Indian Mobile industry
In 1995 first mobile call was made between Kolkata and New Delhi. In this 25 years in-between, the industry has seen all. From a price of roughly Rs 5000/- for a SIM to Rs 20/- for a min of a call to one of the cheapest mobile tariffs if not the cheapest in the world, from the GSM network to CDMA then to 4G only networks, the industry high 15 mobile operators across the country to only 4 operators in most circles, the breakneck speed of acquiring customers with the Reliance JIO acquiring its first 100 million customers flat 15 months including the soft-launch period, the industry has seen all.
A number of significant events have contributed to the declining tariff over the years. Some of the key developments include forbearance from regulating tariffs for cellular mobile services that was announced in 2002; Interconnection Usage Charge (IUC) regulations and introduction of the CPP regime during 2004; introduction of Unified Access Licensing regime in 2005; and introduction of lifetime schemes in 2006; Mandatory per second pulse rate, Full MNP with pan-India portability of mobile numbers, contributed much to the reduction. This was further helped by policies and various consumer protection and eduction measures by TRAI (Telecom Regulatory Authority of India)
In December 2015, Mukesh Ambani-owned Reliance JIO was soft launched with a beta for employees and partners. In September 2016, the service became commercially available, launching 4G services with free data and voice call until March 31, 2017. By February 2017, JIO had acquired 100 million subscribers. Its entry in the market triggered a massive reduction in data prices across networks, accelerating smartphone adoption all over India.
During 2016 and 2017 various mobile operators shut shop selling their Indian operations or merging leaving a total of 6 operators. In 2018 saw further shutdown and consolidation and ended up for a three-way fight among Reliance JIO, Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea. With each of the three operators having different history and context, they accounted for more than 90% of revenue and 80% of spectrum holding.
In 2020 India is the second largest smartphone market, next only to China. JIO has become the only operator outside China to have reached the milestone of 400 million subscribers in a single country market. JIO has completed a stake sale of around 33% to host of global investors and strategic partners that include Facebook, Google, Silver Lake, Vista Equity Partners, General Atlantic, KKR, Mubadala, ADIA, TPG, L Catterton, Public Investment Fund, Intel Capital and Qualcomm Ventures.
