement is for a fixed term, the Service
Agreement will remain in effect for that term. For each
Handset you terminate prior to the end of that term, or that
Airtel terminates prior to the end of that term for cause, you
will be charged the lesser of: (a) an early termination fee of
$200.00 per Handset or (b) the monthly and other fixed fees
you otherwise would have paid to Airtel for the remainder of
that term in respect of that Handset. Other fees may apply
46

on termination. Upon completion of the term of the Service

Agreement, the Services will continue on a month-to-month
basis until such time as you renew or extend your term, or
the Service Agreement is terminated pursuant to its terms.
Airtel's Right to Suspend Services or terminate
Service Agreement
Airtel may, without notice, suspend any Service and/or
terminate the Service Agreement at any time if you or any of
your users: (a) fails to pay any amount owing to Airtel as and
when

due; (b)

harasses or threatens any of Airtel's

employees, contractors or representatives; (c) provides

false, inaccurate or unverifiable information to Airtel; (d)
interferes with any of the Services or Airtel's operations or
network; (e) uses (or is suspected to have used) any
Services or Handsets in any manner restricted by or
inconsistent with the Agreement or applicable jaw; (f)
breaches any of the Services Agreement (including any
document which forms part of the Services Agreement); (g)
becomes insolvent or bankrupt; (h) modifies a Handset from
its manufacturer specification or uses a non-authorized
Handset on Airtel's network, or if Airtel believes terminating
the Services is necessary to protect Airtel interests, any
customer's interests or Airtel's network or equipment.
Your Right to Terminate Services Agreement

47

You may terminate the Service Agreement at any time by

providing written notice to Airtel at least 5 business days
prior to the 24th day of each month to Airtel. Airtel will
record termination date Airtel receives that notice. You will
be responsible for all charges up to and including that date,
including all early termination and other fees, if applicable. If
Services are terminated before the end of a monthly
invoicing period, you will not receive a credit or refund for
any unused Services. You will be responsible for contacting
your financial institution to cancel any direct debit or credit
card authorizations relating to your account with Airtel.
Credit Information and Credit Audit
You must maintain satisfactory credit as required by Airtel.
You will provide all information reasonably requested by
Airtel, and will complete any credit applications provided by
Airtel, for the purpose of investigating your credit from timeto-time. You authorize Airtel to collect, use, disclose and rely
upon the credit information you supply, the information in
credit applications, any data available from commercial
credit reference services, and other information (such as
payment history with Airtel and other subsidiaries) to
determine whether to provide or continue to provide you
with Services. Services offered to you may vary based on
current credit/rating or previous history. Airtel may at any
time, based on your credit history, withdraw or change
Service Agreements, or place restrictions or conditions on
48

the use or availability of Services.

Restrictions on Using Services.
You and your users must not use any of the Services: (a) in
any manner that is illegal, fraudulent, threatening, abusive,
defamatory, or obscene; (b) in a way that could cause
damage or adversely affect Airtel or any of its, network,
property,

Services,

reputation

or

customers;

(c)

to

communicate any unsolicited commercial voice mail, text,

SMS, or other message, (d) to sell any of the Services to a
third party (i.e. make revenue from the Services); (e) to
infringe or violate the intellectual property rights or other
rights of a third party, (f) to upload or transmit any "virus",
"worm", or malicious code; or (g) in any way prohibited by
any of the Policies or any other document which forms part
of the Service Agreement.

Monitoring and Disclosure.

Airtel has no obligation to monitor any information or
content accessible, transmitted or posted through or to the
Services. Airtel may monitor your use of the Services
electronically from time to time and disclose to any third
party any information necessary to: (a) satisfy any legal,
49

