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Airtel,Nokia and BSNL have swept this year's CNBC AWAAZ Consumer Awards 2010 in the telecom category. The three winners were selected in the categories of best brand of cellular service providers, best brand of mobile handsets and best brand for broadband, respectively.
They were chosen after in-depth research and surveys spanning 3,178 consumers, across nineteen cities and sixteen states of India. It was conducted by a leading television channel, CNBC Awaaz, in association with The Nielsen Company.
Coming as a no great surprise, Airtel emerged as the most preferred cellular service provider based on factors such as its value for money offerings, superior network coverage and voice clarity.
Nokia's win was attributed to its constantly being ahead in terms of latest technology, which contributes significantly to its popularity. A key factor due to which BSNL was chosen as the preferred broadband brand was due to its best network coverage, as compared to other players.
According to VOICE&DATA research, Airtel has emerged as the numero uno service provider as it has over 100 mn subscribers-the highest for any operator and achieving a revenue of Rs 38, 800 crore in FY 2009-10, despite stiff competition from thirteen operators, falling ARPUs and an cut-throat tariffs wars.
Its partnership with Zain Telecom, making it the world's first telecom MNC, has also been a significant achievement.
Similarly, in the Equipment Vendors Top10 segment, V&D rated Nokia as the #1 player, based on its Rs 14,100 crore revenue in the last fiscal, which was higher than any other vendor as well as the launch of twenty-two new devices in FY 2009-10, and crossing production of 350 mn handsets in April 2010.
Nokia also has 45% of its retail outlets in rural India, where there is a steadily growing mobile user population.
With BSNL promising to provide high-speed wireless broadband connectivity to 11,500 common service centers, connecting 50,000 such centers under the Bharat Nigam program, as well as providing innovative services like live streaming of sports, music and video downloads on an upgraded 512 Kbps connection-BSNL remains one of the top broadband providers in India today.
With nearly 600 mn mobile subscribers and 40% of them being in rural areas, telecom is one of the sectors set to see continued growth and contribute significantly to the country's GDP. With 3G and BWA coming in, a shift from voice to data has been perceived, and global players are also eagerly waiting to grab a piece of the pie.
A market with high churn, lowest tariffs in the world, thirteen operators, and a proliferation of handset manufacturers-the Indian telecom story is truly an exciting one.
berylm@cybermedia.co.in