CASE STUDY SERIES

BY AFTERSCHOOOL

CASE STUDY AIRCEL

by :
Dr. T.K. Jain
AFTERSCHO☺OL centre for social entrepreneurship
sivakamu veterinary hospital road
bikaner 334001 rajasthan, india
www.afterschool.tk,afterschoool@in.com
mobile : 91+9414430763
send your case studies, articles to be published in this series
HISTORY OF TELECOM IN INDIA
1850
The first Experimental Electric Telegraph Line was started between Calcutta and Diamond
Harbour.
November
1953
Construction started of 4,000 miles of telegraph lines connecting Calcutta and Peshawar in
the north via Agra and Bombay through Sindwa Ghats, Bombay and Madras in the South
as well as Ootacamund and Bangalore.
October
1854
The first Telegraph Act enacted.
February
1855
Electric telegraph opened to public traffic.

1857
The Mutiny? ElectricTelegraph saved India? Dalhousie.

1858
First Indo-Ceylon cable laid
January
1865
First Indo-European telegraphs communication effected.

1867
A new cable laid between India and Ceylon.

1871
International Telegraph Conference at Berne and Rome.
Octobe 1872
Interference to Telegraph Working by Magnetic Storm.

1873
Duplex Telegraphy introduced in India between Bombay and Calcutta

1873
Indigenous manufacture of cables for river crossing by Telegraph Workshops, Alipore.
August
1875
The first Private Telephone line supplied by the Telegraph department.
August
1877
Indian Telegraph Department erected telegraph line between Srinagar and Gilgit on behalf
of the Maharaja of Kashmir.

1878
For the first time (except the first year) the receipt of the Indian Telegraph Department
exceeded the expenses, netting a surplus Of Rs. 182,128.
July 1880
I.T.D. transferred responsibility of the Ceylon Telegraph System and offices to the Ceylon
Government.
November 1881
Licenses granted to Private Companies to operate Telephone Systems at Madras,
Bombay, Rangoon, and Calcutta.
January 1882
Opening of telephone exchange at Bombay.
October
1885
Upper Burma Campaign? I.T.D. helps in providing communi- cations for swift advance.
Introduction of Quadruplex telegraphy and copper wire for transmission.

1886
Copper wire for transmission between Bombay and Madras instead of iron wire.

1887
Facilities afforded to Indian Meteorological Service for communicating? Storm Signals? to
all places.

1888
Post Office and Telegraph Department combined as quasi- commercial departments.
January 1889
Death of Dr. O? Shaughnessy at Southern.

1892 -95
Construction and control of Telegraph System of Kashmir State by I.T.D.

1895 -96
Phonograms introduced for the first time at Bombay and Calcutta.

1902
First wireless telegraph station established between Saugor Islands and Sandheads.

1903
Field Telegraphs for Sikkim, Tibet.

1903
Reorganisation of Superior Establishment in Telegraph. Departmental Wireless Telegraph
introduced.

1904
Wireless Telegraph introduced between Elephant Point and Amherst.

1905
Control of Telegraph Department transferred from P.W.D. to Commerce and Industry
Department, except for matters connected with Buildings and Electricity.

1906
Baudot system introduced between Calcutta and Bombay, and Calcutta and Rangoon.
August
1907
Central Battery working of telephones was first introduced in Kanpur.
December
1907
Women signalers employed for the first time.

1907-08
Wireless Telegraph working between Diamond Islands and Port Blair were successful
during the nights of cold weather.

1908
Wheatstone working between London and Calcutta, Madras and Rangoon.

1909
Wireless Telegraph Traffic was maintained with ships at-sea from Calcutta stations at
Diamond Island, Table Island, etc.
April
1910
Birth of Technical Branch as a separate organization for dealing with the technical matters
under Electrical Engineer-in-Chief.
December 1910
Telegraph Department awarded a gold medal in the Unite Provinces Exhibition held at
Allahabad.

1910-11
Introduction of Circle Scheme in the department and decentralization.