regulatory or other government request; (b) operate or

provide the Services; or (c) protect itself, other customers or
users in accordance with the Policies. Airtel reserves the
right to refuse to transmit or post, or to remove or limit
access to, any information or content in whole or in part that
violates the Service Agreement or is otherwise deemed
objectionable by Airtel in its sole discretion.
Handset, Numbers and Account
You must purchase, install and maintain at your cost the
Handsets and all other equipment required for you and your
users to access and use the Handsets and Services. You
must only use Handsets and equipment that are compatible
with the Services.
Airtel does not manufacture its Handsets and accessories
and therefore provides only a limited 90 day warranty on
Handsets and accessories sold through Airtel (the "Covered
Products"). Airtel warrants that the Covered Products will
operate substantially in accordance with the documentation
provided with those products for 90 days from the date of
purchase. Airtel's limited warranty covers only material
defects in the Covered Products. Any physical or cosmetic
damage, any damage to antennas, any damage caused by
moisture, and any damage caused by not using or protecting
the products as described in the documentation is not
covered by this warranty. Only Airtel certified technicians can
50

assess damage; if the Covered Products are opened by

anyone else, the above warranty will be void. All warranty
claims must be made by returning the defective unit to Airtel
within 90 days from the date of purchase. A loaner unit may
be made available to you, depending on defect, damage and
availability. If Airtel concludes that your product is covered
by the warranty, Airtel will repair or replace the product at
Airtel's expense. THIS IS YOUR SOLE REMEDY FOR BREACH
OF THE ABOVE WARRANTY.
Airtel's network & Handsets when programmed correctly will
receive wireless text/data transmissions from other carriers,
but Airtel is not responsible for those transmissions or the
other carriers' services. Airtel may update or change the
software,

settings,

specifications

and

features

of

the

Handsets from time-to-time, and you will permit Airtel to do

so.
Except for any legal right you may have to transfer your
Airtel phone number to another carrier, you do not and will
not have any proprietary, ownership or other right to any
phone number, identification number, e-mail address or
other identifier Airtel assign to you or your users or your
Handsets or your account, and Airtel may change any of the
foregoing at any time upon notice to you. You and your users
must not alter or tamper with any identification, signaling or
transmission component or feature of any Handsets or
equipment used in connection with the Services.
51

You are solely responsible for your account with us and for
maintaining the security of all of your and your users'
account numbers, names and passwords.
Network Coverage
Airtel

does

not

guarantee

uninterrupted

radio

telecommunication services in any of Airtel's markets.

Service may be temporarily limited or refused due to radio
network

limitations,

environmental

conditions,

force

majeure, radio telecommunication network interferences or

any other reasons within or outside Airtel's control. Coverage
maps are available on Airtel's website. The specific network
coverage

you

receive

depends

on

radio

telephone

transmissions your Handset sends and receives and Services

you have chosen. Airtel's coverage maps provide high level
estimates of Airtel's coverage areas when using Services
outdoors under optimal conditions. Coverage is not available
everywhere.

Estimating

wireless

coverage

and

signal

strength is not an exact science. There are gaps in coverage

within Airtel's estimated coverage areas that, along with
other factors both within and beyond Airtel's control (e.g.,
network problems, software, signal strength, your Handset,
structures, buildings, weather, geography, topography, etc.),
may result in dropped and blocked connections, slower data
speeds, or otherwise impact the quality of Service. Services
that rely on location information, such as 911 and GPS
52

navigation, depend on your Handset's ability to acquire

satellite signals (typically not available indoors) and network
coverage.

Changes
Airtel may modify, suspend, restrict, or cancel any or all of
the Services or take corrective action at anytime without
prior notice and for any reason, including installation of
required updates to the Service or the Handsets. Airtel may
also amend the Service Agreement from time to time, which
changes will become effective upon posting to the Airtel
website or within your account. To stay up-to-date, please
make sure to check the Airtel website regularly or contact us
at connect@airtelwireless.ca and we will e-mail you the
latest agreement.
Fees and Billing
You must pay all charges set out in the Service Agreement
and all other agreements between you and Airtel. You are
liable for all charges to your account, regardless of who
incurred the charges. Certain transactions may also be
subject to a charge (for example:, changing phone numbers,
handset upgrades, etc.), although you will be provided notice
of these types of fees before Airtel completes the requested
transaction. Certain services, if available (such as roaming
53

