In order to show just how good a job the new telcos (who got cheap spectrum from A Raja) have done, figures are being trotted out to show they accounted for 14-15% of all new cellular mobile subscribers in the last 11-12 months ? this figure is contrasted with the 5% market share figure that is routinely trotted out for the new telcos (Loop, Uninor, STel, Etisalat and Videocon). Once you take into account the large number of inactive subscribers several of the new telcos have, you find these firms added just 5% of the incremental subscriber base as well.
Between December 2009 and September 2010, these firms added 16.4 million subscribers of the total of 156.4 million that were added by the entire industry ? that?s a market share of 10.4%. But just 5.4 million of the 16.4 million were considered to be ?active? by the telecom regulator ? Trai?s latest figures are only for September 2010. Given that 103.2 million of the 156.4 million added by the industry between December 2009 and September 2010 were active, that?s a 5% share of the incremental base as well.
Of the new telcos, Uninor added 3.1 million active subscribers (10.1 million total), Videocon added 1.7 million (4.5 million total), STel added 3.7 lakh (1.5 million total), Loop 1.6 lakh (3.3 lakh total) and Etisalat 0.2 lakh (0.6 lakh total). According to Trai data, Bharti Airtel has the highest proportion of active subscribers (89%), followed by Idea at 88%, and Vodafone 75% ? BSNL is 59%, MTNL 36% and Uninor, which has the highest number of subscribers in the new telcos, is 31%.
Of the new telcos, the CAG found all the 22 licences of Uninor did not meet the eligibility criterion, ditto for Videocon and all 13 for Swan (Etisalat) ? in the event, the CAG recommended that these licences be cancelled. Even the Trai found that all of Etisalat’s 15 licences had failed to meet the rollout obligation and hence should be cancelled. The Trai said the same for eight of Uninor’s 22 circles, 10 of Videocon’s 22 and 19 of Loop’s 20.