1912-14
Amalgamation of Postal and Telegraph Department under a single Director-General.
Reversion of control of P&T again to P.W.D.

1913-14
First automatic exchange at Simla with a capacity of 700 lines with 400 actual connections.

1914-
Production of war materials by Workshops.
April
1919
Lady operators employed in Simla Exchange.

1920
Madras-Port Blair route for Wireless Telegraph opened.
May 1921
Recurrence of Magnetic Storm after a period of 50 years. Telegraph Traffic in south India
interrupted.
August 1921
National Cash Registers introduced in Calcutta C.T.O. for the first time.

1921

Continuous wave transmitters for wireless telegraphy replace the spark transmitters.
1921
Introduction of R.A.X. at Poona.

1922
Department erected a line for Tibetan Government from Gyantse to Lhassa.

1923
Long distance dialing (90 miles) introduced between Lahore and Lyallpur.

1923
First Trunk Telephone Circuit in Burma established between Rangoon and Pegu.

1923-24
152 questions relating to Department were asked and answered in the Legislative
Assembly.

1924
Floods and cyclone interrupted Telegraph Traffic throughout India.
Ist April
1925
Accounts of the Department re-constituted on the basis of a full-fledged commercial unit.

1925-26
Conversion of Delhi Manual system to Auto System. Deluxe telegrams for greeting
messages with foreign countries introduced.
23rd July
1927
Radio-Telegraph started working between U.K. and India. The beam station at Kirkee and
Dhond opened by Lord Irwin and greetings exchanged with the King of England.
May
1933
Radio-Telephone communications between England and India opened by India Radio and
Cable Communication Co. Special Trunk Exchange was installed at Kirkee.
December
1936
Indo-Burma Radio-Telephone service started functioning between Madras and Rangoon.

1936-37
Use of Trunk Lines for broadcasting programmes introduced.

1937
Burma and Aden Telegraph Systems, which were a part of Indian Telegraph System,
separated.

1937

Deluxe Telegram with foreign countries introduced.

1938-39
Construction of short wave and medium wave wireless telegraph receivers in a number of
stations and direction finding stations at Gaya and Allahabad.
1940
Introduction of? Urgent Private Inland Trunk Calls?. Overseas Telephone Service
temporarily suspended due to war conditions.

1942
Bombay Australian wireless Telegraphic service inaugurated.
February
1942
Bombay-China Wireless Service inaugurated. Training center at Calcutta transferred to
Jabalpur.

1942
The Bombay Telephone Workshop was taken over by the I.T.D.

1943
The Jabalpur Telegraph Workshop started.

1943

The Bombay, Calcutta and Madras Telephone Systems were taken over by I.T.D.

1943
Telecommunication Development Scheme came into operation. A
Telecommunication Development Board was set up.
August
1944
Bombay-New York Wirless Telegraph Service was commissioned into service.
September 1944
Second civilian outlet to U.K., Delhi and London Wireless Telegraph Service inaugurated.

1947
India was represented at the important Atlantic City International Radio Conference.

1947
Direct Telephone link to Kashmir and Assam.

1947
The late Sardar Patel launched Jalaprabha on Telephone Carrier Channel and Wireless.
1st June
1949
Introduction of Hindi telegram in Devanagari script.
December
1949
? Own Your Telephone? Scheme inaugurated.

1949
Wireless Station commenced functioning at Srinagar.
1949-1950
State Merger Scheme; the P&T gradually took over the respective State P&T Systems.
January
1950
India-Afghanistan Wireless Telegraph Service inaugurated. Radio-Telephone Service
between India and Nepal inaugurated.
May-June
1950
Coastal Wireless Stations at Karwar, Ratnagiri and Mangalore started.
October
1950
The Wireless Telephone Service between Indonesia and India opened.
November
1950
Private Priority Telegram introduced.

