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.
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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.