outside of Airtel's coverage area), will be subject to

additional charges, terms and conditions.
Invoicing provides notice of your monthly charges. It reflects
monthly recurring charges (usually invoiced one cycle in
advance) and usage/transaction specific charges (usually
invoiced on the cycle when they are incurred). Invoice cycles
and dates may change from time to time. Your invoice may
also include other important notices (for example, changes
to this Agreement, to your Service, legal notices, etc.). Your
invoice will not include individual call detail.
Your Payment and Late Fees
Payment is due in full as specified on your invoice. If not
otherwise specified in the invoice, payment for the first three
months of a term contract must be made in advance. If Airtel
does not receive payment in full by the date specified on
your invoice, you must also pay simple interest on all
overdue amounts at a rate of 18% per year, calculated from
the date payment was due until the date all overdue
amounts were paid in full. Airtel will also charge you costs
associated with paying a collections agency to collect unpaid
balances from you, and an administration fee for Airtel to
collect unpaid balances. Airtel will charge $35.00 for each
non sufficient fund (NSF) cheque or other payment paid by
you and denied for any reason by a financial institution.
Acceptance of payments (even if marked "paid in full") does
54

not waive Airtel's right to collect all amounts that you owe
Airtel. Airtel may restrict your payment method to certified
cheque, bank draft, or other similar secure form of payment
at any time for good reason. If your account is de-activated,
a re-activation fee of the lesser $25.00 per Handset or
$95.00 per hour will apply.
Disputed Charges
If you think there has been an error in a charge posted to
your credit card or appearing in an invoice, you must notify
Airtel within 30 days after the charge has been posted to
your credit card, or within 30 days after receiving the
invoice. If you fail to do so then the charge will not be
adjusted.
Taxes
You must pay all federal, provincial and local taxes, fees and
other assessments that Airtel is required by law to collect
and remit on the Services and Handsets provided to you.
These charges may change from time to time without
advance notice. If you are claiming any tax exemption, you
must provide Airtel with a valid exemption certificate. Tax
exemptions generally will not be applied retroactively.
Protecting Airtel's Network & Services

55

Airtel may take any action to: (1) protect Airtel's network,
Airtel's rights and interests, or the rights of others; or (2)
optimize or improve the overall use of Airtel's network and
Services. Some of these actions may interrupt or prevent
legitimate communications and usage.
If Your handset is Lost, Stolen or Damaged
You must contact Airtel immediately if your Handset is lost,
stolen or damaged. You will remain responsible for all usage
charges for lost, stolen or damaged Handsets, until Airtel
deactivates those Handsets after receiving written notice
(via fax or email) from you that the Handsets were lost,
stolen

or

damaged.

Airtel

will

not

waive

any

early

termination fees if you choose to terminate Services as a

result of loss, damaged or theft of your Handset. You are
responsible for the cost of replacing the Handset should you
choose to continue Services under your Agreement.
Disclaimer
THE SERVICES, HANDSETS AND ALL INFORMATION AND
CONTENT PROVIDED IN CONNECTION WITH THE FOREGOING
(COLLECTIVELY, THE "AIRTEL PRODUCTS AND SERVICES")
ARE PROVIDED BY AIRTEL ON AN "AS IS" AND "AS
AVAILABLE" BASIS. AIRTEL MAKES NO REPRESENTATIONS OR
WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, AS TO THE
OPERATION OF THE AIRTEL PRODUCTS AND SERVICES. YOU
56

EXPRESSLY

AGREE

THAT

YOUR

USE

OF

THE

AIRTEL

PRODUCTS AND SERVICES IS AT YOUR SOLE RISK.

TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMISSIBLE BY APPLICABLE LAW,
AIRTEL DISCLAIMS ALL REPRESENTATIONS, WARRANTIES,
CONDITIONS AND GUARANTEES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED IN
CONNECTION WITH THE AIRTEL PRODUCTS AND SERVICES,
INCLUDING REPRESENTATIONS, WARRANTIES, CONDITIONS
AND GUARANTEES OF MERCHANTABILITY, DURABILITY, NONINFRINGEMENT AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.
WITHOUT LIMITING THE FOREGOING, AIRTEL DOES NOT
REPRESENT OR WARRANT THAT:
THE

AIRTEL

PRODUCTS

AND

SERVICES

WILL

BE

FREE OF VIRUSES OR OTHER HARMFUL COMPONENTS;

THE

AIRTEL

PRODUCTS

AND

SERVICES

WILL

BE

SECURE, ERROR-FREE OR UNINTERRUPTED;