1950
? Own Your Telephone Exchange? Scheme began to operate.
December
1950
? Telegraph Wires (Unlawful possession) of 1950, Act was passed by Parliament.
March
1951
The First Asian Games held at Delhi was conveyed by a direct Radio telephoto service
between India and Japan. Innovation of Radio-Telephoto Service.
December
1951
Launching of S.S. Jalapushpa of Scindia Steam Navigation Company at Vizagapatam by
Shri N.V. Gadgil from Bombay through telegraph circuits.Wireless Telegraph link to
Thailand.
June
1951
Wireless Telegraph link to Moscow.
July
1951
Wireless Telegraph and Telephone link to Egypt. First Toll Cable: Delhi-Ghaziabad.
September 1951
Wireless Telegraph and Telephone link to Iceland.

Mar/Aug 1952
Wireless Telephone link to Iran/Japan.

1953
12 channel carrier systems introduced.

1953
First Automatic Exchange in Calcutta. Telex Service in Bombay.First 12-Channel Carrier
Systems. Introduction of Frequency Modulation.Mechanisation of Telephone Revenue
Accounting.
July
1959
First Coaxial route between Delhi-Agra commissioned.
November
1960
First subscriber trunk dialing route commissioned between Kanpur and Lucknow
December
1965
First microwave route between Calcutta-Asansol opened
February
1967
First crossbar-local exchange commissioned at Mambalam ? Madras.
December
1967
First crossbar trunk automatic exchange out into service at Madras
March
1975
First PCM system between city and Andheri telephone exchanges commissioned in
Mumbai?Advanced Level Telecom Training Centre? commenced training activities from
Delhi to be eventually shifted to its own campus in Ghaziabad.

1976
Installation of SPC gateway telex exchange and introduction of International Subscriber
dialed telex service. First Digital Microwave System introduced in Calcutta Junction
network

1978
Introduction of Press Bulletin Service (PBS).?Telecommunications Consultants India
Limited? set up in the public sector to provide consultancy services in telecommunications.

1979
First optic fibre system for local junction commissioned at Pune.

1980
First satellite earth station for domestic communications established at Secunderabad
(U.P.)

1982
First SPC electronic digital telex exchange commissioned at Bombay.

1983
First SPC analogue electronic trunk automatic exchange commissioned at Bombay.

1984
? Centre for Development of Telematics (C-DOT) was established as a society for
development of digital switching system.

1985
First Mobile Telephone Service introduced at Delhi.First Radio Paging introduced in Delhi.

1986
?Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited? And? Videsh Sanchar Nigam Limited? Were
established.
1987
First digital coaxial 140 Mb/s between Ahmedabad and Rajkot commissioned.

1988
International gateway packet switch system commissioned at Bombay.

1991
I-Net exchange commissioned Inmarsat coastal earth
stationatARVItoprovidemaritime communication.Voice Mail Service (VMS) introduced in
Delhi.

1994
Announcement of National Telecom Policy.Cellular telephone service started in Calcutta
and Delhi.Internet service provided by VSNL.ISDN service started commercially.

1995
The? Telecom Regulatory Authority of India? Wasset up.Wireless in Local Loop (WLL)
telephone system introduced in MTNL Delhi.Indo ? Nepal Optical Fibre link
Commissioned.Basic Telecom Services opened for private competition.

1998
New ISP Policy was announced.

1999
New Telecom Policy .DOT is separated into two organs- DTS and DTO.

2000
Telecom disputes, settlement and Appellate Tribunal was established.National Long
Distance Service opened for private competition. Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited is born.

2001
Convergence Bill to promote, facilitate and develop the carriage and content of
communications tabled in the Parliament.Policy for GMPCS service has been announced.
Policy for PMRTS has been announced.Policy for UMS was announced.

2002
VSNL came under private management. International Long Distance Service opened for
private competition. Internet telephony was started.

