HUTCH MAX TELECOM: Brushing Past the Competition

HUTCH MAX TELECOM	6
COE: Sandip Das Address: Stanrose House, New Prabhadevi Road,Mumbai- 400025 Tel : 022-24313800 Fax: 022-24313799 Website: www.orange.co.in  V&D estimates CyberMedia Research

Hutchison Max Telecom, offering cellular services in Mumbai under the Orange brand name, ended FY 2002—03 as the leading service provider in India’s biggest circle with a subscriber base of 665,086. This implied a growth of nearly 57 percent over its base of 424,040 in FY 2001—02. Incidentally, this was also the year when Orange got past BPL Mobile as Mumbai’s leading cellular operator in terms of subscriber. It also retained its numero uno position on the revenues front, touching Rs 711 crore. This meant a growth of nearly 28 percent over its previous year's revenues of Rs 556.2
crore.

Unlike its competitors BPL Mobile and AirTel in Mumbai, Orange continued to look primarily on the postpaid segment as its main growth catalyst. Although a lesser dependence on prepaid ensured that Orange had a higher ARPU than BPL and AirTel, the company was also active on the prepaid front. This was primarily because prepaid ensured reduced operational costs, which had an effect on the top line.

The cut throat competition in the lucrative Mumbai circle, along with the emergence of AirTel and Reliance, led to a major dwindling of tariff rates. In phases, Orange reduced tariffs by more than 40 percent, waived off the monthly commitment and tempted subscribers with a large number of other benefits. It also waived off STD subscription for distances within 200 km of Mumbai, covering cities like Pune, Nasik, and
Ahmednagar.

Within the Hutch Group, Orange was also responsible for launching a host of innovative applications throughout the year, even within the Hutch group itself. One of these was Mobile Lotto, the country’s first SMS-based lottery.