THE AIRTEL PRODUCTS AND SERVICES WILL BE AVAILABLE AT
ANY SPECIFIC TIME OR IN ANY GEOGRAPHIC LOCATION;
MESSAGES

OR

TRANSMITTED

CONTENT

THROUGH

WILL

THE

BE

AIRTEL

RECEIVED
PRODUCTS

OR
AND

SERVICES; AND
THE POSITIONING-DERIVED DATA OBTAINED WHEN USING
THE SERVICES WILL BE ACCURATE, PRECISE, OR AVAILABLE.
Limited Liability
NEITHER AIRTEL NOR AIRTEL'S VENDORS, SUPPLIERS OR
LICENSORS WILL BE RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY DAMAGES
57

RESULTING FROM:
ANYTHING DONE OR NOT BY YOU, YOUR USERS OR A THIRD
PARTY;
PROVIDING OR FAILING TO PROVIDE SERVICES;
DEFICIENCIES, ERRORS OR PROBLEMS WITH A HANDSET OR
NETWORK

COVERAGE

(FOR

EXAMPLE,

DROPPED,

BLOCKED, INTERRUPTED CALLS/MESSAGES, ETC.);

PHYSICAL INJURIES, DEATH, OR ANY OTHER DAMAGE OR
INJURY RESULTING
OF

OR

DIRECTLY

OR

INDIRECTLY

OUT

IN CONNECTION WITH THE USE OF ANY OF THE

AIRTEL PRODUCTS AND

DEATH

OR

SERVICES,

DAMAGE CAUSED

INCLUDING

INJURIES,

IN TRAFFIC OR OTHER

ACCIDENTS, AND INCLUDING ANY HEALTH-RELATED CLAIMS

RELATING TO ANY OF THE AIRTEL PRODUCTS AND SERVICES;
DATA

CONTENT

OR

INFORMATION

ACCESSED

WHILE

USING AIRTEL PRODUCTS AND SERVICES;

AN

INTERRUPTION

ATTEMPTING TO
FROM

OR

FAILURE

ACCESS

IN

ACCESSING

EMERGENCY

OR

SERVICES

HANDSET, INCLUDING THROUGH 911;

INTERRUPTED, FAILED, OR INACCURATE LOCATION

INFORMATION SERVICES,
INFORMATION

OR COMMUNICATION THAT IS

BLOCKED

BY A SPAM FILTER, OR
FORCE

MAJEURE (I.E., OCCURRENCES BEYOND AIRTEL'S

CONTROL, SUCH WEATHER-RELATED PHENOMENA, FIRE,

EARTHQUAKE, HURRICANE, RIOT, STRIKE, WAR, TERRORISM
OR GOVERNMENT ORDERS OR ACTS, ETC.).
UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES WILL AIRTEL BE LIABLE FOR ANY
58

INCIDENTAL,

CONSEQUENTIAL,

PUNITIVE,

OR

SPECIAL

DAMAGES, OR DAMAGES FOR LOSS OF PROFITS, LOSS

OF EARNINGS, LOSS OF BUSINESS OPPORTUNITIES OR
OTHER LOSS OF ANY NATURE WHATSOEVER ARISING OUT OF
OR RELATED TO THE AIRTEL PRODUCTS AND SERVICES OR
THIS

AGREEMENT,

INCLUDING

THOSE

ARISING

FROM

MISTAKES, ERRORS, DELAYS, INTERRUPTIONS OR OMISSIONS

IN

THE

TRANSMISSION

OF

MATERIAL

OR

MESSAGES,

WHETHER NEGLIGENT OR OTHERWISE, WHICH WOULD

OTHERWISE GIVE RISE TO CAUSE OF ACTION IN CONTRACT,
TORT OR ANY OTHER DOCTRINE IN LAW OR EQUITY.
NOTWITHSTANDING ANYTHING ELSE IN THIS AGREEMENT,
AIRTEL'S TOTAL LIABILITY TO YOU UNDER THIS AGREEMENT
OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE AIRTEL PRODUCTS AND
SERVICES WILL BE LIMITED TO THE FEES YOU PAID TO AIRTEL
(DIRECTLY OR INDIRECTLY THROUGH A DISTRIBUTOR) FOR
THE SERVICES IN THE 6 MONTHS PRIOR TO THE FIRST EVENT
GIVING RISE TO THE LIABILITY.