AIRCEL
Aircel is a mobile phone service provider in India. It offers both prepaid and postpaid GSM
cellular phone coverage throughout India. Aircel was founded by NRI businessman C
Sivasankaran.
Aircel is a joint venture between Maxis Communications Berhad of Malaysia and Apollo
Hospital Enterprise Ltd of India. Maxis has a 74% stake in Aircel and the remaining 26% is
with Apollo Hospitals. It is India’s fifth largest GSM mobile service provider with a
subscriber base of over 27.7 million, as of October 31, 2009. It has a market share of
12.8% among the GSM operators in the country. As on date, Aircel is present in 18 of the
total 23 telecom circles (including Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Bihar & Jharkhand, Chennai,
Delhi & NCR, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, Karnataka, Kerala, Kolkata, Mumbai,
North East, Orissa, Rest of Maharashtra & Goa, Rest of Tamil Nadu, Rest of West Bengal,
Uttar Pradesh East, Uttar Pradesh West) and with licences secured for the remaining 5
telecom circles, the company plans to become a pan-India operator by 2010. Additionally,
Aircel has also obtained permission from Department of Telecommunications (DoT) to
provide International Long Distance (ILD) and National Long Distance (NLD) telephony
services. It is also a category A ISP.
Aircel Business Solutions (ABS), part of Aircel, is an ISO 9000 certified company. ABS is a
registered member of WiMAX forum – both in the Indian and International Chapters. ABS’
product range includes enterprise solutions such as Multi Protocol Label Switching Virtual
Private Networks (MPLS VPNs), Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) and Managed Video
Services on wireless platform including WiMAX.
Aircel has won many awards for its services. Aircel was honored at the World Brand
Congress 2009 with three awards, Brand Leadership in Telecom, Marketing Campaign &
Marketing Professional of the Year. Aircel was honored by CMAI INFOCOM National
Telecom Award 2009 for, ‘Excellence in Marketing of New Telecom Service’. Aircel had
been selected as the best regional operator in 2008 by Tele.net. Aircel was rated as the
top mid-size utility company in Business World’s ‘List of Best Mid-Size Companies’ in
2007. Aircel got the highest rating for overall customer satisfaction and network quality in
2006 by Voice and Data.
Aircel is one of the sponsors of the Indian Premier League Cricket Team Chennai Super
Kings, which is captained by Mahendra Singh Dhoni. It is also the major sponsors for
Chennai Open (the only ATP tennis tournament in India), and Professional Golf Tour of
India.
In latest news, Maxis, Aircel's majority stake holder, raised RM11.2 billions (USD 3.36
billions)for its shareholders, making it the largest IPO in Malaysia and Southeast Asia.
Aircel boat. Aircel, placed an actual dinghy lifeboat to a downtown billboard. A rope with a
sign reading, “In case of emergency, cut rope”, held up the branded raft. July 15, 2009 the
monsoon arrived and so did Aircel customer service. The dinghy was cut down and
pedestrians were safely transported.

What Aircel calls “Corporate Social Responsibility – A Solution”. The company was able to
generate positive publicity and show consumers that they care.

Aircel has grown to become the world's leading provider of air-to-ground

telecommunications. Its products are offered as standard or optional equipment by virtually
every aircraft manufacturer in business aviation, and are installed aboard the world's three
largest fractional ownership fleets, NetJets, Flight Options and CitationShares.

Since winning the FCC’s exclusive air-to-ground broadband frequency license in a 2006
auction, Aircell has successfully developed a groundbreaking new wireless broadband
service for domestic airlines, business aircraft and passengers. Aircell's Gogo Inflight
Internet service keeps airborne commuters connected to the world below.

The Aircel group is a joint venture between Maxis Communications Berhad of Malaysia
and Sindya Securities & Investments Private Limited, whose current shareholders are the
Reddy family of Apollo Hospitals Group of India, with Maxis Communications holding a
majority stake of 74%.
Aircel commenced operations in 1999 and became the leading mobile operator in Tamil
Nadu within 18 months. In December 2003, it launched commercially in Chennai and
quickly established itself as a market leader – a position it has held since.

Aircel began its outward expansion in 2005 and met with unprecedented success in the
Eastern frontier circles. It emerged a market leader in Assam and in the North Eastern
provinces within 18 months of operations. Till today, the company gained a foothold in 18
circles including Chennai, Tamil Nadu, Assam, North East, Orissa, Bihar, Jammu &
Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, West Bengal, Kolkata, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka,
Delhi, UP(West), UP(East), Maharashtra & Goa and Mumbai.

