Rank 14: Hutchison Max Telecom: Orange Grows, but...

Hutchison Max Telecom, which provides cellular services in Mumbai under the

brand name Orange, had a subscriber base of 424,020 in the FY 2001-02. This

exhibits a growth of 68.2 as compared to the subscriber base of 252,053 in the

fiscal 2000-01. Revenues grew by 19.1 percent, to reach Rs 556.2 crore from the

previous fiscal’s Rs 466.8 crore. Though Orange was second to its competitors

in terms of subscriber base, it retained its number one position in revenue

terms. This was mainly due to the fact that Orange has a higher blended ARPU as

compared to BPL, and had a good growth in the post-paid segment.

Mumbai, where the battle between cellular providers is most fierce, saw the

tariffs being slashed further because of the bitter rivalry between Hutchison

and BPL. The city, with a four-digit ARPU, now has the lowest mobile tariffs in

the country.

Hutchison Max Telecom TURNOVER FACTSHEET CEO : Sandip Das Address : Stanrose House, New Prabhadevi Road Mumbai 400025 Tel : 022-4313800 Fax : 022-4313799 Web site : www.orange.co.in  S W O T Strength  : The well-known Hutchison brand Weakness : Pre-paid customer base is not high enough Opportunity : Pan-India and VAS Threat  : Possibility of subscribers moving to competitors

In the fiscal 2001-02, Orange entered into alliances with TeliVoice to

introduce global voice messaging system and OnMobile systems for multi-modal

wireless solutions. The company had put on the backburner earlier plans to

introduce GPRS services, probably on account of the lukewarm response to its

competitor’s mobile data services. With the fourth operator–Bharti–joining

the fray in the circle this year, Orange is gearing up for tough competition to

sustain its impressive growth over the last years.