Indemnification :
You will indemnify, defend and hold Airtel harmless from any
claims arising out of your actions, including, but not limited
to, failing to provide appropriate notices regarding locationsensitive services, failure to safeguard your passwords or
59

other

account

information,

or

violating

the

Service

Agreement or any applicable law or regulation of the rights

of any third party.
Providing Notice to Each Other Under the Agreement
Except as the Agreement specifically provides otherwise, you
must provide Airtel notice by either calling or writing Airtel.
Airtel will provide you notice in your invoice, correspondence
to your last known billing address, to any fax number or email address you have provided Airtel, by calling you on your
home phone or Handset.
To Contact Airtel
By Telephone: (403) 257-7100
By Fax: (403) 257-7101
e-mail: connect@airtelwireless.ca
In Person: #111, 3851 Manchester Road S.E. Calgary, AB
By Mail: #111, 3851 Manchester Road S.E. Calgary, AB T2G
3Z8

Law and Dispute Resolution

The Service Agreement will be governed by and construed in
accordance with the laws in effect in Alberta. All disputes
60

arising out of or in connection with the Service Agreement

will be referred to and exclusively resolved with finality by
arbitration administered by the Alberta courts in Calgary,
provided however that a party may apply to a court of
competent jurisdiction for interim protection or equitable
relief such as an interlocutory or interim injunction.
Severability
The invalidity or unenforceability of any term or provision of
the Service Agreement will not affect any other term or
provision of the Service Agreement; the remaining terms and
provisions will continue in full force and effect. The parties
will negotiate in good faith to agree to a substitute term that
will be as close as possible to the intention of any invalid or
unenforceable term while being valid and enforceable.
Assignment and Sublicensing
You may not assign or sublicense this agreement or any of
your rights under the Service Agreement or the Services
without Airtel's prior written consent, which may be withheld
without cause.
Enurement
The Service Agreement will enure to the benefit of and be
binding upon the parties and their lawful successors and
permitted assigns.

61

XII. Top 10 Indian Telecom Companies

Source silicon news
Bharti Airtel
Ownership : Privately-held by Sunil Bharti Mittal
Date of Establishment: 7th July 1995
Market Share : 19.50 percent

Brief Description: Airtel is the largest telecom service

provider in India and operates in 20 countries across south
Asia, Africa and the Channel Islands and provides 2G, 3G and
4G

services.

Ranking

third

mobile

telecommunications

company in the world, it has nearly 261 million subscribers

out of which 200 million are in India. The biggest mobile
telephony provider, it is known as being the first mobile
phone company in the world to outsource ail its business
operations except marketing. It is the first telecom service
provider to achieve a Cisco Gold certification. Among the
countries where Airtel marks its presence, some are,
Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Chad, Democratic Republic of Congo,
Ghana, Nigeria, Zambia etc. Airtel collaborated with RIM and
62

launched its Blackberry services in October 2004. According

to the annual survey conducted by brand Finance, it is the
sixth most valuable brand.
Reliance Communications
Ownership : Privately-held by Reliance Group
Date of Establishment: 2004
Market Share : 16.70 percent

Brief

Description:

Reliance

Communications

is

subsidiary of Reliance Anil DhirubhaiAmbani Group and

provides telecom services across the country. Headquartered
in Navi Mumbai, it ranks 16th on the global platform in terms
of mobile operations and provides 2G and 3G services in the
country. RCOM also provides National Long Distance and
International Long Distance operations. Its customer base
touches 150 million. It ranks among the top 5 telecom
companies worldwide in terms of number of customers and
its clientele is not limited to the individual customers but
expands to corporate as well. It has services spanning all
63

across the country and Reliance can be credited for bringing

the telecom revolution in the country with its unbeatable
pricing during times when mobile phones was a luxury for
the business class people. It is the only operator which
provides spped up to 28 Mbit/sec with its 3G MIMO
technology.
Vodafone
Ownership : Privately-held by Vodafone group
Date of Establishment: 1994
Market Share: 16.40 percent