The Company has currently gained a momentum in the space of telecom in India post the
allocation of additional spectrum by the Department of Telecom, Govt. of India for 13 new
circles across India. These include Delhi (Metro), Mumbai (Metro), Andhra Pradesh,
Gujarat, Haryana, Karnataka, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra & Goa, Rajasthan,
Punjab, UP (West) and UP (East).

Aircel has won many awards and recognitions. Voice and Data gave Aircel the highest
rating for overall customer satisfaction and network quality in 2006. Aircel emerged as the
top mid-size utility company in Businessworld’s ‘List of Best Mid-Size Companies’ in 2007.
Additionally, Tele.net recognised Aircel as the best regional operator in 2008.

With over 25 million happy customers in the country, Aircel is a full-fledged national
operator.

COMPARISON TO BSNL

Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd. formed in October, 2000, is World's 7th largest
Telecommunications Company providing comprehensive range of telecom services in
India: Wire line, CDMA mobile, GSM Mobile, Internet, Broadband, Carrier service, MPLS-
VPN, VSAT, VOIP services, IN Services etc. Within a span of five years it has become one
of the largest public sector units in India.
BSNL has installed Quality Telecom Network in the country and now focusing on
improving it, expanding the network, introducing new telecom services with ICT
applications in villages and wining customer's confidence. Today, it has about 47.3 million
line basic telephone capacity, 4 million WLL capacity, 20.1 Million GSM Capacity, more
than 37382 fixed exchanges, 18000 BTS, 287 Satellite Stations, 480196 Rkm of OFC
Cable, 63730 Rkm of Microwave Network connecting 602 Districts,7330 cities/ town sand
5.5 Lakhs villages.
BSNL is the only service provider, making focused efforts and planned initiatives to bridge
the Rural-Urban Digital Divide ICT sector. In fact there is no telecom operator in the
country to beat its reach with its wide network giving services in every nook & corner of
country and operates across India except Delhi & Mumbai. Whether it is inaccessible
areas of Siachen glacier and North-eastern region of the country. BSNL serves its
customers with its wide bouquet of telecom services.
BSNL is numero uno operator of India in all services in its license area. The company
offers vide ranging & most transparent tariff schemes designed to suite every customer.
BSNL cellular service, CellOne, has more than 17.8 million cellular customers, garnering
24 percent of all mobile users as its subscribers. That means that almost every fourth
mobile user in the country has a BSNL connection. In basic services, BSNL is miles ahead
of its rivals, with 35.1 million Basic Phone subscribers i.e. 85 per cent share of the
subscriber base and 92 percent share in revenue terms.

BSNL has more than 2.5 million WLL subscribers and 2.5 million Internet Customers who
access Internet through various modes viz. Dial-up, Leased Line, DIAS, and Account Less
Internet (CLI).
BSNL has been adjudged as the NUMBER ONE ISP in the country. BSNL has set up a
world class multi-gigabit, multi-protocol convergent IP infrastructure that provides
convergent services like Voice, data and video through the same Backbone and
Broadband Access Network. At present there are 0.6 million Data One broad band
customers. The company has vast experience in Planning, Installation, network integration
and Maintenance of Switching & Transmission Networks and also has a world class ISO
9000 certified Telecom Training Institute. Scaling new heights of success, the present
turnover of BSNL is more than Rs.351, 820 million (US $ 8 billion) with net profit to the
tune of Rs.99,390 million (US $ 2.26 Billion) for last financial year. The infrastructure asset
on telephone alone is worth about Rs.630, 000 million (US $ 14.37billion).
BSNL plans to expand its customer base from present 47 millions lines to 125 million lines
by December 2007 and infrastructure investment plan to the tune of Rs. 733 crores (US$
16.67 million) in the next three years. The turnover, nationwide coverage, reach,
comprehensive range of telecom services and the desire to excel has made BSNL the No.
1 Telecom Company of India.