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In the last two years, the telecom software scene in India has changed
drastically. Both qualitatively and quantitatively.
The Numbers
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The total size of the telecom software industry in India
recorded touched Rs 4,100 crore in 2000-01. This includes the export of
telecom software as well as the domestic sales. However, while the export
revenue includes embedded and system software, domestic sales means only the
software sold to Indian service providers, like OSS/BSS and network
management.
The size of the Indian telecom software market was Rs 66
crore. That is about 1.6 percent of the total industry sales.
The lion’s share of the total sales of course, was
exports. Exports accounted for as much as 98.4 percent of all telecom
software sales. Total revenue from exports touched Rs 4,034 crore in
2000-01, thus registering a growth of 90.64 percent in rupee terms over the
previous year’s sales of Rs 2,116 crore. This was close to NASSCOM’s
projection of $900 million.
This was roughly 2.1 percent of the telecom software
sales globally. By 2003, this figure is likely to go up to 3.6 percent. This
is calculated on the basis of NASSCOM’s estimates for the telecom software
exports from India in that year. The apex software industry body puts it at
$2.5 billion.
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In 2000-01, the V&D100 companies accounted for as
much as 72.8 percent of the total industry sales. The No. 1 company, Wipro
itself accounted for 18 percent of the total sales.
The telecom software exports as a percentage of total
software exports, was 14.23 percent. Again, this was extremely close to
NASSCOM’s earlier projection of 14.4 percent. This is a growth in telecom
software’s share. In 1999-2000, telecom software accounted for about 11.5
percent of the total exports. By 2003, telecom software will account for
almost one-fourth of India’s software exports.
What is also important is that the shares of telecom
software in the exports pie of big Indian software houses are higher than
the industry average. TCS, Wipro and Infosys got 19, 42, and 17.7 percent of
their revenue respectively from telecom software. This shows that telecom is
higher on the value chain than other areas.
Expectedly, services accounted for as much as 96-97
percent of the total telecom software exports. However, there is a mix in
the type of service provided by different companies. While services in
telecom vertical was a healthy contributor for companies like TCS, Infosys
and Cognizant; Wipro Technologies got its entire revenue (almost) from its
R&D services, with telecom service practice contributing in a very small
way.
Pure-play companies like Subex and Usha Communication
Technologies got almost 100 percent of their revenue from their products,
and services centered around the products. Wipro also got some (though a
much smaller) part of its revenue from its products. TCS launched a few
products for service providers in 1999 but continued to get the almost the
entire the revenue from services.
The Value Game
Major Indian Telecom
 Software Players
- ABO Software, Delhi
- Agere Systems, Bangalore
- Access Networks, Trichy
- Amoeba Telecom, Coimbatore
- Astral TeleFoundation, Delhi
- Axes Technologies,Â
- BayPackets Technologies, Delhi
- Bharti Telesoft, Delhi
- BPL Telecom, Bangalore
- C-DOT, Delhi
- Convergent Software, Bangalore
- Crossword, Delhi
- DDE ORG Systems, Baroda
- Decannet Switching, Bangalore
- Digital Equipment (India) Ltd,Bangalore
- Infozech Software, Delhi
- Integra Microsystems, Bangalore
- JP Systems, Hyderabad
- Mantra Broadband, Bangalore
- Net Brahma, Bangalore
- RiverRun Software, Noida
- Sundaram Telematics, Chennai
- TCIL Bellsouth Ltd, Delhi
- Trigyn, Delhi
- Usha Comm India
As the world of telecom is fast moving from proprietary
systems to open standard based systems, a lot of intelligence of networks
has shifted to software. The phrase "telecom software", that till
very recently, meant applications run by telecom service providers on their
computing platforms–like billing & customer care, network management
and traffic monitoring–has assumed a much broader meaning.
Telecom software today broadly means anything from
embedded software to content. However, for our analysis, we have not taken
into account the content-based applications.
Broadly, the telecom software can be classified into
three areas, not always mutually exclusive. They are–embedded software,
system software, and application software that is used by service providers.
Based on the positioning of Indian companies and MNCs
developing software in India, one can classify the nature of development
work into four categories–development of software for technology systems;
the service provider onsite practices including development and integration;
product development and services centred around products, . While most of
the big software companies have focused on the first two areas, a new breed
of small companies are developing products as well. The large software
companies like Wipro and TCS also have flirted with products, but primarily
on the application space.
The hot technologies till a year back were IN, SS7 and
other software for TDM switching. The current favorite is the entire
wireless gamut–WAP, GPRS/EDGE, UMTS–where most of the Indian software
companies are focused. A small but extremely important segment is the
telephony based applications, software patches for VoIP, VoIP/TDM
integration. Routing/MPLS is another small but hot area in the telecom
software scene in India. The emerging areas seem to be service management,
software broadband aggregation platforms. The leading companies in the
forefront of technology development are Wipro Technologies and Hughes
Software Systems.
Almost non-existent a couple of years back, a new breed
of telecom software product companies are now targeting the emerging
application areas like IP QoS, broadband aggregation, wireless-IP
integration, etc. Notable names include Amoeba Telecom, BayPackets
Technologies, and Mantra Broadband. The successful Indian entrepreneurs in
the silicon valley are the catalyst behind this trend.
Strictly speaking, these are not telecom applications.
But mobile data applications will also emerge as a major area. This is where
small Indian companies can enter.
Usha Communication Technology, Infozech, and Wipro are the only companies
with some known OSS/BSS products. While it is difficult to believe that many
Indian companies will be successful in the OSS/BSS product arena, this
segment creates two opportunities. Almost all the major OSS/BSS companies
will come to India and set up facilities. Also, integration of these
solutions, especially in Asia-Pacific markets, will create another
opportunity for Indian companies.
The V&D 100 Telecom Software Companies
V&D 100 Telecom Software Companies
10 Total
4,034.01