Brief Description: Vodafone India, previously known as

Vodafone Essar and Hutchinson Essar is one of the well
renowned telecom service providers in India headquartered
in Mumbai. In 2011, Vodafone Group agreed to buy the share
of its partner Essar from the Indian mobile phone business.
Vodafone paid $5.46 billion to take 33% stake in the Indian
subsidiary. It left Vodafone with 74% of the Indian business,
while the other 26% is owned by Indian investors. The
64

company is valued to be $18.8 billion. The transaction took

its final shape in 2007. Vodafone offers both prepaid and
postpaid GSM cellular phone coverage throughout India with
good presence in the metropolitan cities. It launched 3G
services in the country in the January-March quarter of 2011
and has plans to spend up to $500 million within the next
two years on its 3G networks.

Idea Cellular
Ownership : Privately-held by Aditya Birla group and others.
Date of Establishment: 1995
Market Share : 11.90 percent

Brief Description: Idea Cellular is an Indian telecom

service provider headquartered in Mumbai. Previously ran by
Tata Cellular, it was bought by Birla-AT&T in 2000. This
merger of Birla-Tata-AT&T was popularly known as Batata
and was rebranded as IDEA. However, in the subsequent
years, AT&T and Tata sold their stake in Idea and it became
65

an entity of Aditya Birla group. The three companies held an

equal stake in the company before AT&T decided to sell its
stake. Both Tata and Birla bought AT&T's stake with 16.45
percent each. Tata was still holding Idea when the company
filed for a license to operate in Mumbai. For this reason, Idea
could enter late in Mumbai after the intervention of the
Department of Telecom. Tata left Idea but only for a major
sum of money cmounting to ? 44 billion. Currently, Birla's
hold 49.05 percent shares in Idea and the remaining is held
by Axiata Group and Providence equity
BSNL
Ownership : Publically-held by Government of India
Date of Establishment: Incorporated on 15th September
2000
Market Share : 10.8O percent

Brief Description: BSNL or Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited

is a publically held telecom service provider in India. With its
66

headquarters in New Delhi, it is the largest provider of fixedline services and subsequently provides broadband services
across

the

nation.

Before

the

liberalization

of

Indian

economy BSNL held the monopoly across the country except

for Delhi and Mumbai which were covered by MTNL. It is
India's oldest communication service provider and enjoys a
customer base of 95 million throughout India. Among the
services that BSNL provides, some are, Universal Telecom
Serives, Cellular Mobile Telephone Services, WLL-CDMA
Telephone services, Internet, Intelligent Network, 3G, IPTV,
FTTH, Helpdesk, WolP, WiMax. BSNL has 24 telecom circles, 2
metro districts, 6 project circles, 4 maintenance regions, 5
telecom factories, 3 training institutions and 4 specialized
telecom units.
TATA Teleservices
Ownership : Privately-held by the TATA Group
Date of Establishment: January 2005
Market Share : 9.20 percent

Brief Description: Tata Teleservices limited is a subsidiary

of renowned Tata group and is headquartered in Mumbai. It
67

provides broadband and telecommunications services across

the country and operates under the name of Tata Docomo in
various telecom circles across India. The Japanese telecom
giant NTT Docomo bought 26 percent stake in Tata
Teleservices in November 2008 paying a sum of nearly f
13,070 Crores. Previously in February 2008, Tata Teleservices
limited announced its plan to launch a youth oriented CDMA
service in association with Virgin Group. Currently, Tata
Teleservices functions under the following brand names: Tata
docomo, Virgin Mobile and T24 Mobile. It enjoys a subscriber
base of more than 5 billion in Delhi alone and is provides
tariff plans in both Post-paid and Pre-paid category. Its retail
business has 3000 outlets across the country. It also became
the first private sector telecom operator to launch 3G service
in the country.

Aircel
Ownership

: Privately-held by Maxis Communications

and Sindya
Securities & Investments.
Date of Establishment: 1999

68

Market Share : 6.90 percent

Brief Description: Aircel is an Indian telecom service

provider jointely held by the Maxis Communications and
Sindya

Securities

&

Investments

Private

Limited.

The

Malaysian-based Maxis Communications hold a majority

stake of 74 percent in the company. The current shareholders of Sindya Securities & Investments are the Reddy
family that is famed for its Apollo Hospitals Group of India.
Headquartered in Chennai, it is one of the leading telecom
service providers in Tamil Nadu, North East, Assam and
Chennai. With a subscriber base of nearly 51.83 million, it is
ranked seventh among the Indian mobile service providers
(GSM & CDMA) and fifth among the GSM mobile service
providers. The company has also obtained permission from
the Department of Telecom (DoT) for providing International
Long

Distance

and

National

Long

Distance

telephony

services.
Uninor
69

Ownership : Privately-held by Unitech Group and Telenor

Group
Date of Establishment: 3rd December 2009
Market Share : 4.2 percent

Brief Description: Uninor is an Indian telecom service

provider that is jointly held by two companies: a Norwaybased telecommunication company Telenor and an Indian
real-estate company Unitech. Telenor holds a major stake of
67.25 percent in the company. Uninor is headquartered in
Gurgaon (NCR Delhi) and provides its services in all of India's
22 telecom circles. It offers voice and a data service based
on the GSM technology and is commercially available in the
13 circles across India. Its major target is the youth and is a
pioneer in charging as per day time and geographic location.
During its launch, Uninor was available in 8 circles and 6
other circles were added in the initial six months. It follows a
lean operational model and its network infrastructure is
outsourced to its business partners. It is targeting 8 percent
market share in the coming years.
70

Videocon
Ownership : Privately held by Videocon Group
Date of Establishment: 7th April 2010
Market Share : 0.78 percent

Brief Description: Videocon Telecommunications Limited is

a Videocon group company owned by VenugopalDhoot. It is
headquartered in Gurgaon (NCR Delhi). Launched in April
2010, Videocon Telecommunications Limited provides GSM
services in almost all parts of India including Tamil Nadu,
Punjab, Haryana, Mumbai, Gujarat, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh,
Uttar Pradesh, and Himachal Pradesh among others under
the brand name of Videocon. The Videocon group, an Indian
Multinational company, is a global business conglomerate
that has its roots spread in diverse markets and generates
revenues worth $4 billion annually. The group has several
manufacturing facilities and R&D departments spread all
across the globe including American, Europe and Australia.
Videocon has one of the strongest distribution networks in
71

the country and enjoys a well-established reputation in the

global market. The group is also involved in the
manufacturing of mobile handsets under the same brand
name.
MTNL
Ownership : Publically-held by Government of India
Date of Establishment: 1st April 1986
Market Share : 0.6 percent

Brief Description: MTNL or Mahanagar Telephone Nigam

Limited is a publically-held telecom service provider which
operates only in metro cities; Mumbai and Delhi and the
island nation of Mauritius (Africa). Before the liberalization of
the Indian economy, MTNL held a monopoly in the cities of
Delhi and Mumbai which it lost after the market was opened
for other service providers. The Indian government currently
holds a 56.25 percent stake in the company that has a motto
"Transparency Makes Us Different". Though, MTNL's inability
to stand the stiff competition it faced from other major
telecom providers later has reduced its market share to
72

minimal decimals.

XIII.

Tie ups with companies

2006
-Nokia and Reliance Communications Ltd have joined hands
to market the Nokia 1255 mobile handset in India at a
price of Rs 1,999.
-Reliance Comm forays into video conferencing
2007
- Reliance Communications rolled out a range of mobile
handsets priced at between Rs 777 and Rs 888, shaving by
half to one-third the existing entry level mobility costs in the
country.
- Reliance Communications Ltd has informed that the Board
of Directors of the Company at its meeting held on July 17,
2007, has appointed Shri. A K Purwar, former Chairman of
State Bank of India, as an Additional Director of the
Company with effect from July 17, 2007.
- RCoM acquires Yipes for $300mn.
-Reliance

Communications

Ltd

has

launched

"Money
73

Transfer" through mobile phones across the country through

it's tie-up with ICICI Bank.
-Microsoft

Corp

and

Reliance

Communications

(RCom)

announced their joint foray into Internet Protocol Television

(IPTV) or simply put television on internet instead of the
traditional route.

-2008
-The US-French telecom equipment supplier Alcatel-Lucent
and Reliance Communications announced on May 12, a joint
venture to provide network services to telecommunications
operators.
2009
- Telecom operator Etisalat DB, formerly known as Swan
Telecom, will be outsourcing its telecom infrastructure
requirements to the Anil Ambani Group company Reliance
Communications as part of a Rs 10,000-crore deal spread
over the next 10 years.
- Reliance Communications announced its partnership with
Microsoft for offering Windows Mobile solutions on its
wireless networks where according to the agreement,
Microsoft is said to offer Windows Mobile solutions to RCom
74

customers, including push email support, chat, photosharing, content back-up and other applications.
- Reliance Communications on Nov 27 introduced one paise
per SMS for both GSM and CDMA customers, triggering a war
of tariffs on data services from voice calls.
2010
- Reliance Communications has entered into a pact with
Polycom Inc, the global leader in tele-presence, video and
voice solutions, in order to introduce world's first wireless,
high-resolution video conferencing service.
- Reliance Communications (RCom) has inked an alliance
with GetJar. Under the alliance, GetJar will offer Reliance
Communications its extensive catalogue of over 65,000 free
mobile applications.
- Reliance Communications, today announced an unlimited
internet access plans called -Mobile Net Plan, under which,
the subscribers of both post paid as well as pre paid can
access unlimited mobile internet at Rs 99 per month.

75

SURVEY ANALYSIS

This helps us understand the current scenario of the

Indian telecom industry the Survey shows us that
more than 50% of the people have given us a feedback
with a more than average rating showing that they are
happy with the service.

76

The survey shows us that out of the most players in

the Indian telecom market Vodafone is the market
leader with more than 80% people preferring Vodafone
over other service providers.

77

The survey shows us that more than 66% of the people

are satisfactory with the wireless service coverage this
shows that all providers have to concentrate on service
coverage to be a leader in the Indian market.

78

The result shows us that around 50% of the people are

happy with the ease of use of service giving it a rating
of 8 out of 10.

79

The survey reported that more than 70% of the people

were unhappy with the call quality and needed
improvement on the same
This tells us that the service providers have to
concentrate on their quality a lot more than they are
doing right now.

80

The survey showed us that people were not happy with

the billing procedure and they had to improve on the
schemes the companies offered.

81

More than 60% of the people are happy with the

telemarketing services offered to them giving us a
answer that telecommunication sector is a strong
contender in the marketing business.

82

The survey reported that more than 65% of the people

have not read the contract at all and only about 13%
actually read the complete contract

This helps us understand the Indian buying behavior

and insights us that more ways have to be adopted to
make the consumer aware of such details.

83

The loyalty of the customers was shown in the survey

with more than 70% of the people willing to stick to
their service provider and not being provocated by any
means to switch providers

84

With more than 80% of the people happy with the after
sales service. The survey reports that companies are
doing very well with reference to the after sales service
provided to the customers.

85

Conclusion
India is huge market and none of ser vice
providers can dare to ignore its potential.
Thats why Indian mobile ser vice provider
industr y is growing leap and bounce for
the last decade. This jour ney of 1 million
to 50 million will keep it pace until each
citizen in India will have his own mobile.
Industr y has many phases in its growt h.
Now mobile doesnt mean only a medium
of communication. Ser vices providers are
now willing to provide var ies facilities
like enter t ainment (music, video
e t c . ) a n d e v e n b a n k i n g a l s o . We c a n
s a y t h a t b u s i n e s s i s transforming in ecommerce to m-commerce (mobile-commerce). In
short we can say drastic c h a n g e h a s c a m e
in the industr y along with expanding
its base in subscribers, they are
keeping eye not only to offer new facilities but
also to be the first to provide it.

86

BIBLIOGRAPHY
Books:
Marketing Management Philip Kotler, Kevin Lane Keller.

Websites:
http://www.vodafone.com/start/media_relations/news/local_p
ress_releases/portugal/portugal_press_release/vodafone_had_
highest.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Customer_satisfaction
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hutch_(Indian_cellular_compan
y)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vodafone
http://bora.nhh.no/bitstream/2330/1919/1/Saplitsa
%202008.pdf
www.anacom.pt/render.jsp?contentId=606658
www.iimcal.ac.in/community/consclub/reports/
87

telecom.pdf

88